Travellers' Rest

Humor:
Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mother, "Why is the bride dressed in white?"
"Because white is the color of happiness and today is the happiest day of her life," her mother tried to explain, keeping it simple.
The child thought about this for a moment, then said, "So, why is the groom wearing black?"

Old Cant:
One way to say "Merry Christmas to you and a happy New Year" in the old Irish Traveller Cant (circa 1875) would have been: Buri Talosk Rispu t'duilsha a munya Grooth Streihmed.

Controversy:
The current edition of Controversy concerns an unholy and unconstitutional alliance between the states of South Carolina and Illinois to deprive Irish Travellers of their rights as free Americans. It's factual and detailed, not just a rant and a rave. Take a look; why don't you? It's due to be archived shortly and will be replaced by an examination of the plight of Travellers in Ireland (borrowing freely from others' expertise) and how some of the best intentioned people who are academics and social workers may or may not be helping.

Another future edition of Controversy is in the planning stage, that will be mostly devoted to the nomadic character of the Traveller as a source of conflict with the settled or "country" people of Ireland and the USA.

Word from Ireland:

>Ainie McGinley here, a traveller from Ireland. Myself and my brother Willie
>were thinkin of tracing any connections we might have with travellers over
>in America. Please put this in your "what's new" section so that any
>visitor to your site who thinks they might be related to us McGinleys can
>email me. Please email me your family tree Richard and I can tell you of
>travellers I know over here who could be your long lost relations.
>
>At this present moment I have a "Tabbert Baronesse 620", 26foot long& an old
>barell top trailer for sale if anyone's intrested.
>

Sorry I have taken so long to reply, Ainie.
I'm placing your e-mail on the What's New page at Travellers' Rest today.
I really don't think that I have any even remote relatives left in Ireland any more. On both sides of my Traveller roots (through my mother) the families were related and the entire clan, right down to my grandparents' first cousins, apparently came over here en masse about 120 years ago. There are still some Travellers in Ireland with the same family names (very few, I understand) but they would not "know me from a hole in the wall," as the saying goes.
Good luck selling the vehicles.

I have also received a request for information about a specific Traveller family in Ireland:
"Would Bernie Ward of Taum, be related to Pat Ward, Travelling piper, also related to the Cash family of Wexford?"
Please reply with any information on the last item to Travellers' Rest.

I get a few requests now and then for information about the music available on some of the pages of this web site. Frankly, the selections are traditional Celtic tunes in the MIDI format, which is very economical with respect to file size and loading time but woefully limited in terms of musical quality. However now, thanks to the kindness of a Uilleann piper named Thomas Johnson, I can present a list of some selections by Traveller musical artists. I should warn you all in advance that many of these items may be difficult to locate for sale and I don't have a clue personally how to do so. Mr. Johnson's information follows:

Well here's a few recordings of Irish Traveller
musicians. These are mostly available on CD,
but have been recorded some time ago in
some cases. Also listen to Norma
Waterson, great voice. Norma is married to
Martin Carthy, their daughter is Eliza Carthy
fiddler and singer. Norma has English
Traveller origins.

Travellin' people / Pecker Dunne & Margaret Barry, vocals
Emerald Gem: MCVD30012 : p 1996
1 CD

Ireland's own / Margaret Barry, vocals, banjo
Pure Traditional Irish: PTICD 1029 : p 1996
1 CD

She moves through the fair / Margaret Barry, vocals, banjo &
Michael Gorman, fiddle
Folktracks: 60070 : p 1988
1 MC

Her mantle so green / Margaret Barry, vocals, banjo
Topic: TSCD 474 : 1994
1 CD

I sang through the fairs / Margaret Barry, vocals, banjo
Rounder: ROUCD 1774 : p 1998
! CD

The bunch of keys the complete recordings of Johnny Doran / Johnny
Doran, uilleann pipes
Dublin : Comheirle Bhéaliodeas éireann: CBé 001, (1986) - 1 MC : mono
Recorded 1947 on 9 acetate discs made by the Irish Folklore Commision

Traditional Irish pipe music / Finbar Furey, uilleann pipes
Wooded Hill: HILLCD 13 : p 1998
1 CD

Traditional Irish fiddle / Ted Furey, fiddle
Outlet: COX 120 : p 1988
1 MC

Eddie & Finbar Furey/The lonesome boatman / Eddie Furey, vocals, guitar &
Finbar Furey, vocals, uilleann pipes
Essential: ESMCD 524 : p 1997
1 CD

The wind and the rain / Finbar Furey, vocals
K-Tel: ECD 3371 : p 1997
1 CD

Poirt an phiobaire / Paddy Keenan, uilleann pipes
Gael Linn: CEFCD 099 : p 1994
1 CD

Na keen affair / Paddy Keenan, uilleann pipes
(Boston?) : Hot Conya, p 1997 -
1 CD

Travelling people of Ireland / various artists
Lyrichord: LLST 17178 : p 1981
1 LP

Songs of the Travelling people
Saydisc: CDSDL 407 : p 1994
1 CD

Thomas Johnson's web site on Uilleann Pipes (with excellent links to other sites) can be found at:

There is an additional page linked to Traveller/Shelta which offers a reasonable explanation, I think, of where the name "Shelta" came from as the name of our language, and why Travellers both in the U.S.A. and in Ireland have always called it Cant or Gammon instead. I'll provide a handy direct link here if you are interested: Shelta, What's in a Name?