Danú
Great Performers Series Artist
Performance(s):
Friday, March 31, 2006: 8:00 p.m.
The beating heart of Irish music is, as it has been for centuries, the sessiun. These informal music gatherings, where any and all can gather to play traditional
tunes, have kept Irish music a social form at a time when most other folk styles exist almost exclusively on the professional concert stage, or in the privacy of
people's homes. The Irish even have a word for the special fun of people sharing music together, craic.
More successfully than any band working today, Danú has transferred the unique social energy and convivial passion, the lively craic, of the sessiun to
the concert stage.
In 1995, a few longtime friends and sessiun mates from County Waterford, including Benny McCarthy and Donal Clancy (son of the world-famous Clancy Brother Liam),
heard they could go to the Lorient Inter-Celtic festival in Brittany if they appeared as a band. "The way we looked at it," McCarthy recalls now, "we were just going
for a bit of a laugh; we weren't thinking about a band at all. But we needed to have a Celtic or Irish name to go as a group, so we picked Danú, after the mother
of the ancient Irish gods." Along their way, just as it would go in a folk tale, they chanced to spend the night in Dublin, where they immediately made
their way to the nearest sessiun. There, they met the Doorley brothers, Tom and Éamonn.
They all hit it off so well, musically and personally, that the Waterford lads promised if they were ever asked back to Lorient, they would bring the
Doorleys along. Well, of course, they were invited back, and they did bring the Doorleys. That second year, everyone began to notice that something
special was happening on stage. The crowd loved them, and they won the new band competition.
In 1999, Irish Music Magazine named Danú "Best Overall Traditional Act." In 2002 BBC's vaunted Folk Music Awards named them
the "best band of the year," and The Irish Herald dubbed Danú "the finest traditional band in Ireland."
Danú manages to play Irish traditional music with an authority that belies their tender years. The six instrumentalists whip through a set of
dance tunes with an exciting blend of passion and precision. They skillfully blend fiddle, flute, accordion, bouzouki, guitar, and bodhrán into a sound
that is rooted in tradition but still sounds fresh. Along with the dance tunes, the band also accompanies vocalist Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh as she beautifully
sings in both Irish and English. The future of Irish traditional music is secure as long as young bands like
Danú continue to get together to play the music of their ancestors
Tickets on sale now. For more information about Danú, check out
their website at www.danu.net
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Cost:
$28
Seniors: $25
Buffalo State faculty/staff: $25
Buffalo State Student Rush: $15 (cash only), available one hour prior to show only.
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AND SAVE!
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By Phone:
716-878-3005
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