Omagh, Co. Tyrone, November 2008

First of all a big thanks to all the people who attended my concerts both at home and abroad throughout the spring and summer – it was a very successful few months. And to all the agents and promoters who put on the shows may I offer my thanks and appreciation. I know the huge amount of work that goes into putting on a concert, never mind a huge outdoor festival!

I did a very busy tour of primary schools all through May and June with my programme of children’s songs and stories and it never fails to amaze me the way in which the children get involved in the songs and the music. They make me feel like an old friend coming to visit their school and I always feel so welcome in every single school I visit. It’s hard to believe that I have been singing songs with our children for over twenty one years!!

During last winter I decided to record an album of nursery rhymes for the young children because I felt that it was an area of learning that had fallen out of favour. The importance of these rhymes cannot be underestimated, because from them the young child learns a sense of rhythm , tempo, rhyming words and stories that absorb the imagination with their sense of fun and the absurd. Well YOU remember them from your early childhood, don’t you? So should all young children – such a richly populated world is the realm of nursery rhyme. I took forty five rhymes and wedded the lyrics to well known folk tunes. It has done very well and the comments from educators and parents have been favourable. Thanks to them for letting me know what they think – it’s very important to me.

I have just finished recording an album of Irish folk tales for children, because I believe it’s crucial for them to attain the great art of ‘listening’. It is a gift that could so easily be lost among the din and clamour of technology that diminishes the child’s own wonderful imagination – and that is the child’s greatest gift of all. Tales of Fionn Mc Cool, The Red Branch Knights, The Salmon Of Knowledge, The Brown Bull Of Cooley and others will fire the imagination of the young and make them aware of their own rich heritage and culture. The recording will be released in early 2009

In June I released a new CD of Irish love songs entitled “Red Is The Rose” and it proved to be very popular at the Irish festivals and other dates I did in the US and Canada over the summer months. It was a project close to my heart as I recorded songs learned from both my grandmother, Sarah Makem and from my late uncle and friend, Tommy Makem, to whose memory I dedicated the album. I was joined on the recording by my great musical associates Ray Moore and Matt Mc Granaghan and they did a great job – thanks gentlemen!

I am very fortunate to be asked to perform at various festivals throughout the US and Canada every summer and this year was no exception. I have been a regular performer for many years at the Milwaukee Irish Festival in Wisconsin, the largest Irish musical festival in the world, and was honoured to be there again in August. The committee and volunteers (4000 of them) deserve such great credit for this awesome event and yet again it ran like clockwork. It was special this year because the Omagh Youth and Community Choir were also there and joined me onstage for a rousing finale to one of my sets! I had sang to them all since they were tots and to see them now as such charming and talented young men and women was truly great. We performed together in Milwaukee for a memorial service to commemorate the terrible events in our home town that took place ten years to the day on August 15th. It was very moving and made me so proud of these young people from my town. There was another ‘first’ at Milwaukee as well – my daughter, Fionnuala, joined me onstage on the Saturday night for a duet of “The Wild Mountain Thyme”. She is a great singer and I was extremely proud of her too! We are going to record some songs together in the future. So once again heartiest congratulations to all concerned at Milwaukee Irish Fest and their record attendance of 140,000 people!

From Wisconsin I headed east to perform at the great Irish Festival in Buffalo, NY. The culture and music of Ireland is very much alive and thriving in this great city and this is in no small measure attributable to the Townsell family. The patriarch of the family, Leo, for many years promoted all things Irish in his famous Shannon Pub and now his son, Kevin, is at the helm of the sterling efforts on behalf of our culture in Buffalo. The annual festival is a major attraction in the area and draws thousands of people from up state NY, and many people from Canada. The organisation is first class and I was delighted to see Irish theatre being highlighted this year. My good friend Susie Fay and her family were, as always, more than kind to me during my stay and even drove me from Buffalo to Niagra Falls on the Monday following the festival. Went by train from Niagra to Kingston, Ontario to visit with some old friends of mine, including our great family friend, Al Brown. I was met there by my wife, Frances, who had just flown in from a week’s holiday in Lake Tahoe. Then it was on a plane from Ottawa to Halifax, Nova Scotia to spend a week with my brother Jimmy and his family. We had lived in Halifax for almost twenty years so it was good for Frances and I to see so many old friends and neighbours. Jimmy was doing a four night stint singing in the ‘Old Triangle’, a club in town owned by our old singing partner, Brian Doherty from Omagh. We had all performed in Barley Bree for quite a few years in the US and Canada, so Brian and I joined Jimmy each evening onstage for what proved to be a fantastic reunion! The brilliant Kevin Roach joined us nightly on guitar and fiddle. We also spent some great days in Chicago along with our dear friend, the write, Rita Emmet and her husband, Bruce.

We are very happy with our new business partnership with The Emerging Group in Co. Fermanagh. The group excel in all aspects of media and communications and our relationship with Declan Power and Paddy Mc Cabe has proven to be excellent and mutually to our benefit. The lads are great to work with, constantly full of ideas and marketing strategies and their setting up of our new website is a first class job. We look forward to working with the company in the future.

All our energies at present are centred on promoting the series of concerts to take place in December at theatre venues throughout the North. We are really excited about “Tom Sweeney’s Celtic Christmas” which celebrates an old Irish Christmas and includes such wonderful talents as the great traditional music quartet, ‘Pigeon Top’, singer and Celtic harpist, Cherith Boyle, the Celtic Christmas Set Dancers and the great pianist/arranger Ray Moore. Check this website for information on dates and venues. We will be doing our annual series of seasonal shows for children “A Children’s Christmas Cracker” in Omagh, Strabane and Cookstown. These shows have been hugely popular in the past and we hope to continue the success this year. Again check this website for more details

I was greatly honoured to have been awarded a lifetime achievement accolade by the Tommy Makem International Festival of Song back in June for my contribution to the song tradition over the years. This was an independent committee in association with Armagh City Council and the beautifully framed citation hangs proudly on my studio wall!

When I find any free time I am currently working on an album of my own songs. I have written many songs but only recorded a few to date. Will keep you posted on that project. Talking of writing songs, I have just completed eight new songs to be used in the Plain Speaking Community Arts production of “A Christmas Carol” at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh in January 2009. It is one of my favourite stories and I hope my lyrics and music add to Stephen Mc Kenna’s great script.

Thanks to the many people who stay in touch through e mail from all arts and parts, some just to say ‘hello’ and others to comment on aspects of my music or career. Even though I am sometimes slow in responding I get there eventually and every message is read. So keep on staying in touch!

I offer my heartiest congratulations to the players and mentors of the Tyrone GAA County Seniors and Minors for their stunning victories over Kerry and Mayo this year. I met many, many Tyrone folk abroad over the summer and the talk was only of one thing – the All Ireland! A special thanks must go to our fellow Omagh men, brothers Joe and Justin Mc Mahon for their spirited part in the recapturing of Sam! Well done Tyrone!

Just to mention in closing my sadness at the passing of some great ‘giants’ of the folk music world, namely Tommy Makem, Ronnie Drew and the late, great David Hammond. We will never see their likes again. R.I.P.

May I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy, peaceful Christmas and every blessing for the coming year.

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