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Damien Dempsey

surfrunner

What are people's views on Damien Dempsey?

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sharp_shooter

I'd just like to point out something if I may....

Damien Dempsey recorded the Rocky Road WITH THE DUBLINERS!!!! If they approve of him taking Ronnie Drew's and Luke Kelly's place on vocals so much so that the recorded and album with him then who is anyone to question his talent!! and above all who is anyone to question whether he should be in this forum!! He recorded an album with the greatest Irish tradional band ever - The Dubliners!!- and before anyone starts, he was very good friends with ronnie drew, who loved his music. And for those who dont know, he was one of the few major Irish artists to sing in the tribute to ronnie drew just before he sadly passed away.

Damien did not record that album for financial gain!! he did it for one simple and staraight up reason and that is that it was a dream of his since he was a boy! and in making his dream come true he also got to bring the old trad music that so many of us grew up on to the younger generation of Ireland which is wonderful!

I think the people who slate Damo dont really know him and what he is about! He took a lot of abuse for his material and his accent (hence the song Negative Vibes) but he stuck with it and never gave up doing what he does because it is his passion! If more people took a leaf out of his book then Ireland would be a much better place! people need to listen and understand the message he is putting across in his music and then they will understand him more. He is not for everyone but I think it is Ironic that the very things he sings about is what the haters disagree with!!

I think Damo is a great influnence for the youth of Ireland and the more who can open up to his music the better! Everything he writes comes from the heart!

Thanks for the Music Damo

"Love yourself today"

SS

Alias G

Damien Dempsey = Quality live performer.
Damien Dempsey's lyrics = Painfully crap.

Whiskey Devil

flanum wrote: »

Right fair enough.. so can we refrain from mentioning damien dempsey in the traditional forum and stick him over in the folk/twee or pop or something?....

meanwhile on planet trad we've a few jigs reels and mazurkas to sort out!

im personally working out the 2nd part of the Ivy leaf.. in serious fast time like vinny kilduff plays...

There is no folk forum on boards.ie - The tag for this forum is Traditional, Irish and folk music. Blame whoever named the forum Traditional, and not something more suitable like the tagline. This is one of the most popular threads on here, so posters are clearly interested in talking about Damien Dempsey, Sinead O' Connor, Christy Moore etc. who have been influenced by traditional music. What's needed is a name change or two sub-forums.

You Trad heads just love moaning.

neil_hosey

flanum wrote: »

Right fair enough.. so can we refrain from mentioning damien dempsey in the traditional forum and stick him over in the folk/twee or pop or something?....

meanwhile on planet trad we've a few jigs reels and mazurkas to sort out!

im personally working out the 2nd part of the Ivy leaf.. in serious fast time like vinny kilduff plays...

no! hes a balladeer..he sings irish traditional music, whether you like to admit it or not. Ive heard him sing live some great irish traditional songs.

Because Ronnie Drew loved and sang jazz, should we kick him out of this forum too because hes not 'pure' enough for you???

oh and in before... "dont compare him to <insert singer here>"

Mulan

I think he's great. A breath of fresh air to the industry. Saw him in the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh last thursday. A great gig.

flanum

Right fair enough.. so can we refrain from mentioning damien dempsey in the traditional forum and stick him over in the folk/twee or pop or something?....

meanwhile on planet trad we've a few jigs reels and mazurkas to sort out!

im personally working out the 2nd part of the Ivy leaf.. in serious fast time like vinny kilduff plays...

Spacedog

Damo sings in his dublin accent, it's not over the top compared to some of the folks i know, it took real balls for him to start singing this way many years ago, and took even more balls to keep doing it through the early years of piss taking and ridicule.

I think since irish people hear the dublin accent all the time it's taken for granted, we are too fast to dismiss something that sounds home grown or in a regional accent, Mary Black and Deloras O'Reardon, Sinead O'Connor, are all fomous internationally because their singing voices are considered unique and original. and Dempsy is no different. our uniqueness and our culture are our greatest strengths.

It's easy to rip the piss and be a beard stroking intellectialist because we did honors english in school, but this kind sarcasm and pesimism are all too common a part of our culture also, we'd love to drag down someone rather than see them suceed, Damiens music describes problems such as these and shows us that we can be more positive and supportive of one another as opposed to sealing ourselves into our homes and ragging on anything and everything different. if you don't like it fine, no need to be a hater, bad form.

In the immortal words of Maxi Jazz - "I want a wisdom that wise men revere"

dunnomede?

With regards classification of Dempseys genre i dont really think trad would be appropriate. I think on one of his live appearances (possibly other voices) he says something along the lines of urban folk.

neil_hosey

Ye i see where your coming from Flanum, i wouldnt consider everything he does to be traditional.. he takes his influences from luke kelly and bob marley. You cant really call him a trad irish singer...

Heres him (drunk) doing one of pecker dunnes songs, wexford town...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8iAn363NyY

flanum

im still confused.. is damien a traditional irish singer??? i just cant seem to put him into this category..? could somebody point me to a youtube track or something? he doesnt really seem to be exuding..the irish "trad" thing.. if ye get me... i think hes more suited (on this site) to a folk or pop forum...!!

now to me this would be an example of singing suited to an irish trad forum..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAYW5dwZJRA

or even..

The man himself... Seamus Ennis in fine traditional irish singing voice...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zCRh78StwY

.

If im wrong, then please somebody explain to me,, but every trad musician i know wouldnt put him in the "traditional irish" bracket!

this is meant as no offence to damien dempsey or his music, its just a case of maybe clarifying his "genre" !

CSC

Does anyone know is Damien working on any new material?

dunnomede?

