This is my favourite tune of the moment and best band video for me.
It's an Irish band called 'Danu'.
I honestly can't stop listening and watching this video, as I love this tune.
Really impressed with the flute player (Tom Doorley) what an amazing player...Really impressed with the whistle playing of the lovely and very talented Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and Benny McCarthy on the button accordian but think my favourite is the bodhran player (Donnchadh Gough). I absolutely love this guy, I love his style and playing, how into this tune is he? :-)
My second favourite tune just now, is a new thing created by Brian Finnegan called 'The Singing Tree', and a tune called 'Night Ride To Armagh'. Please go give it a listen, you'll be glad I told you about it once you've heard, it's just a stunning tune - nearly brought tears to my eyes when I first heard it.
http://www.myspace.com/briantfinnegan
Etkilendikleri
Not as much influences, but favourite bands/artists are Flook, Lunasa, Old Blind Dogs, Calum Stewart, Michael McGoldrick, Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham, Gary Innes, John McCusker, Chris Stout, Dougie MacLean, John McSherry amongst others.
I've watched this guy mature as a whistler/flute player over the past few years and would have to say that I really admire and respect this guy from abroad and I dream of being to play this good - he's an amazing player.
Here are some other of my YouTube video from my favourite artists.
My name is Ian McDonagh and I'm originally from Glasgow, but don't hold that against me.......I'm currently living in Aberdeen and have been for the past few years. I play both the Penny & Low Whistles, Irish Wooden Flute, Irish Bodhran and am looking into buying my first set of Uilleanne Pipes, from the help of one Cillian Valley of Lunasa who I had the pleasure in meeting at the Arran Folk Festival this year.
After doing a crash Higher in Music in high school, I reached a grade 7 on the trumpet and went on to play professionally in a jazz/swing/big band for a few years before I discovered (loose) women and (cheap) drink. I don't play the trumpet anymore but promised myself that one day when I have my own wee cottage out in the country that I will take it up again as I loved the swing/big band stuff I played back then on the trumpet.
I've been playing traditional/Celtic/Irish music for the past few and started out going to SCaT classes here in Aberdeen.
After a year of these evening classes doing whistle, flute, and a mixed instruments class, I decided to try my hand at starting my own band and hand picked mainly fellow students from SCaT. I steared them to being asked to be the resident band in a local pub before leaving the band due to too many chiefs in the band. This was a real shame as I loved being in a band, and I had such big plans and what I thought were amazing idea's, but think I just had too many people and didn't have the experience of keeping the big personalities at bay.
So what am I doing now? well I either play in a few sessions around Aberdeen at nights or mainly just myself learning tunes from the cd's of my favourite bands.
I've spent my summer/holidays going around Folk Festivals in Scotland and not long back from an amazing trip to the Isle of Arran on the West Coast of Scotland. I spent 10 days there travelling the Island with the Folk Club doing sessions day and night and also spent some time doing my own thing but loved it there. I also got to fulfill one of my dreams and spent some time with the boys from Lunasa, who are my favourite band by miles. So since then, I've been learning their tunes like mad.
So what now.....well, what I would love to do now, is to find a few select people, e.g. Guitarist, fiddler and some sort of bass instrument like cello or double bass to do some messing around with tunes from bands like Lunasa, Flook, Old Blind Dogs etc, but in the meantime I'll just keep plugging away to get as good as I can in the hope that someone will want to join my ideas.
Oh and another wee dream of mine was achieve this year in June (09), when I finally got to spend time with Colin Goldie and become the now very very proud owner of one Overton High D, and an Overton Low D, which I am absolutely over the moon with. I really feel that my playing has come on leaps and bounds since I bought these.
Oh, and about the recordings you hear, well they are over a year and a half old, so are really crap. They were actually the recordings from that wee band during a practise session early on, but it's something on my site rather than nothing.
Once I get back on my feet and get some recordings equipment again, then I'll post some of my playing on here as it's a tad different to that lets say. I'm also trying to work out a way of getting video from my analogue camcorder on to pc as would like to start posting stuff up on youtube.com also, so keep a weathered eye out for that in the near future.
I have finally sussed out how to get stuff from analogue camcorder, so will be recording my playing against some cd's and put them up on YouTube.com soon, so will you posted in my blogs....if you want to subscribe.
Oh and when I'm not doing all the above stuff, I try hold down a normal 9-5 job as an Oracle Analyst/Software Programmer.
Thanks very much indeed Ian, glad you like them and good to hear from you!
Picking up my fiddle playing pal off the train tonight and have booked into a wee recording studio in Stirling tomorrow night to properly record some tunes. I was in recording for a couple of hours myself last night, makes a big difference.
Got my girlfriend to sing on the new tune. Will put the studio recordings up on here over the weekend and will get a copy of the finished C.D off to you if you want?
Giving the liver a break after a week of partying. Managed to meet up with my fiddle playing pal and got a rough recording of "drink up while you're here done." Was a good laugh and think the fiddle makes the song.
Thanks very much for giving the tunes a listen and the kind comments!
I'm hoping to get a bit of proper recording done in elgin when i go back for christmas from uni. I've got a fiddle playing friend but will keep you in updated for sure to add some lovely whistle, bodhran or flute. You must be pretty talented to play so many.
Oh, just read your message. That sounds excellent about the recording equipment. I just bought a line6 usb thing but can't get it working yet. Thanks for the positive words Ian and very kind of you wanting to help out.
I'll be in touch, I've got more of my own songs that sound a bit more folky/scottish. Will get them added when i've got the time. Back to uni work, pish!
Thanks for the add Ian Randomly came across your page, thanks for introducing me too fienlds of athenry. like your covers of wild mountain and caledonia. Sounds like you had great fun recording the tunes, hope you like a couple of mine.
