Danu:Ten Thousand Miles

Danu are
Nell Ni Chroinin (lead vocals, whistle)
Benny McCarthy (button accordion, backing vocals)
Oisin McAuley (fiddle,  strings, backing vocals)
Eamon Doorley (gazouki)
Ivan Goff (flute, uilleann pipes, whistles)
Tony Byrne (guitar)

BIOGRAPHY:
Hailing from Counties Waterford, Cork, Dublin and Donegal in Ireland, Danú is one of the leading traditional Irish ensembles of today. The band formed in 1995 as part of Irelands delegation to Lorient Inter-Celtic Festival in Brittany, France (an annual event that is the biggest gathering of celtic nations in the world). The debut album simply entitled 'Danú' was released by the band in 1997 to huge critical acclaim and in 1999 Danú signed a multi-album record deal with the US based recording label Shanachie Entertainment with whom they subsequently released five albums and a live DVD internationally between 2000 and 2006. Over the past few years Danú has added three independent releases to their discography (See below).

For over 2 decades Danú's virtuosi players on flute, tin whistle, fiddle, button accordion, bouzouki, and vocals (Irish and English) have delighted audiences worldwide. Winners of numerous awards from the BBC and Irish Music Magazine, Danú has toured throughout Europe and North America with stops at The Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Symphony Space in New York City. Danú takes its audiences on a musical journey to their native Ireland, offering a moving and memorable concert experience.

Danú welcomes star vocalist Nell Ní Chróinín into the fold in 2016 marking the beginning of an exciting new chapter in the band's legacy. Nell's multiple awards include TG4 Traditional Singer of the Year 2012 and she was also the winner of the prestigious Oireactas 'Corn Uí Riada' award in 2014.

Also available from Copperplate: Danu; The Road Less Traveled

Audio

Track 1:The Poor Man's Fortune

Track 2: The Leverette

Track 3: On Troth & Soul

Track Listing

1. Master McGrath 04:19
2. The Poor Mans Fortune/The Long Strand/Reel Gan Ainm 03:39
3. The Connemara Hornpipe/The Leverette 04:27
4. Ar Maidin Inné Dom 04:52
5. She Hasn't the Thing She Thought She Had / Denis Murphy's/ Abbey's Green Isle 03:42
6. Ten Thousand Miles 03:30
7. On Troth and Soul/The Gazetta/Teetotal Jig 03:48
8. Fiach An Mhadra Rua 03:14
9. Cutting A Slide/The Fiddle Cushion 03:18
10. The Foggy Dew 04.19

Watch Danu record the title track on You Tube

[https://www.youtube.com/..]

Press Reviews

Irish Music Magazine

Danú’s new album, Ten Thousand Miles consists of 10 tracks. Each one as catching as the next. There’s a fabulous balance and lucidity about this album. With its combination of fast slides, reels, jigs, hornpipes and song, this has such vibrancy from beginning to end. The variety of instruments on this album showcases traditional music at its very best. Their loyalty to the tradition is very much evident on this collection.
The album opens with the song Master McGrath. A vibrant story, which leads nicely into a set of reels, The Poor Man’s Fortune/The Long Grass/Reel Gan Ainm. From the reels it’s a set of Hornpipes followed by beautiful song, Ar Maidin Inné. Nell Ni Chroinin sings this song beautifully as with all the songs, conveying the yearning, wistfulness and joy of all. We then hear a number of slides before embarking on the second half of the album. The title track, Ten Thousand Miles is an English ballad from Nic Jones. Another ballad telling the tale of a lover saying goodbye before setting off on a long journey. Nell’s voice again stunning throughout.
They show their Waterford roots in Cutting a Slide and the Fiddle Cushion, summoning the ghosts of the Flannagan brothers from the 1920’s. This follows on through a number of slip jigs, song and reels. Finishing with the timeless The Foggy Due. Nell Ni Chroinin’s haunting rendition commemorating the Rising is only compelling. A fitting end to a very fitting album. The new arrivals have certainly made a mark on Danú. Ivan Goff as a full-time piper with the band has given the group a bigger, deeper dimension, evident in the track On Troth an Soul, and the joining of Nell Ni Chroinin to the band in 2016 is very poignant on this new collection. Her voice adds a depth to the music and compliments the tunes brilliantly. Both Nell and Ivan play flute which has brought back that Danú sound of their earlier albums.
Ten Thousand Miles showcases the virtuosi playing on flute, tin whistle, fiddle, button accordion, bouzouki, guitar and vocals brilliantly. Tunes are faultless and the singing equally so. The album is poetry, it’s story and it’s music at its best. With over 20 years’ experience Danú have excelled with Ten Thousand Miles.  Grainne McCool

