I couldn't seem to find another thread devoted to this but if there is one I apologize. I was just wondering if anyone knew the reason(s) why De Dannan split up in the 1st place.
And hottfiddler.. My guess is that you will find you like them quite a bit sometime in the not too distant future. Say what you like about Frankie, he really did set a standard for Irish fiddle playing, and DeDannan was clearly one of the most important Irish trad bands out there.
Check out the DeDannan CD "Ballroom", which is (IMHO) their best.
Frankie was just here with his brother Sean on accordion and I thought it was brilliant. The whole night was just the two of them... no back-up. My favorite recording of Frankie predates De Dannan, it’s the one with him and Alec. I told him that once and he seemed disappointed. I used to go to all the De Dannan gigs when they came through town and loved em all. What a great line-up of talent -- you can't go wrong. My favorite period was when Dolores Keane was their singer. They definitely broke ground. I love Frankies description of the group I read somewhere. He said it was an experiment to put ITM together with a tapastry of different sounds. There was no such thing as a touring trad band back then I guess. The experiment worked I guess anyway. I have nothing but admiration for them.
The Chieftains and Planxty eh? I could swear I already mentioned them. I don't consider Clannad or the Dubliners of the same ilk really, but I the Fureys didn't form until 1974. Is Emmet Spiceland a trad band?
Mark, I first met Frankie when he did a solo show here a few years back. I'm friends with his agent and we all went for a drink after the show. I've met him since then on account of running the sound desk at the local pub where he's played twice now.
Yo, you Brits. Is Melody Maker weekly newspaper still going?
My favourite ever letter to the editor:
Why don't John, Paul, Ringo and George get together to form a supergroup?
(It was a while ago)
Yo You brits ? hey pal your not accusing english and northern irish of being from the same place as the scots or welsh are you. Its a little like pigeon holing the belgians french and spanish of all being "euro's"
Yo euro ! dont sound the same does it ?
They didn't build hadrians wall and put a toll on the severn bridge for nothing.
De Danaan put the two-row melodeon / accordeon in the centre of its music. The playing of Messrs. Daly and O'Connor was a great inspiration to people like me who were / are trying to learn the thing.
Yeah, despite the ego, I liked his music, and the band's, and Daly and O'Connor and others helped to strike a balance.
You shouldn't let one thing affect your attitude, like 'first impressions', but I remember a relaxed evening in the West of Ireland, and Frankie happened to be there. I think it was Galway. He has talent, no doubt, fiddle and winds, but he lets himself take over, and there was other talent there besides himself, local and recognized. A lady I knew and liked was actually an old mate of his from school days. During a pause, a break, she went up to say her hellos and compliment him on his music. He cold shouldered her and left her feeling stupid. Whatever his talent, I'd rather learn from and play with someone who isn't so full of themselves, or so it appeared and appears. What cost a hello and smile, eh?
But ~ I still appreciate his talent...and the group's... Oddly though, the only albums I have are his first and the one with him on flute... Outside of the group I have albums by Daly, O'Connor, Dolores Keane, etc... The 'Ballroom' album was fun...
Actually, I thought De Dannan AND Frankie were(and still are) great. Dow will accuse me of name dropping but I always found Frankie friendly enough to speak to, although we don't really know each other.
However, I heard an interesting story once but it could be a "rural myth" about the early days in Galway. Apparently, there was this matriarchal old lady(I can't remember her name) who either owned a pub or house where all the great local musicians frequented. Anyway, they all turned up one day and the woman said ...along these lines....."Ah sure, ye can all come in now. Ye's are all welcome but as for you, Frankie Gavin, ye can just Feck Off"
As I say, I don't know if the story's true or not but it's a good one.
Small correction, “Phantom”. “De Danann’s” first album was recorded in 1975. Frankie & Alec’s Shanachie album was 1977. Over the years they made some of the best Irish music I ever heard.
That was a good line Scotty. I heard that story too in Milltown in 82 or 84. The "big" players were gathering for a session in another village away from the crowds in Milltown when Frankie copped that one. Ouch!
