Danú is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

traditional music band. The founding members of Danú (Donnchadh Gough, Dónal Clancy, Daire Bracken, and Benny McCarthy) met in

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

in Ireland in 1994, and consolidated as a band after performing in the

Festival Interceltique de Lorient __NOTOC__ The (French), Emvod Ar Gelted An Oriant (Breton) or Inter-Celtic Festival of Lorient in English, is an annual Celtic festival, located in the city of Lorient, Brittany, France. It was founded in 1971 by . This annual festival takes ...

in 1995. Their second album, ''Think Before You Think'' (2000) was voted Best Overall Traditional Act by

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

's magazine ''

Irish Music Irish music is music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland. The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th and into the 21st century, despite globalis ...

''. They are the only band to have been voted Best Traditional Group twice in the

BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British ra ...

, in 2001 and again in 2004 when their version of Tommy Sands's "County Down" also won Best Original Song.

Members

Benny McCarthy is a founding member of Danú; he manages and performs with the band and plays

button accordion A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons. This differs from the piano accordion, which has piano-style keys. Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs categorize it as a free reed ae ...

and

melodeon Melodeon may refer to: * Melodeon (accordion), a type of button accordion *Melodeon (organ), a type of 19th-century reed organ *Melodeon (Boston, Massachusetts), a concert hall in 19th-century Boston * Melodeon Records, a U.S. record label in the ...

. Benny won the All Ireland Oireachtas in 1994 on both button accordion and melodeon. He is the driving force of Danú and is a key member of several other bands includin
Raw Bar Collective
an
Cordeen
Oisín McAuley, a previous member of Stockton's Wing, plays four- and five-string fiddle with Danú. He has recently released a solo album of fiddle music. Jesse Smith and Daire Bracken previously played fiddle for Danú. Tom Doorley was the flute-player with Danú from 1996 until he retired from large-scale touring in 2007, and often acts as the spokesman for the band on stage. He teaches and lives in Dublin and makes an appearance now and again with Danú at concerts in Ireland and Europe. Ivan Goff, who had been a guest on several tours before Tom Doorley's retirement, became the full-time flute player for the band following his retirement. An accomplished Uileann piper, flute and

whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a lar ...

player from Dublin, Goff is based in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Éamon Doorley plays

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

and fiddle, and is the younger brother of Tom Doorley. His bouzouki playing has a strong emphasis on

countermelody In music, a counter-melody (often countermelody) is a sequence of notes, perceived as a melody, written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent lead melody. In other words, it is a secondary melody played in counterpoint with the prima ...

. He currently collaborates with his wife

Julie Fowlis Julie Fowlis (born 20 June 1978) is a Scottish folk singer and multi-instrumentalist who sings primarily in Scottish Gaelic. Early life Fowlis grew up on North Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides, in a Gaelic-speaking community. Her moth ...

, playing mainly Scottish Gaelic music and song. The Doorley brothers joined Danú in 1996. Donnchadh Gough, another founding member of the band, plays both bodhran and

uillean pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from their ...

. He guests on Bodhran with Danú in Ireland and Europe. Amy Richter has performed on Bodhran with Danú during US tours since Dec 2017. Until 2016, the band's lead singer was Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, who replaced earlier singer Ciarán Ó Gealbháin, a tenor who left to finish his education in May 2003, and who had in turn replaced founding member Cárthach Mac Craith in August 1999. Nic Amhlaoibh sang in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

, in the folk and '' sean-nós'' traditions, and also played flute and whistle. In January, 2016, it was announced that she would be leaving the band to be replaced by Sean Nós singer Nell Ní Chróinín. Dónal Clancy a founding member of Danú was the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

player for the band in 1995 and returned to the band in 2002 until he retired from Danú in March 2017. During his absence, he was replaced by guitar player from Newport, Co.Tipperary Noel Ryan. Clancy was replaced by Tony Byrne, who had done tours with the band since 2005.

Discography

* Danú (1997) * Think Before You Think (2000) * All Things Considered (2002) * The Road Less Travelled (2003) * Up In The Air (2004) * When All Is Said and Done (2005) * One Night Stand (DVD) (2005) * Seanchas (2010) * Buan (2015) * Ten Thousand Miles (2018)

Side projects

* Dual (2008) - Éamon and Muireann with Julie Fowlis and Ross Martin
Raw Bar Collective
2011)-Benny McCarthy
Cordeen
(2017)-Benny McCarthy

References

External links

Danú's websiteBenny McCarthy
website
Dónal Clancy's website

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh's website

Liam Clancy's website

Danú:The Myth, The Goddess, The Band

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danu Celtic music groups Irish folk musical groups Musical groups from County Waterford Celtic mythology in music