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For more than 50 years, Christy Moore’s music has reverberated throughout the world. A legendary singer, collector, storyteller and activist, the songs that he sings help to tell the story of Ireland — the good and bad, the triumphs and hardships.
After turning 80, Christy Moore has donated his entire personal collection to the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) in Dublin. This collection contains a vast store of rare manuscripts, recordings, letters, setlists and unseen lyrics that opens a window into a creative spirit and social conscience that has shaped generations.
Cartlann Christy Moore, a new documentary produced by ITMA commissioned and funded by TG4, uses these collections to explore the life and music of Christy at a level never captured before. Directed by Ciarán Ó Maonaigh (Brendan Gleeson’s Farewell to Hughes’s, Sé Mo Laoch), the film features new interviews and recordings of Christy, along with contributions from some of Ireland’s best-known artists.
“I love the idea of my songs being in the archive and some young person in Australia or America, Clare or Belfast, being able to go on a website and get the words and hear the tune and the melody and have the chords,” says Christy Moore. “Songs have a power within them to draw us in, affect us and cause us to go forward with laughter, or to shed a tear, or to stand up and be counted. Those things are what make great songs.”
“Encountering Christy Moore and his personal collections, I was struck by the sheer vastness of his output over almost 60 years,” says director Ciarán Ó Maonaigh. “Countless songs and melodies that are engrained into our consciousness as Irish people. His focus, energy and all out to commitment to song was fascinating and awesome to behold.”
“It is a tremendous honour that Christy Moore is placing his trust in ITMA to illuminate his artistic philosophy, his deep gratitude to those who preserved songs before him, and to inspire younger generations to continue composing in the traditional ballad form he has mastered,” says ITMA CEO Liam O’Connor.
Cartlann Christy Moore will premiere on TG4 at 22:10 on New Year’s Eve, December 31st, 2025.