Oldstrings - Melody Maker is no more. It bit the dust (joined New Musical Express, I think) in 2000. It had started in the 20s, covering jazz etc. Maybe the distinct lack of melodies being made in mainstream pop /rock / dance music over recent years helped cause the paper to turn up its toes.
Selected Jigs Reels and Songs, and that one with just Frankie and Alec, are still two of my favorite albums, though I never did listen to later De Danann much.
Johnny Moynihan was on Selected Jigs And Reel,he sang The Banks Of Red Roses and Love Will You Marry Me.There was a bodhran player whose name escapes me.You must be thinking of the album on the Seannachie label which just had Frankie and Alec on it.I think it was their recording debut.
Phantom I think it's wonderful that you're friends with Frankie Gavin's agent. I bet you go to some great parties. All those famous people. You could write a book!
Has anyone mentioned Alec Finn yet? He is, in my opinion (and, doubtless, the opinion of many others), one of the finest bouzouki players and most tasteful backers of Traditional Music and was just as instrumental as Frankie Gavin in creating the De Danann sound. He was (correct me If I'm wrong) the only member besides Gavin to have been in the line up throughout. As for personality, I can not speak for Frankie Gavin, as I've never met him, but I met Alec Finn once after a gig with Mary Bergin in London, and found him very approachable.
Let us also not forget Charlie Piggott, who, before a serious hand injury, played a significant role in defining the tenor banjo (and bouzouki) as a melody instrument in Irish music.
Personally, I see no reason to mourn the loss of De Danann. My favourite albums of theirs are the ones from 30-odd years ago. I have never heard them playing live *as 'De Danann'* (I did once hear Gavin, Finn and Sean Ryan playing in a session), but if their musical relationship has gone stale or run out of steam, then there is no point in their forcing themselves to play together. Besides, all the members, past and present (or 'recent past', since the group no longer has a 'present'), great players in their own right, will undoubtedly form many other fruitful musical partnerships - and the fact that they will no longer work together as a professional unit is no reason for them not to play great music together when circumstances conspire to make it happen.
This is spoon posting as mousemusic. And so was that.
Does anyone know how to log in as oneself from another member's computer?
Yes! ~ & Alec Finn ~ & Charlie Piggott ~ &...a lot of talent and some lively and interesting results. While the group may be defunct their music and influence will continue and I expect they will in other ways...
Like Planxty and the Bothies they seldom featured the whistle, though all three bands had people who could play it very well.
Their theme albums were good and interesting (like "Star-Spangled Molly" and "Ballroom"). I think they were weakest when they let in the odd rather substandard contemporary singer/songwriter type song. Their take on Handel's "Entry Of The Queen Of Sheba" was brilliant:their other Classical attempts that I heard I found less stirring - not because of their playing, but because the pieces of music were less rousing. But yes, a very great Irish band.
JfiddlerH refers to my record with splits and break ups. Three or four bands, two political parties, one paramilitary organisation, three sports clubs, two trade unions, a Drama Society, just because I was there does not mean I had anything to do with it. Mere coincidence.
An Irish musician who died recently showed up at St. Peter's gate carrying his fiddle. St. Peter says to him, "Ah... welcome to Heaven, I see you brought the fiddle." The deceased fiddler says, "Yes, and I'm looking forward to a great session with some old friends... do you know where the session is? St. Peter points to a path and says, "Yes indeed, there's a cracking session down at the end of this path. I heard them starting up as I passed on the way here." The late fiddler said, "Cheers." and headed down the path. When he got to the end he saw a nice little pub and he went up and peeked through the window by the door. He could see Seamus Ennis' pipes, Cooley's accordion, Tommy Pott's fiddle, and many other well-known player’s instruments all resting in empty chairs… but there were no musicians anywhere to be seen. The only person in the room was some old grey-haired fella playing madly away on fiddle... but his playing was woeful. The recently departed fiddler quickly ducked away hoping not to be seen and headed back to where St. Peter was. When he got there he reported to St. Peter what he saw and told him all about the horrible fiddling from the old fella. St. Peter said, "Oh... right... that old fella is God but he thinks he's Frankie Gavin."
