The Isle of Innisfree - Dan The Street Singer, Ireland 1983

A one man travelling band from Lousiburgh in County Mayo entertains on the streets of Sligo.

Dan The Street Singer, whose real name is Basil Morahan, attracts an audience on O’Connell Street in Sligo. As Dan slowly moves through the town pulling his custom made cart, people stop to listen to a rendition of the ‘Lake Isle of Innisfree’ and throw a few bob into his basket.

Dan explains that he hopes to bring back an old style of performance that he knew as a child when singers went through the streets as they sang.

I’m doing nothing different to ordinary buskers except that I’m mobile and amplified.

This episode of ‘Ireland’s Eye’ was broadcast on 5 April 1983. The reporter is Tommie Gorman.