A beautiful last look, at a way of life now surely and sadly gone, a truly remarkable man. Most people say the word Tinker came from Tinsmith. But I came across a closer sounding, reference in Irish Gaelic; Tine-céard = Fire-craft.
This documentary was made in 1972.
John Doherty 1900-1980
Was born into a very musical travelling family in February 1900 in the Ardara area of Co Donegal.
John’s parents were Mickey Mór Doherty (Mór being an Irish word meaning big ) and Mary McConnell. Mickey Mór Doherty had a musical inheritance of a couple of generations of both Doherty and Sweeney musicians on his father’s side. Also, Mary McConnell was a sister of Alec and Mickey McConnell who were very well known travelling tinsmiths and fiddle players in their day. They travelled widely around the south west of Donegal where their tinsmith and fiddle playing skills were very highly respected. A great many of the tin fiddles in the area were made by the McConnells and the Dohertys.
John was the youngest of 9 children. The Dohertys’ lifestyle was that of a travelling family moving from place to place doing tinsmiths work, playing music and camping or accepting local hospitality wherever they could, then moving on. When the children were young the family would travel as a group with a donkey and cart to carry their needs with them.
When John got older he travelled on his own carrying his belongings and his tinsmith tools with him.
Apart from the huge repertoire of tunes that John got from his own family, he was very interested in the music of James Scott Skinner, the great Scots virtuoso fiddle player and composer. Skinner’s as well as a lot of other Scottish fiddlers music has been and is very popular in Donegal. Heavily influenced by the Scottish bagpiping tradition, he often replicated the sound of the pipes' drones, by either retuning the fiddle to an open tuning ('scordatura'), or by maintaining the fourth finger on the string below the pitch of the melody.
John maintained this travelling lifestyle until age demanded that he give it up.
Негізгі бет Irish Traveller Pavee traditional fiddler, tinsmith, whitesmith, storyteller, Johnny Doherty
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