The point of starting this whole thing was to find out why they split. The reason why I was asking was that someone I know who lived a decade in Galway mentioned something about Frankie and Alec Finn (who nobody can touch on the zouk IMHO) having a falling out of some kind...making the possibility of them playing together again pretty remote if it's true and hopefully it's not because that would be a real shame. This is particularly true in my case since I never saw them live.
And Kess, saying that they never touched the Bothies is as silly a statement as any that I've ever seen on the site. At that level it's a matter of opinion and if you ask me the Bothies weren't fit to touch De Dannan's toes at ANY position...period. Kevin Burke and Tommy Peoples together couldn't hold Frankie's bow! But again, that's my opinion.
One more thing...Frankie is brilliant-who frigging cares whether he's an a**hole or not? I certainly don't-I just listen.
dtb wrote 'the Bothies weren't fit to touch De Dannan's toes at ANY position...period'.
I think you'll probably find that 99% of the discerning musical world disagrees with you. Jayz, De D were good, but they lacked the fire in their bellies and they never produced anything near the passion, verve and spark that The Bothy Band had.
Said band's emergence was the equivalance of Muddy Waters electrifying (in more ways than one) the Chicago blues scene. Without TBB there would have been no Altan, Lúnasa, Solas, Danú and many more.
I'd challenge you, dtb, to name one band that owes its roots to De Dannan.
Wow, it's been a while since I looked at this thread but...I don't give a rat's a** what 99% of whomever thinks. Like I said that's my opinion and I'm sure that contrary to your opinion I'm not alone - not that I'm saying that the Bothies sucked at all, far from it. DeDannan is what got me to take up the box...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
As for your challenge:
1. Morga - 6-string bouzouki player that sounds a lot like Alec Finn. Look at their myspace page where they mention wanting to bring back the old 70's sound a la De Dannan.
2. Dervish - in an old Dirty Linen mag. from the late 90's I used to have, they mentioned being sick of being compared to the Bothies and said that they were more like De Dannan because both bands just "play the tunes" rather than using flashier Bothy-ish arrangements.
3. Teada - Oisin mentioned being influenced by De Dannan when I met him way back in the day.
4. Beoga - huge Mairtin O'Connor influence there and it was largely DeDannan albums that got him heard by most of us. Many other box players playing in a whole bunch of bands would probably back me up on that one but Beoga is an obvious mention here.
5. David Munnelly band - Nuff said! The guy played with DeDannan and again, the O'Connor influence is obvious. Much of their repetoire comes from old DeDannan albums (ex. Two Jewish Reels)
6. Danu - Start with their very name and you can take it from there...Benny's box playing = again huge O'Connor/Daly influence.
7. Any other band that features the box as a lead instrument owes its roots to DeDannan since this was one of the first bands to do this instead of leaning more on the pipes like the Bothies and Planxty did.
I think that just about covers it. Anyway, as I said it all comes down to personal preference.
Also, any trad. band that ventures into the 1920's Flanagan Bros. type stuff, classical, etc. owes a debt to DeDannan since they were basically the first group to do this kind of stuff. Yes, I agree that a lot of it was hit and miss but anyway...
De Dannan Split
De Dannan Split
I couldn't seem to find another thread devoted to this but if there is one I apologize. I was just wondering if anyone knew the reason(s) why De Dannan split up in the 1st place.
# Posted on December 7th 2006 by dtb
Re: De Dannan Split
Frankie Gavin.
# Posted on December 7th 2006 by John J.
Re: De Dannan Split
I refused to join.
# Posted on December 7th 2006 by bodhran bliss
Re: De Dannan Split
Gavin, figures, why did they wait this long?
# Posted on December 7th 2006 by ceolachan
Re: De Dannan Split
Frankie likes to play with himself ....
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Schlongbow
Re: De Dannan Split
never really liked them much, can't comment.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by BE
Re: De Dannan Split
I'm not going to comment either... oops... I just did... damn!
