Lomax in Éirinn, Sunday 16th September at 8.30pm on TG4
Date Posted: September 12, 2018
In a new Irish Language Broadcast Fund documentary, Pol Brennan uncovers the story of Alan Lomax in Lomax in Éirinn.
In the late 1940s Texan song-collector Alan Lomax had a dream to record and to preserve the music of the world. He began his mission in Ireland. His aim was to preserve a musical tradition that very few Irish people valued at the time.
Twenty years later, Lomax’s album helped inspire the 1970s revival of Irish music by bands such as Planxty, The Bothy Band and Clannad.
Lomax in Éirinn features exclusive musical performances from contemporary artists paying homage to the music that Lomax preserved, including Steve Earle, Clannad, Slow Moving Clouds, The Tulla Ceilí Band, Mississippi bluesman Sam Mosely and Nell Ní Chróinín. The film’s soundtrack also includes some of the best recordings made by Alan Lomax throughout the world.
Lomax in Éirinn brings the audience through stunning locations in the Mississippi delta, New York and Washington showing how Lomax’s vocation was forged as a teenager when he discovered musicians such as Muddy Waters, Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and Jelly Roll Morton – iconic artists whose music later laid the seeds of rock and roll.
Director Declan McGrath, says:
“Lomax in Éirinn is ultimately an exploration of the value of music to humanity. Alan Lomax gave up his life to record, preserve and promote the forgotten music of the margins. This film asks what drove him to do that. It was a privilege for me to hear musicians of the calibre of Iarla Ó Lionáird grapple with that subject and to witness top-class performances from the likes of Clannad, Steve Earle, Slow Moving Clouds and Nell Ní Chroinín, all of them keen to honour the legacy of Alan Lomax and his contribution to Irish and world music.”
Lomax in Éirinn was made by Aisling Productions for TG4 with the support of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund.
Lomax in Éirinn will be shown on TG4 at 8.30pm on Sunday 16th September.
Lomax in Éirinn, Dé Domhnaigh 16ú Meán Fómhair ag 8.30i.n. ar TG4.
Is é Pól Brennan (Clannad) a léiríonn scéal Alan Lomax dúinn i gclár faisnéise nua de chuid an Chiste Craoltóireachta Gaeilge ‘Lomax in Éirinn’.
Sna 1940idí déanacha tháinig Alan Lomax ar an tuiscint go bhfuil an ceol traidisiúnta ar cheann de na rudaí is luachmhaire ar fad atá ag an chine daonna. Shocraigh Lomax ar bhuntáiste a bhaint as teicneolaíochtaí úra, LP agus téip mhaighnéadach san áireamh, le ceoil an domhain a thaifeadadh agus a chaomhnú sula rachaidís in éag ar fad. Ba í Éire an chéad áit ar ar thug sé cuairt agus an misean mór seo idir lámha aige.
Fiche bliain i ndiaidh d’ Alan Lomax a chuid taifeadeadh a dhéanamh in Éirinn, bhí na taifid chéanna sin mar inspioráid leis an athbheochan cheoil sna 1970idí ag bannaí mar Planxty, The Bothy Band agus Clannad.
I Lomax in Éirinn, tá scoth an cheoil as fud fad an domhain le cluinstin, é tógtha as an chartlann de thaifid a rinne Alan Lomax. Chomh maith leis sin, déanann ceoltóirí an lae inniu a gcóiriú féin ar cheol a chaomhnaigh Lomax. Ina measc tá Steve Earle, Clannad, Slow Moving Clouds, Banna Céilí na Tulaí agus Nell Ní Chróinín.
Tógann Lomax in Éirinn an lucht féachana ar aistear ceoil go háiteanna galánta feadh Dheilt an Mississippi, go cathair Nua-Eabhrac agus go Washington. I stáit dheisceart Mheiriceá, fiosraíonn sé mar a d’fhreagair Lomax do ghairm an cheoil agus é ina dhéagóir nuair a chuir sé eolas den chéad uair ar cheoltóirí amhail Muddy Waters, Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie agus Jelly Roll Morton, ealaíontóirí íocónacha iad uile a raibh a gcuid ceoil mar shíol an rock n roll.
Dúirt Declan McGrath, an stiúrthóir:
“Go bunúsach, is staidéar ar an luach atá leis an cheol don chine daonna atá in Lomax in Éirinn. Chaith Alan Lomax a shaol i mbun ceoil dearmadta na muintire ar an imeall a thaifeadadh, a chaomhnú agus a chur chun cinn. Sa scannán seo fiosraímid cad é a spreag é leis sin a dhéanamh. Ba mhór an phribhléid domsa plúr na gceoltóirí a chluinstin agus iad ag glacadh an cheoil ar láimh dóibh féin agus ag déanamh léirithe den scoth de, daoine mar Iarla Ó Lionáird, Clannad, Steve Earle, Slow Moving Clouds agus Nell Ní Chróinín. Bhí gach uile dhuine acu ag iarraidh ómós a thabhairt d’oidhreacht Alan Lomax as an oiread a chuir sé le ceol na hÉireann agus le ceol an domhain.”
Is é Aisling Productions a rinne Lomax in Éirinn do TG4 le tacaíocht ó Údarás Craolacháin na hÉireann agus ó Chiste Craoltóireachta Gaeilge Scáileáin Thuaisceart Éireann.
Beidh Lomax in Éirinn ar siúl Dé Domhnaigh 16ú Mean Fómhair ag 8.30i.n. ar TG4.
