Paddy Tunney

Paddy Tunney (28 January 1921 – 7 December 2002) was an Irish traditional singer, poet, writer, raconteur, lilter and songwriter. He was affectionately known as the Man of Songs.

From Glasgow to Garvery

Tunney was born in Glasgow to Irish parents, Patrick Tunney from Mollybreen, County Fermanagh, and Brigid Tunney (née Gallagher) from Rusheen near Pettigo, County Donegal. He returned to live in Donegal in 1982.

He began broadcasting as far back as 1952, first for Radio Éireann and later for BBC, working with Seán Mac Réamoinn, Seán O'Boyle and Peter Kennedy. Throughout the 1960s he wrote and presented many programmes on RTÉ radio. In the 1980s he collaborated with Ciarán Mac Mathúna of RTÉ on a four-part radio documentary on Irish Traditional Singing. He worked with the BBC producer Tony McCauley scripting and presenting two award-winning television documentaries on the traditions of the area around his home in west Fermanagh. In the new century was the subject of a TG4 series Sé Mo Laoch. His family songs appeared in the repertoires of countless traditional singers, including such commercial artists as The Chieftains, Planxty, Steeleye Span, Paul Brady, Dolores Keane, Andy Irvine, Dick Gaughan, Altan, The Voice Squad, Dervish, Cara Dillon and others.

Death Tunney died on 7 December 2002 at the age of 81. He was buried at Conwall Cemetery in Letterkenny.

Discography The Lark in the Morning (1956) Tradition Records TLP 1004, which also featured Liam Clancy, Tommy Makem and many others. The Man of Songs (1962) Folk Legacy FSE 1 Paddy Tunney (1962) Folk Legacy FSE 7 A Wild Bee's Nest (1965) Topic 12T139 The Irish Edge (1966) Topic 12T153 Ireland her Own (1967) With Arthur Kearney. Also featuring Joe Tunney and Frank Kelly. The Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow (1975) Topic 12TS264 The Flowery Vale (1976) Topic 12TS289 Lough Erne Shore (1982) Mulligan LUNA 334 The Stone Fiddle (1981) Green Linnet SIF 1037 Where the Linnets Sing: Three generations of the Tunney family and their songs (1992) Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann CL44

In 2009 The Waterford Boys from A Wild Bee's Nest was included in Topic Records 70 year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten as track two of the third CD.

Writing

Paddy Tunney wrote two books on Irish traditional songs and singers. They are not autobiographies as such, though they are made up largely of personal recollections and memories of people met and songs sung. They are The Stone Fiddle: My Way to Traditional Song, published by Gilbert Dalton, Skerries, Co. Dublin, in 1979, and Where Songs do Thunder: Travels in Traditional Song which was published in 1991 by Appletree Press, Belfast . Paddy had been writing poetry since childhood and a collection of his work appeared as Dúchas and other poems. Letterkenny: Eagrain Dhun na nGall . In 1990 a collection of his children's stories Ulster Folk Stories for Children was published by Mercier Press, Cork .