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Phantom Button
Re: De Dannan Split
25 years isn't a bad run of it after all. They probably just figgered it was time...
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Georgi
Re: De Dannan Split
And hottfiddler.. My guess is that you will find you like them quite a bit sometime in the not too distant future. Say what you like about Frankie, he really did set a standard for Irish fiddle playing, and DeDannan was clearly one of the most important Irish trad bands out there.
Check out the DeDannan CD "Ballroom", which is (IMHO) their best.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Georgi
Re: De Dannan Split
Frankie was just here with his brother Sean on accordion and I thought it was brilliant. The whole night was just the two of them... no back-up. My favorite recording of Frankie predates De Dannan, it’s the one with him and Alec. I told him that once and he seemed disappointed. I used to go to all the De Dannan gigs when they came through town and loved em all. What a great line-up of talent -- you can't go wrong. My favorite period was when Dolores Keane was their singer. They definitely broke ground. I love Frankies description of the group I read somewhere. He said it was an experiment to put ITM together with a tapastry of different sounds. There was no such thing as a touring trad band back then I guess. The experiment worked I guess anyway. I have nothing but admiration for them.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Phantom Button
Re: De Dannan Split
"I told him that once and he seemed disappointed"
Was that when you invited them for tea so you could teach them some tunes?
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Dr. Dow
Re: De Dannan Split
"There was no such thing as a touring trad band back then"
eh? They were good, but I don't think they were unique.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by grego
Re: De Dannan Split
What other bands were formed in 1973 or earlier that featured trad music like that? The Chieftains and Planxty of course, but who else?
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Phantom Button
Re: De Dannan Split
The Chieftans and Planxty.
Maybe Clannad, Emmett Spiceland, the Fureys, the Dubliners, depending on how inclusive "like that" needs to be.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by grego
Re: De Dannan Split
The Chieftains and Planxty eh? I could swear I already mentioned them. I don't consider Clannad or the Dubliners of the same ilk really, but I the Fureys didn't form until 1974. Is Emmet Spiceland a trad band?
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Phantom Button
Re: De Dannan Split
Mark, I first met Frankie when he did a solo show here a few years back. I'm friends with his agent and we all went for a drink after the show. I've met him since then on account of running the sound desk at the local pub where he's played twice now.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Phantom Button
Oh yea...
I'm just remembering now... talk of meeting these people makes Mark's skin crawl for some reason. "Name dropping" I think he likes to call it.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Phantom Button
Re: De Dannan Split
I assumed they split up years ago - like in the 90's. How strange. Isnt FG playing with Tim Edey at the moment?
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by bb
Re: De Dannan Split
Yo, you Brits. Is Melody Maker weekly newspaper still going?
My favourite ever letter to the editor:
Why don't John, Paul, Ringo and George get together to form a supergroup?
(It was a while ago)
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by oldstrings
Re: De Dannan Split
No FG
No Comment,
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: De Dannan Split
Yo You brits ? hey pal your not accusing english and northern irish of being from the same place as the scots or welsh are you. Its a little like pigeon holing the belgians french and spanish of all being "euro's"
Yo euro ! dont sound the same does it ?
They didn't build hadrians wall and put a toll on the severn bridge for nothing.
Bloddy yanks
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: De Dannan Split
And as for NI its so beautiful they had to steal it !
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Ripthecalico
Re: De Dannan Split
Oh yeah, the name-dropping phobia. Maybe you want to loosen up a bit, Mark. But then it was a blatant one, Jack.
As for other touring trad bands of that era, the Boys of the Lough hasn't been mentioned. They used to fill concert halls all over Europe and US.
Further pedantry - Rip is correct. the UK is the UK of GB and NI.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Rudall the time
Re: De Dannan Split
De Danaan put the two-row melodeon / accordeon in the centre of its music. The playing of Messrs. Daly and O'Connor was a great inspiration to people like me who were / are trying to learn the thing.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by nicholas
Re: De Dannan top banana Split
well,one of my favourite albums is their 'selected jigs&reels' so i don't care what they say!
btw,that gavin/finn album is the dog's bollx too
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by biggus dave
Re: De Dannan Split
Yeah, despite the ego, I liked his music, and the band's, and Daly and O'Connor and others helped to strike a balance.
