Rosie McCarthy is an 18-year-old traditional singer and actor from Macroom, who performs unaccompanied in both English and Irish. Having recently completed her Leaving Cert in June, McCarthy balances her rising profile in traditional arts with a part-time job at a dressmaker’s while taking a gap year to focus on a busy performance and festival schedule.
The Bottom Line
- Upcoming Calendar: Following appearances in West Cork community projects and RTÉ’s Songlines, McCarthy’s autumn and winter slate includes the Kinsale Literary Festival, Dublin Trad Festival, and Celtic Connections.
A Rapid Ascent Through Traditional Irish Arts
The trajectory of Rosie McCarthy’s career highlights an intersection of youth and preservation within Ireland’s folk and traditional music circuits. Born in Macroom, McCarthy has been surrounded by traditional singing since childhood, absorbing songs organically through family gatherings and community sing-songs. Rather than relying on formal sheet music, she primarily learns her repertoire by ear, carrying on an oral tradition passed down through generations of the Traveller community.
That foundational upbringing translated into public platforms over recent years. McCarthy’s performance credits span prominent cultural institutions, including the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork, Galway’s Misleor festival, the Drimoleague Singing Festival, and the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Her profile expanded further this summer when she performed at the Traveller Pride Awards in Dublin and sang for President Catherine Connolly at Áras an Uachtarán.
From West Cork Screens to National Broadcasts
McCarthy’s artistic footprint extends beyond live vocal performance into film and television. Her screen debut arrived in 2018 when she was cast as an extra in Cork filmmaker Carmel Winters’ movie Float Like a Butterfly. That initial step opened doors to a more personal and community-focused documentary project spearheaded by Winters’ wife, artist and activist Toma McCullim.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, McCullim filmed The Wheel of Dreams using mobile phones, featuring nine Traveller girls from West Cork, including McCarthy. The project served as a crucial catalyst for her career. Through the documentary, she secured a mentorship with renowned folk singer Clare Sands, drawing the attention of Traveller visibility groups and performance curators across Ireland. This momentum led to her appearance in the RTÉ One documentary Songlines, which featured fellow traditional Traveller singer Thomas McCarthy to document classic Traveller oral and aural song traditions.
Carrying the Torch at the Kinsale Literary Festival
McCarthy’s commitment to keeping songs alive forms the core of her upcoming collaborative work. She is set to perform at the Kinsale Literary Festival, Words by Water, in October. There, she will join poet and storyteller Paddy Doyle for an event titled ‘Bonfires of Remembrance.’
The showcase is designed to honor ancient Irish traditions of oral storytelling and the historic practice of “cuardíocht”—the custom of visiting neighbors to share stories, music, and songs. For McCarthy, these events mirror the “scríocht” nights she frequents in Ballinagree. By pairing Doyle’s atmospheric storytelling and candlelit staging with her renditions of songs collected by figures like Thomas McCarthy and Mary Delaney, the performance bridges past generations with contemporary audiences.
Balancing a Gap Year With Major Festival Bookings
Having sat her Leaving Cert in June, McCarthy is dedicating her current gap year to her artistic output while continuing to work part-time at a dressmaker’s in Macroom. Her recorded vocals have already reached diverse audiences, including a haunting contribution to the soundtrack of Oein DeBhardúin’s play Why the Moon Travels.
As she reflects on her standing as a young Traveller woman in the traditional music space, McCarthy notes the importance of her mission. With upcoming dates stretching across the autumn and winter seasons—including the Samhain Festival in Clonakilty, the Collective Social Futures Festival of Social Science at University College Cork, the Dublin Trad Festival, and Celtic Connections—her calendar underscores a growing institutional and public appetite for authentic, community-rooted folk traditions.
