Irish Music Songwriter Says: 'My mother raised me on Planxty'
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DAMANTA will be relocating to Belfast in September to begin touring in Europe and recording in Ireland and Canada. They will play Dublin Crossing Irish Pub in Surrey prior to departing. |
The Canadian folk band Damanta are poised to release their new CD entitled The Drunken Priest and the Ghostly Hymns of Autumn. Their music has been described as funk groove and Gaelic, influenced by Christy Moore, Paul Brady and Andy Irvine.
The unusual band name of Damanta comes from a quote by Irish feminist author Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill's, "We are damned, my sisters," Damanta meaning "damned," "deadly," or "awesome." When the word is used on the Aran Islands, it is an extreme superlative to describe say a very cold day or someone being a really great person.
I recently spoke with band member Elegwen O' Maoileoin who is an Irish sean nos singer. He plays bodhran and uilleann pipes and he is also the songwriter in the group.
O' Maoileoin said, "when I was growing up, I began listening and playing Irish music, like forever, mostly the Chieftains and Planxty. My mother raised me on Planxty and I remember the day I discovered that music existed that wasn't Planxty and Van Morrison, and that was The Beatles."
Damanta was formed in January 2005, just as O' Maoileoin was finishing seminary training for the priesthood in Vancouver.
"I was always exposed to a lot of religion and spirituality as a child and one of the things that always fascinated me about the priests was their sense of knowledge. They always seemed to know something that I didn't and the whole Jesuit mystique intrigued me.
"From the age of about 15, I was pretty convinced that I wanted a religious life so I attended Corpus Christi College and then went on to the Vancouver School of Theology into their Masters of Divinity Program.
"When I finished that, I was accepted into a PhD in Theology at the University of Exeter in England. Technically I'm still enrolled there. I'm on hiatus and could still finish my PhD in Theology in the next five years if I so chose.
"It was while I was at the seminary that I left Roman Catholicism and went to Anglicanism. It was discerned that the life of celibacy wasn't for me and, of course, that makes more sense for me now that I'm a wandering minstrel.
"I believe that someday I will return to the church but what I discovered was that people seemed to be listening more to my songs more than my sermons. So possibly my songs were better at expressing what I had to say."
Damanta will be relocating to Belfast in September, specifically because of touring in Europe and recording albums in both Ireland and Canada. But before they depart, they are booked at several festivals throughout Canada, travelling all the way to the Maritimes, playing pubs, folk societies and festivals along the way.
One of Damanta's last gigs before embarking on their cross-Canada tour will be at the popular Dublin Crossing Irish Pub in Surrey.
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