You shouldn't let one thing affect your attitude, like 'first impressions', but I remember a relaxed evening in the West of Ireland, and Frankie happened to be there. I think it was Galway. He has talent, no doubt, fiddle and winds, but he lets himself take over, and there was other talent there besides himself, local and recognized. A lady I knew and liked was actually an old mate of his from school days. During a pause, a break, she went up to say her hellos and compliment him on his music. He cold shouldered her and left her feeling stupid. Whatever his talent, I'd rather learn from and play with someone who isn't so full of themselves, or so it appeared and appears. What cost a hello and smile, eh?
But ~ I still appreciate his talent...and the group's... Oddly though, the only albums I have are his first and the one with him on flute... Outside of the group I have albums by Daly, O'Connor, Dolores Keane, etc... The 'Ballroom' album was fun...
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by ceolachan
Re: De Dannan Split
Bliss i would've thought you joining would have been the first thing that would have split them.... given your past record?
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by jfiddlerh
Re: De Dannan Split
Oh dear, did I start something with my comment?
Actually, I thought De Dannan AND Frankie were(and still are) great. Dow will accuse me of name dropping but I always found Frankie friendly enough to speak to, although we don't really know each other.
However, I heard an interesting story once but it could be a "rural myth" about the early days in Galway. Apparently, there was this matriarchal old lady(I can't remember her name) who either owned a pub or house where all the great local musicians frequented. Anyway, they all turned up one day and the woman said ...along these lines....."Ah sure, ye can all come in now. Ye's are all welcome but as for you, Frankie Gavin, ye can just Feck Off"
As I say, I don't know if the story's true or not but it's a good one.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by John J.
Re: De Dannan Split
Small correction, “Phantom”. “De Danann’s” first album was recorded in 1975. Frankie & Alec’s Shanachie album was 1977. Over the years they made some of the best Irish music I ever heard.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Kenny
Re: De Dannan Split
They never touched the Bothy Band!
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Kess
Re: De Dannan Split
That was a good line Scotty. I heard that story too in Milltown in 82 or 84. The "big" players were gathering for a session in another village away from the crowds in Milltown when Frankie copped that one. Ouch!
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by cabers
Re: De Dannan Split
Oldstrings - Melody Maker is no more. It bit the dust (joined New Musical Express, I think) in 2000. It had started in the 20s, covering jazz etc. Maybe the distinct lack of melodies being made in mainstream pop /rock / dance music over recent years helped cause the paper to turn up its toes.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by nicholas
Re: De Dannan Split
Selected Jigs Reels and Songs, and that one with just Frankie and Alec, are still two of my favorite albums, though I never did listen to later De Danann much.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by winterowl
Re: De Dannan Split
Johnny Moynihan was on Selected Jigs And Reel,he sang The Banks Of Red Roses and Love Will You Marry Me.There was a bodhran player whose name escapes me.You must be thinking of the album on the Seannachie label which just had Frankie and Alec on it.I think it was their recording debut.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by dafydd
Re: De Dannan Split
Selected Jigs And Reels of course.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by dafydd
Re: De Dannan Split
Phantom I think it's wonderful that you're friends with Frankie Gavin's agent. I bet you go to some great parties. All those famous people. You could write a book!
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Dr. Dow
Re: De Dannan Split
Dsylexia or Freudian slip, I don't know which, but I just read that as 'De Banana Split'.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by mousemusic
Re: De Dannan Split
Has anyone mentioned Alec Finn yet? He is, in my opinion (and, doubtless, the opinion of many others), one of the finest bouzouki players and most tasteful backers of Traditional Music and was just as instrumental as Frankie Gavin in creating the De Danann sound. He was (correct me If I'm wrong) the only member besides Gavin to have been in the line up throughout. As for personality, I can not speak for Frankie Gavin, as I've never met him, but I met Alec Finn once after a gig with Mary Bergin in London, and found him very approachable.
