Tomás Mac Eoin | |
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Birth name | Tomás Mac Eoin |
Born | 1937 (age 79–80) An Cheathru Rua, Ireland |
Genres | Sean Nós |
Occupation(s) | Farmer, writer, composer |
Associated acts | The Waterboys |
Tomás Mac Eoin (born 1937) is an Irish sean-nós singer, an affectionate actor, singer, songwriter and poet. He is best known as Tomás 'Jimmy' Mac Eoin from An Bóthar Buí in An Cheathrú Rua, Conamara, Galway, Ireland.
Irish is the spoken language, although Tomás, like most others in the area, is proficient in English also. As with many people in the West, his life seems to revolve around music. Although probably too modest to ever admit it, he seems to have an unending capacity for song-making. It has been said of him – "the man has forgotten more songs than most people would be able to learn in a lifetime of serious collecting". Renowned for his old-style or sean-nós singing, he was voted the best sean-nós singer in Ireland in 1967 at the Oireachtas competitions and won the Ó'Riada Trophy.
Some of Tomás's best known material include
Regular singer on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, he also performed on The Late Late Show with Gay Byrne several times.
Appeared on the Fisherman's Blues album with the Waterboys