WWW.FOLKRADIOUK.COM

A band like Danú remind me of the tale of the old man’s yard brush. The brush that’s had five new heads and two new handles, but he swears it’s the same brush that’s served him well for twenty years. Well, Danú have been delighting us with top-notch Irish tunes and songs for more than twenty years, and in that time there have been numerous personnel changes but, the quality has never varied, and the sound has always been unmistakably Danú. Credit for that overwhelmingly lies with founder member, and button accordionist, Benny McCarthy, who has been a defining influence throughout. In the current set up, alongside him, are long-standing members, Eamonn Doorley on bouzouki, or more precisely, the guitar bodied, bouzouki strung, gazouki, and Oisin McAuley on fiddle and viola, while Ivan Goff on Uileann pipes, flute and whistles is a slightly more recent recruit, a mere 10 years or so, having previously toured extensively with the band. In the last couple of years, longtime vocalist Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh moved on to be replaced by Nell Ní Chróinín who also contributes whistles, and Tony Byrne has become the band’s full-time guitarist.

The ten tracks of Ten Thousand Miles divide evenly into five songs and five tune sets, the album opening with the song, Master McGrath. The 1860’s story of an Irish greyhound’s trip over the Irish Sea to take on England’s best at hare coursing. Straightaway, then, we’re introduced to Nell’s vocals. Lauded for her beautiful interpretations of Irish songs, she’s been a multiple award winner at national competitions; here she gets to show she’s equally adept when delivering a song in English. Her voice skips along through the story, coaxing you into paying careful attention to the lyrics. In contrast, the second song, Ar Maidin Inné Dom, is a far slower piece, allowing more variation of expression, the texture of her voice echoed by Oisin’s fiddle and Ivan’s flute. With Muireann having been such a stalwart component of the Danú sound, it is inevitable that comparisons will be made, but in Nell, the band has found a singer thoroughly up to the task. Her voice is huskier than Muireann’s giving a sturdier sound, but with her roots in sean nós, she provides a vocal line ideally suited to the ornamentation of the fiddle and flute accompaniment of this song and similarly when accordion and pipes are to the fore on Fiach An Mhadra Rua. Two other songs in English give her ample opportunity to deliver emotions that are quintessentially Irish. Ten Thousand Miles is a traditional English song, the band learned it from the singing of Nic Jones, yet it fits easily alongside the canon of Irish emigration songs. The lover may travel ten thousand miles but still promises to return. In contrast, the album closes with Nell giving voice, in equal measure, to righteous anger and sorrow at the events of Easter 1916 with The Foggy Dew.

While the introduction of a new voice inevitably makes a difference to the Danú sound, the tune sets bear all the hallmarks that have been characteristic of Danú line-ups through the years. On this album, slow airs don’t get a look-in, but neither are all the tunes played at a hell for leather pace. Those that do move along, such as the reel set, Cutting a Slide/The Fiddle Cushion, benefit significantly from Tony’s guitar rhythms. There’s also some nifty bodhrán work adding great rhythmic texture, played, on this track, by original band member Donnchadh Gough. The bodhrán credits are shared between him, Amy Richter, US-based she’s become bodhrán player of choice on Danú’s N American tours and Billy Sutton, who wields the tipper on Fiach An Mhadra Rua. Throughout, the bodhrán benefits from being rather more prominent in the mix than is often the case in recordings of traditional Irish tunes. As you’d expect, the melody instruments frequently get solo sections, but these are usually quite short, and the real magic of Danú shines through in their combination playing. There are times when two instruments combine so precisely and sympathetically that it is almost impossible to tell them apart, accordion and fiddle, fiddle and whistle. Only the Uilleann pipes can be relied upon to maintain a unique presence. While there’s no hiding their distinctive contribution, it’s the seamless integration of all the instruments that speak to the quality of the band and their music.

Even though they’re used to playing in major concert venues all over the world, listening to Danú will bring back memories of the very best Irish pub sessions you’ve been fortunate enough to experience. But, for a pub session to sound as good as this, you’d probably have to be in heaven, that’s the magic of Danú.