Let us also not forget Charlie Piggott, who, before a serious hand injury, played a significant role in defining the tenor banjo (and bouzouki) as a melody instrument in Irish music.
Personally, I see no reason to mourn the loss of De Danann. My favourite albums of theirs are the ones from 30-odd years ago. I have never heard them playing live *as 'De Danann'* (I did once hear Gavin, Finn and Sean Ryan playing in a session), but if their musical relationship has gone stale or run out of steam, then there is no point in their forcing themselves to play together. Besides, all the members, past and present (or 'recent past', since the group no longer has a 'present'), great players in their own right, will undoubtedly form many other fruitful musical partnerships - and the fact that they will no longer work together as a professional unit is no reason for them not to play great music together when circumstances conspire to make it happen.
This is spoon posting as mousemusic. And so was that.
Does anyone know how to log in as oneself from another member's computer?
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by mousemusic
Re: The Banana Splits
Yes! ~ & Alec Finn ~ & Charlie Piggott ~ &...a lot of talent and some lively and interesting results. While the group may be defunct their music and influence will continue and I expect they will in other ways...
Spoon as mousemusic? That is weird...
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by ceolachan
Re: De Dannan Split
"tasteful" is a good word for Finn's playing. Graceful and lovely and always seeming to get along with whatever else is going on.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by winterowl
Re: De Dannan Split
As he also did with people, a gentleman...
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by ceolachan
Re: De Dannan Split
Like Planxty and the Bothies they seldom featured the whistle, though all three bands had people who could play it very well.
Their theme albums were good and interesting (like "Star-Spangled Molly" and "Ballroom"). I think they were weakest when they let in the odd rather substandard contemporary singer/songwriter type song. Their take on Handel's "Entry Of The Queen Of Sheba" was brilliant:their other Classical attempts that I heard I found less stirring - not because of their playing, but because the pieces of music were less rousing. But yes, a very great Irish band.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by nicholas
Re: De Dannan Split
JfiddlerH refers to my record with splits and break ups. Three or four bands, two political parties, one paramilitary organisation, three sports clubs, two trade unions, a Drama Society, just because I was there does not mean I had anything to do with it. Mere coincidence.
And De Dannan were great.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by bodhran bliss
Re: De Dannan Split
Ah, well, I'd better not mention the old 'Four Men and a God' joke'.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by MacCruiskeen
Re: De Dannan Split
Go on already...
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by ceolachan
Re: De Dannan Split
You'll find another if you simply look up Ceolas:De Dannan on the web, and scroll right down to the bottom of the page.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by nicholas
Re: De Dannan Split
Thanks for the correction, Kenny.
Key Maniac Lad writes: "Oh yeah, the name-dropping phobia. Maybe you want to loosen up a bit, Mark. But then it was a blatant one, Jack."
So how should I have put it?
"Frankie Gavin seemed disappointed when someone told him their favorite recording of his was the one with just himself and Alec."
How would I know that?
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Phantom Button
Re: De Dannan Split
An Irish musician who died recently showed up at St. Peter's gate carrying his fiddle. St. Peter says to him, "Ah... welcome to Heaven, I see you brought the fiddle." The deceased fiddler says, "Yes, and I'm looking forward to a great session with some old friends... do you know where the session is? St. Peter points to a path and says, "Yes indeed, there's a cracking session down at the end of this path. I heard them starting up as I passed on the way here." The late fiddler said, "Cheers." and headed down the path. When he got to the end he saw a nice little pub and he went up and peeked through the window by the door. He could see Seamus Ennis' pipes, Cooley's accordion, Tommy Pott's fiddle, and many other well-known player’s instruments all resting in empty chairs… but there were no musicians anywhere to be seen. The only person in the room was some old grey-haired fella playing madly away on fiddle... but his playing was woeful. The recently departed fiddler quickly ducked away hoping not to be seen and headed back to where St. Peter was. When he got there he reported to St. Peter what he saw and told him all about the horrible fiddling from the old fella. St. Peter said, "Oh... right... that old fella is God but he thinks he's Frankie Gavin."
