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March 1st 2026, marked the ninth anniversary of the Irish State’s official recognition of Irish Travellers as an ethnic group. Irish Travellers have always had a deep and long connection with Irish music, song and dance, and to celebrate this, we have selected a few materials from our library and archive collections to honour and showcase this heritage, and highlight their contribution to Irish music, song and dance today.
All this material, along with many more resources relating to Irish Traveller music and culture, can be viewed in our public reading room.
With roots in Galway and Mayo, the Rainey’s were a renowned multi-generational family of musicians who travelled throughout the two counties, particularly the regions of Connemara, Tuam and Mayo. They were known for their musical versatility, playing a wide variety of instruments ranging from the fiddle, flute, whistle, and pipes.
This CD released in 2006 by Pavee Point celebrates and ‘highlights the importance of Travellers’ contribution to the musical tradition and other aspects of the cultural milieu of Ireland’ (Ronnie Fay, Director of Pavee Point, 2006). The CD features two brothers, Paddy ‘Big’ Rainey and Stephen ‘Spare Parts’ Rainey, both on fiddle, with vocals from Paddy’s wife Bridgit ‘Biddy’ Rainey. Their distinctive style of fiddle playing which is characterised by minimal ornamentation and a carefree approach has been suggested by John Faulkner to mirror the style of music played in Ireland before the mass emigration in the 1800s.
From an earlier age, Kitty was immersed in song and storytelling. Her father, Johnny Cassidy, was a celebrated storyteller while her mother could often be heard singing around the house, and in public on some occasions. It was through this exposure as a child that Kitty learnt many of the songs that would later become central in her career.
She gained wider attention in the traditional music communities across Ireland and the UK through field recordings made by Alen MacWeeney in the 1960s, with a selection of these songs later published on the album Whisht… : Irish traveller folktales and songs (1967), which features songs from Kitty, Johnny and Andy, with these recordings going on to influence later singers, including Lisa O’Neill.
Now in her 80s, Kitty remains an active singer within the community. In 2023, she was a special guest performer at the Misleór Festival of Nomadic Cultures, and in 2024 was also featured in Pat Collins documentary, Songlines.
Beginning in the 1970’s collectors Jim Carroll and Pat MacKenzie recorded many Irish Travellers who were based around London interviewing and documenting their lives, songs and stories. Among these interviews was a man named Mikeen McCarthy who had grown up around Co. Kerry, in one of these recording from 1978, Mikeen reflects upon his grandfather Michael ‘Mike’ Coffey. Mike had worked as a farm labourer, a tinsmith, a chimney sweep and a donkey trader, however he was known locally as a fine step-dancer, eventually earning the nickname ‘The Pippler’, and even got the occasional free pint on the house for his dances in the pub.
The clip of Mikeen discussing his grandfather Mike Coffey, ‘The Pippler’, can be listened to here.
More interviews with Mikeen McCarthy can be found on the The Mikeen McCarthy Interviews web page.
Those who are interested in viewing materials from the Jim Carroll and Pat Mackenzie Collection, including images, reel to reels and printed materials can do so in our public reading room.
Shortly before he passed away in 1984, Simí Simí made this tin fiddle as a wedding present for Canon Gary Hastings and his wife Caitríona Ní Ghallchóir and is the last fiddle made by the Doherty family. Hailing from southwest Donegal, the Dohertys’ were a family of tinsmiths and fiddle players who travelled the county making, teaching, and playing. In the 19th and 20th centuries, wooden fiddles were expensive and highly sought after. However, tinsmith musicians such as the Doherty family were able to make tin fiddles that were accessible and more affordable for eager musicians.
The fiddle was donated to ITMA by Canon Gary Hastings on the 22nd of May 2024, and is currently on display in the library, and is open to all to visit.
This biography follows the life of Nan Donahue (1919-1983). Born into a Traveller family near Granard in the Irish Midlands, this book details her childhood growing up and moving across Ireland, her later life in England and her experiences such as raising a family. Nan shared her life story with her close friend Sharon Gmelch over a course of four years (1977–1981), who compiled these accounts into a recollection of a Traveller woman’s life in the 20th century.
An intimate personal reflection into the life of Traveller rights activist Nan Joyce (1940-2018) this autobiography reflections on Joyce’s social justice campaigns, particularly in organising and taking part in marches in Tallaght and Clondalkin, her candidacy for election, her appearances on radio and TV, which included the Gay Byrne show, where Joyce highlighted the treatment of the Irish Traveller community in those areas, and her efforts to challenge these treatments and promote Traveller heritage and culture.
Both these books are available to view in our library.
The Rainey’s. The Rainey’s: Recorded in Freeney’s pub, Letterfrack, Connemara 1956. Pavee Point, 2006.
The Cassidy’s. Whisht… : Irish traveller folktales and songs: the Cassidy’s 1967. Pavee Point, 2002.
Gmelch, Sharon. Nan: The life of an Irish Travelling Woman. New York: Souvenir Press, 1986. 238 pp. ISBN 0285627856 (hbk).
Joyce, Nan and Anna Farmar (ed). Traveller: An autobiography by Nan Joyce. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1985. 119 pp. ISBN 0717113884 (pbk).
Printed Material
Court, Artelia, with literary notes by Thomas Munnelly and others; and photographs by Alen MacWeeney. Puck of the droms: the lives & literature of the Irish tinkers. California: University of California Press, [1985]. 297 pp. ISBN: 0520037111 (hbk.)
Fegan, Tommy, and Oliver O’Connell. Free spirits: Irish Travellers and Irish traditional music. Ennis: MPO Productions, 2011. 194 pp. ISBN 9780957019409 (pbk).
MacWeeney, Alen. Irish travellers : tinkers no more. New Hampshire: New England College Press, [2007]. 109 pp. ISBN: 9780979013003 (hbk.)
Nic Suibhne, Damhnait. “The Donegal fiddle tradition: an ethnographic perspective.” In Donegal: history and society: interdisciplinary essays on the history of an Irish county, ed. William Nolan, Liam Ronayne [and] Mairead Dunlevy, 713–742. Dublin: Geography Publications, 1995. ISBN 0906602459 (hbk).
Vallely, Fintan (ed). The companion to Irish traditional music: second edition, substantially revised & expanded. Cork: Cork University Press, 2011. 832 pp. ISBN 9781859184509 (hbk).
Pavee Point: Traveller and Roma Centre.
Binneas: The Mikeen McCarthy Interviews.
With thanks to Alan Woods and Iarlaith Mac Gabhann.
