Daoirí Farrell
20th May 2017
€15.00
Daoirí Farrell
Sirius Arts Centre
Saturday 20 May
8.30pm (doors 8.00pm)
Tickets €15, available online www.siriusartscentre.ie or through the office info@siriusartscentre.ie / 021 4813790
Dublin-born traditional singer and bouzouki player Daoirí Farrell is being described by some of the biggest names in Irish folk music as one of most important singers to come out of Ireland in recent years, and has delivered the album to prove them right.
After a promising debut album, The First Turn, back in 2009; Daoirí spent several years studying traditional music and performance at The University of Limerick. It was here that Fintan Vallely introduced him to the singing of the late Liam Weldon, an encounter that was to prove formative to his sound and his approach to folk song.
Daoirí had cut his teeth as a singer in Dublin’s famous Góilin Singers Club, where he was spotted early on by Christy Moore, and at other sessions across the city, many of which he still visits. Following his studies he quickly found work accompanying artists including Christy Moore himself, as well as a list of names that sounds like a who’s who of folk music: Dónal Lunny, Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, Alan Doherty, Danú, Dervish, Julie Fowlis, Arty McGlynn, The John Carty Big Band, Kíla, Sean Keane, Gerry O’Connor (Banjo), Gerry O’Connor (Fiddle), Lynched and more. In 2013 he won the All Ireland Champion Singer award at the Fleadh in Co. Derry, and in 2015 won the prestigious Danny Kyle Award at Celtic Connections in Glasgow with the line-up FourWinds.
His determination not to put out another album until he was sure it was the best he could produce, means the long-awaited release of True Born Irishman in October 2016 is already hugely anticipated. The ten track album was recorded in Dublin across the first half of 2016 and was produced by Daoirí with Tony Byrne and Robbie Walsh. It features contributions from, among others, Michael McGoldrick, and is dedicated to Liam Weldon.
As the final touches were being made to the album, and as a relative unknown to the UK audience, in May 2016 he was invited to fly to Manchester to do a live session on the BBC Radio 2 Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe. A track from the session has since been re-played on the show’s highlights broadcast. A May UK tour and UK festival dates followed including Moseley Folk Festival, Broadstairs Folk Week and FolkEast, with shows in Australia and Canada lining up for 2017 alongside a co-headline tour with 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominee Damien O’Kane, who contacted Daoirí online after seeing a video of him on Youtube.
Daoirí Farrell won two awards in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards held at The Royal Albert Hall in London on 5th April 2017
‘Effortless, instinctive, natural…the real deal’ Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2
Click here for video of his performance at the awards
Now in its 18th year the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate the stars of folk, roots and acoustic music and their achievements in the previous year. Past winners have included Tom Paxton, Cat Stevens, Don McLean and The Dubliners and the awards have notably spotted young talents who have gone on to dominate the genre through the Horizon Award for the year’s best newcomer with past winners including Rachel Unthank & The Winterset, Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart, Jim Moray, Spiers & Boden and Cara Dillon.
Held at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday 5th April 2017, Daoirí was nominated for three awards, more than any other artists in 2017. He was also asked to perform live at the ceremony. He went on to win the Best Traditional Track Award for Van Diemen’s Land and the Horizon Award for best newcomer which was presented to Daoirí by former winners of the same award, Rachel and Becky Unthank.
‘The creamy forthrightness of Paul Brady, the occasional guile and nuance of Andy Irvine and the attitude and approach to material, perhaps, of Christy Moore. Not a bad trio of names to throw into a barrel of comparisons but the signs are all there that this is a guy with the conviction and wherewithal to justify them and take the re-birth of authentic Irish song-making several leagues forward…an exceptionally good singer and a great bunch of songs. Is any more than that needed? Not in this case.’ fRoots
‘Daoirí is one of the most important traditional singers to emerge in the last decade’ Dónal Lunny
‘I’ve been listening to Daoirí’s emerging sounds since first hearing him at the Góilin Singers Club in Dublin when he was a young lad….always a treat to hear him sing.’ Christy Moore
'Daoirí is a bit of a force of nature really. A rootsy one-man-band storyteller with great humour and presence and moments of heartfelt sensitivity.' Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2 Folk Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPI_tHNjS78
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPeYJLh6aGU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCI968ow19M