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by Phantom Button
Re: De Dannan Split
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by ceolachan
Re: De Dannan Split
Guys,
The point of starting this whole thing was to find out why they split. The reason why I was asking was that someone I know who lived a decade in Galway mentioned something about Frankie and Alec Finn (who nobody can touch on the zouk IMHO) having a falling out of some kind...making the possibility of them playing together again pretty remote if it's true and hopefully it's not because that would be a real shame. This is particularly true in my case since I never saw them live.
And Kess, saying that they never touched the Bothies is as silly a statement as any that I've ever seen on the site. At that level it's a matter of opinion and if you ask me the Bothies weren't fit to touch De Dannan's toes at ANY position...period. Kevin Burke and Tommy Peoples together couldn't hold Frankie's bow! But again, that's my opinion.
One more thing...Frankie is brilliant-who frigging cares whether he's an a**hole or not? I certainly don't-I just listen.
# Posted on December 8th 2006 by dtb
Re: De Dannan Split
You win, Jack. Tell me where I should send the money.
# Posted on December 9th 2006 by grego
And "the Chieftans and Planxty" was meant as irony... Didn't work.
# Posted on December 9th 2006 by grego
Re: De Dannan Split
I won some money???
Ahhh... Irony... I see. I must admit, I was wondering. Missed that bit... sorry.
# Posted on December 9th 2006 by Phantom Button
Re: De Dannan Split
Oh well, no money then.
# Posted on December 9th 2006 by grego
Re: De Dannan Split
dtb wrote 'the Bothies weren't fit to touch De Dannan's toes at ANY position...period'.
I think you'll probably find that 99% of the discerning musical world disagrees with you. Jayz, De D were good, but they lacked the fire in their bellies and they never produced anything near the passion, verve and spark that The Bothy Band had.
Said band's emergence was the equivalance of Muddy Waters electrifying (in more ways than one) the Chicago blues scene. Without TBB there would have been no Altan, Lúnasa, Solas, Danú and many more.
I'd challenge you, dtb, to name one band that owes its roots to De Dannan.
# Posted on November 30th 2007 by MacCruiskeen
Re: De Dannan Split
Floss the Tethers,
Wow, it's been a while since I looked at this thread but...I don't give a rat's a** what 99% of whomever thinks. Like I said that's my opinion and I'm sure that contrary to your opinion I'm not alone - not that I'm saying that the Bothies sucked at all, far from it. DeDannan is what got me to take up the box...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
As for your challenge:
1. Morga - 6-string bouzouki player that sounds a lot like Alec Finn. Look at their myspace page where they mention wanting to bring back the old 70's sound a la De Dannan.
2. Dervish - in an old Dirty Linen mag. from the late 90's I used to have, they mentioned being sick of being compared to the Bothies and said that they were more like De Dannan because both bands just "play the tunes" rather than using flashier Bothy-ish arrangements.
3. Teada - Oisin mentioned being influenced by De Dannan when I met him way back in the day.
4. Beoga - huge Mairtin O'Connor influence there and it was largely DeDannan albums that got him heard by most of us. Many other box players playing in a whole bunch of bands would probably back me up on that one but Beoga is an obvious mention here.
5. David Munnelly band - Nuff said! The guy played with DeDannan and again, the O'Connor influence is obvious. Much of their repetoire comes from old DeDannan albums (ex. Two Jewish Reels)
6. Danu - Start with their very name and you can take it from there...Benny's box playing = again huge O'Connor/Daly influence.
7. Any other band that features the box as a lead instrument owes its roots to DeDannan since this was one of the first bands to do this instead of leaning more on the pipes like the Bothies and Planxty did.
I think that just about covers it. Anyway, as I said it all comes down to personal preference.
# Posted on February 25th 2009 by dtb
Re: De Dannan Split
Also, any trad. band that ventures into the 1920's Flanagan Bros. type stuff, classical, etc. owes a debt to DeDannan since they were basically the first group to do this kind of stuff. Yes, I agree that a lot of it was hit and miss but anyway...
# Posted on February 25th 2009 by dtb