The Tunney Tradition
At the heart of the Tunney song tradition like a deep continuity, with songs passed from generation to generation within families and close-knit communities.
From the early 1950s on, Paddy Tunney and his mother Brigid came to be recognised as the chief proponents of a rich singing tradition that had been long in the making. This tradition, comprising an interesting repertoire and a particular style to performing it, was handed down through a handful of families who lived in the south Donegal hill country.
A number of intermarried families played a key role in sharing the tradition. Most notable were the Gallaghers and Meehans of Tamur (pronounced Chower) and Rushen, but the influence of Biddy Travers, who arrived in this district from Eglish up in the Blue Stack Mountains above Lough Eske, needs to be acknowledged. There were other important local singers, such as William Monaghan of Tullyhasson, who also contributed richly to the repertoire. All the singers who can be identified as contributors were from Donegal, though they lived only one townland away from Co. Fermanagh.
It is possible to identify songs that have come down from a handful of source singers who were already adults at the time when the Great Famine of 1845-52 ravaged Ireland. In the mid-1920s, Patrick and Brigid Tunney moved their family to Mulleek in Co. Fermanagh which meant that Paddy, his siblings Maureen, Bridie, Phyllis, Joe, Annie, Mick and Christina grew up speaking in the soft musical tones of the people who live on the northern shores of Lower Lough Erne. This explains how their songs and singing came to be seen as having originated in Fermanagh.
Today, that same tradition endures, sustained by those who continue to carry these songs forward in both memory and voice.
