Who was Eamon Kelly?

Eamon Kelly- A famous Irish Seanachi

Eamon Kelly is known in Ireland as ‘the Seanachai’ in the 1950s and 1960s from his RTE Broadcasted stories.Eamon Kelly brought a tradition of storytelling to the masses both in his published works and for years in Galway, where he ran a one man show. (Claddagh Records, 2009). This type of show is known as a monolog. At these shows Eamon Kelly ran his one man.Eammon Kelly was born in 1914 and died in 2001.(Kelly,1998). An article stating this can be viewed by clicking the following link:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/theatre-world-in-mourning-as-eamonn-kelly-actor-and-storyteller-dies-at-87-330681.html
Other sources on   Kelly's work include
http://www.irishmusicmail.com/products/Eamon-Kelly-%252d-THE-IRISH-STORYTELLER-%252d-CD.html
http://www.irelandlogue.com/about-ireland/history/irelands-master-storyteller.html

Kelly carried out a type of show called  a monolog..Eammon Kelly was born in 1914 and died in 2001. Kelly had been nominated for a Tony on Broadway and shared countless hours of stories with his Irish audience back home (Claddagh Record,2009)

Eamonn Kelly was perhaps the last authentic seanchai. the seanchai” in the 1950s and 1960s for his RTE broadcasted stories Eamon Kelly is known to have brought humor into the stories that he told. This.  Kelly’s stories give a fantastic example of how older stories are still told today being passed o ghluin go gluin. .A good example of one of these stories is Kelly’s The Tea Man. (Youtube,2011) So they wound up sharing the only bed in the house with the husband and wife who they were delivering tea to. Eamon Kelly demonistrtaes how Storytellers have played an important role in Irish society from the days in which they told tales to kings and noblesmen right up to the mid twentieth century(Irish Family History,2010). Kelly’s stories are preserved as they are told by millions of people and have been re-interpertatied by current storytellers and sceanachi.

( a) Excerpts from Going to America

‘We lived in an inland parish and the men were sitting around my father’s fire talking to about the Ceannai Fionn, well, you could could count on one hand the number of those that ever saw the sea salt, except the man that was going to America. (Kelly,1998,16)

I myself saw the tail-end of the giant emmigration that half-emptied the countryside. Often  as a small child going to school  I called into a neighbour’s house to say good bye to a son or a daughter that was going to America in the morning’ (Kelly,1998,17)

‘Will you let go of me! Will you stop I said! Stop I’m going to tell you.Take your two hands off me whoever you are, and isn’t it ard up you are for you hoult and the priest coming to the frount door’ (Kelly,1998,20)

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Sean Henry

Sean Henry is an example of an Irish Sceanachi who has written about County Mayo. He has compiled many stories on County Mayo.

Examples of these can be seen in an example of a tale from Tales from the West of Ireland is Great Grandmother's tales. In Henry, 1980 the author states that

'My maternal great grandmother died in 1911 and to the best of my reckoning, one hundred and two years old, was a mind of information on events connected from the famine'

This piece of text is an example of how stories were passed o ghluin go gluain' or in English from generation and is an example of how a story, despite its age is not lost but passed on to the next generation by oral transition i.e. storytelling.

                An example of a tale from the west of Ireland in Henry, 1980 is Old Animal Charms and Cures.

An example of text from this story is

                                 ‘Two miles west of Bohola along the main road to Castlebar lay the town land of Loughkeeraun. The tiny bog land loch or lake from the town land got its name has completely disappeared over the past half a century owning to local drainage actions. There was an old tradition that St. Kieran cured a valuable cow that was dying with water taken from the loch was a popular of pilgrimage for centuries. Pilgrims came to Loch Kieran mainly to pray for luck and prosperity with their livestock in the forthcoming year. Not to be outdone in religious favor or whatever, some pilgrims took rolls of butter to throw into the lake as an offering to the saint’. (Henry, 1980, 24-25).

This is an example of a story that was recorded in Loughkeeraun, a town land that is situated Two miles west of Bohola along the main road to Castlebar (Henry, 1980)

Eamon Kelly- Appendix 1

An example of a story by Eamon Kelly is Going to America. This is a story which shows Kelly’s method of storytelling to people.  In the piece entitled ‘Going to America’ Kelly tells the story of emigration in particular the story of how the Irish went to America. These excerps demonistrates Kelly’s unique style of storytelling. They also demonistrate people’s nostalgia for Ireland.These excerpts are taken from his story entitled ‘Going to America’

Excerpt 1

‘We lived in an inland parish and the men were sitting around my father’s fire talking to about the Ceannai Fionn, well, you could could count on one hand the number of those that ever saw the sea salt, except the man that was going to America. (Kelly,1998,16)

Excerpt 2

I myself saw the tail-end of the giant emmigration that half-emptied the countryside. Often  as a small child going to school  I called into a neighbour’s house to say good bye to a son or a daughter that was going to America in the morning’ (Kelly,1998,17)

Excerpt 3

‘Will you let go of me! Will you stop I said! Stop I’m going to tell you.Take your two hands off me whoever you are, and isn’t it ard up you are for you hoult and the priest coming to the frount door’ (Kelly,1998,20)