Irish Travellers

Irish Travellers, Tinkers No More by Alen MacWeeney

I’ve really enjoyed this book. I love coffee table books, and I’m a fan of everything Irish like many people are anglophiles. I don’t know if I have Irish blood or not (though I know I’m very much French-Canadian) but I adore the food, the music, the geography, the language, everything.

Irish Travellers are like gypsies, in that they have no real settled homes. Although I’m not naive enough to think there’s something romantic about living in poverty, I still enjoyed the book. The black and white illustrations are fascinating to look at. The people in this book literally lived in dirt and mud! Even though they are covered with filth, they’re smiling. They know something we don’t. I’m not ready to give up my life to become an itinerant tinker, but I looked at these photographs and once again was thankful for the blessings I have.

There’s also a music CD with the book. This is folk music at its roots. One of the songs was really peculiar: unaccompanied singing of a verse alternates with choruses of really strange rap/scat/storytelling. The person’s voice was very scratchy and I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. REALLY different and worth listening to!

I am now going to find a nice recipe for something Irish and delicious.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Melissa, IT Librarian and Erinophile