Arbutus Yarns have been working their magic again and have shared a video which provides just a small taste of a project they’ve been working on since the summer of 2019 when they Myles O’Reilly was approached by Lorraine Kennedy and asked if he was interested in collaborating with her and photographer Colm Keating on a film about the life Irish folk singer and songwriter Liam Weldon. Liam had a lifelong interest in the songs of the Irish Travellers and his own songs reflected a strong awareness of poverty, disadvantage and exploitation. He also organised the Pavees Club in Slatterys on Dublin’s Capel Street and sessions in the Tailor’s Hall and the Brazen Head.
Anyone that regularly follows Folk Radio UK will already know the respect we have for Myles O’Reilly and this latest film project is by no means a small one. In a recent Facebook post, he painted a vivid picture of just how significant this new film is…
Immediately Lorraine set about organising all the interviews, the performances and locations, and invited myself and Donal Dineen along to all of them to spy on events. Donal would have chats with friends and family of Liam, and with people who knew a lot about the man. I would shoot from the hip, naturally trying to be as unimposing as possible. Many great musicians were also more than happy to collaborate with us. Radie Peat (Lankum), Lisa O’Neill, Daoirí Farrel, Damien Dempsy, Niamh Parsons, Paddy Keenan to name very few! On a cold December night we gathered all of Liam’s old friends and his family into the 17th century building Tailor’s Hall in The Liberties where for over a decade Liam used to host a weekend singing session. We filmed other singing sessions in The Cobblestone and Goilín singers club. We visited all of Liam’s old haunts, and met with many characters who remembered him, and in the course of 6 months gathered enough content to piece together an incredibly musical film about Liam, that’s for certain.
We found some absolute diamonds too, from the RTE archives. Never seen before footage, not since it was aired anyway. Clips of Liam in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s just before he died. He was a man who shrugged the attention of the media but not when he wanted to be heard. When he had objections about the government and its treatment of his people, his fellow dubs, and his adopted Traveller family. This also means the cumulative running length of footage Lorraine did find, must only amount to about 10 minutes. Imagine that. 10 minutes of visual evidence of who he was to look at in 3 dimensions. Thankfully Colm Keating has hundreds of amazing photos of Liam.
All of these elements helped us track and trace the waves that his particular stone made when it dropped in the clear water of his time, that still move through us today. Not crystal clear waves but still strong enough ripples to make out, amidst the erratic water surface caused by all the other noise, mild in comparison. Such was the strength of Liam’s personality. We had spent so much time focusing on the waves that Liam made, and the fingerprint that his actions and songs have left behind, that towards the end of production it truly felt as though he was there with us. It’s my ultimate objective that when you first enter the cinema to see our film, you will leave with Liam too. So very strong and pronounced is this energy that we inherit. His dear wife, now in her eighties, Nellie Weldon, was a beautiful woman to sit and speak with. Her interview is among the most precious. AND the music. Good lord. So much music inspired by Liam.
Myles went on to share the following clip featuring Traveller singer and song collector, Thomas McCarthy.
On this evening a large group of incredible musicians surrounded a fire in a field in Kildare and we sang and played songs in tribute to Liam all night. I hope this brings some sense of the magic we have captured.
Help support the work of Myles O’Reilly by subscribing here: https://www.patreon.com/mylesoreilly
For those that have never heard Liam Weldon, here he is singing one of his most popular and powerful songs Dark Horse On The Wind.
Find out more about Thomas McCarthy here: http://www.thomasmccarthyfolk.com/