In a long and distinguished career as a song collector, the late Tom Munnelly collected thousands of songs from singers all over the country.  Specifically, he collected many rare and valuable songs from Irish travellers.  English singer and song collector Sam Lee was introduced to many singers and songs through Tom Munnelly's recordings.  In this documentary he visits some of the families of singers collected by Tom Munnelly, bringing with him recordings of their family members who were recorded by Tom back in the 1970s.  In some cases this is the first time that these family members have heard these recordings.   Sam also finds out whether the old songs are still being sung by the travellers or is the tradition dying out.  The programme includes original recordings by Tom Munnelly from the UCD Department of Irish Folklore and archive material from the RTÉ Archives.

All of Tom Munnelly's recordings, including those heard in the programme are available to listen to free of charge in the NATIONAL FOLKLORE COLLECTION in  UCD and visitors are very welcome. 

For full details go to www.ucd.ie/irishfolklore or phone 01 7168439

And all recordings made by Sam Lee can be found on his website - The Song Collectors Collective- http://songcollectors.org/

The programme is produced by Aoife Nic Cormaic