He's possibly one of the best live performers i have ever seen. I also feel he is a very talented song writer, with regards him establishing himself by performing other peoples songs (the dubliners, pecker dunne) i feel is a completely invalid point given that he had released 4 albums prior to releasing The Rocky Road, and also the fact that a large section of the tracks on that album were already established within the irish folk song tradition prior to the folk revival of the mid 20th century.
Undoubtedly Luke Kelly and the Dubliners set a marker from which many other if not all irish folk singers well invariably be compared to, however to suggest that his release of The Rocky Road was a dishonest attempt to cash in on other peoples music is misinterperating the ethos of the album which i believe was to expose the younger generation of his fans to the music which had influenced Dempsey himself in his younger days.

Dont get me started on George Murphy :mad:

Michael Collins

Whiskey Devil wrote: »

You can also add Yellow Triangle and Strange Ways to that list - they're both played quite often.

Ah Whiskey, you're a hardcore Christy fan! Bound to be a few around here I suppose. I'd add North & South to that list too (co-written with Bono & The Edge) but nearly always gets played. He's playin Delerium Tremens a good bit lately too and Saint Brendan's Voyage the odd time.

Whiskey Devil

You can also add Yellow Triangle and Strange Ways to that list - they're both played quite often.

Whiskey Devil

I didn't say he's not a songwriter, but he's best known as a singer of other peoples songs. A Christy Moore gig will consist of a few of his own songs (Viva La Quince Brigada, Lisdoonvarna, Joxer Goes To Stuttgart, Delirium Tremens, Ruby Walsh) and 80% other writers material.

emurf

Whiskey Devil wrote: »

Comparing Damien Dempsey to people like Luke Kelly and Christy Moore is pointless. Damien Dempsey is first and foremost a songwriter. Luke Kelly and Christy Moore are not.
.

How can you say Christy Moore is not a songwriter?

Suaimhneach

Lets keep it friendly guys.

neil_hosey

he also does a great version of madam, im a darlin.. and one or 2 pecker dunne songs...

Its funny, critising him for singing songs sung by Kelly. The irish mentality begrudging people because they are doing well is almost shining through.

Kelly wrote very few. Though he did copy them from other people. Damo adds quite a lot on his new album actually. His version of night visiting song was distinct..

EDIT: Any one who hasnt seen him live shouldnt really comment on him tbh.. hes brilliant live. Hes playing in slane next saturday in Ryans of the Gormalough if anyone is interested!!

fh041205

brummytom wrote: »

Folk music is there to be sung by everyone - I'm a massive fan of Luke Kelly and believe he did the definitive version of many of his songs, but that doesn't mean no one else should sing them.

I agree 100%. Actually I saw him singing Night visiting song on one of Luke Kellys dvds and thought his voice really suited it. He must have changed it somewhat for the version he released.

brummytom

fh041205 wrote: »

He's trying to make money out of them without brining any unique sound to the songs, which is enough for me to despise him. I must clarify, that it was only the songs that are not his own I was referring to.

Whiskey D, I agree that these songs should be sung by people as much as possible, but you shouldn't attempt to make money from them without adding any originality IMO. I wouldn't care if they were better or worse than other versions if there was something new about them. Personally I think its a shameless degredation of a great tradition.

When you cross the divide from singing songs for your own enjoyment into selling your versions of them, you open yourself up to this kind of criticism. If Damien Dempsey had never done this, I would have no problem with him whatsoever.

His arrangement of 'Rainy Night In Soho' on the Rocky Road album was superb, as were several of the other arrangements.
I think 'Night Visiting Song' was maybe in too high a key for him so it sounded strained, but overall I found the album excellent.

Folk music is there to be sung by everyone - I'm a massive fan of Luke Kelly and believe he did the definitive version of many of his songs, but that doesn't mean no one else should sing them. To compare someone to Luke Kelly is harsh enough as it is.

fh041205

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Seize the Day and Shots put Dempsey on the map, so he didn't make a career out of "Luke Kelly/Pogue songs".

He's trying to make money out of them without brining any unique sound to the songs, which is enough for me to despise him. I must clarify, that it was only the songs that are not his own I was referring to.

Whiskey D, I agree that these songs should be sung by people as much as possible, but you shouldn't attempt to make money from them without adding any originality IMO. I wouldn't care if they were better or worse than other versions if there was something new about them. Personally I think its a shameless degredation of a great tradition.

When you cross the divide from singing songs for your own enjoyment into selling your versions of them, you open yourself up to this kind of criticism. If Damien Dempsey had never done this, I would have no problem with him whatsoever.

Handsome Bob

fh041205 wrote: »

Oh i'm glad someone dragged this up again.

As far as I'm concerned, it is a sin to try and make a career out of singing Luke Kelly/Pogues etc. songs. They sang them far better than any mere mortal can ever aspire to reproduce. By all means do it for your own enjoyment, but when you try to make money out of it, you cross that line into the relm of pitiful talentless parrot-folk.

Damien Dempsey deserves exactly 0 credit for these songs. He may be a nice guy and a good mate blah blah blah.......but he will never compare to these artists because he's just not original.

What are you talking about? Everything bar his most recent album was original material. He also stated that the reason that he did the cover album is because he believed that today's younger generations were forgetting about Irish folk/trad legends and their music.

Seize the Day and Shots put Dempsey on the map, so he didn't make a career out of "Luke Kelly/Pogue songs".

Whiskey Devil

fh041205 wrote: »

Oh i'm glad someone dragged this up again.

As far as I'm concerned, it is a sin to try and make a career out of singing Luke Kelly/Pogues etc. songs. They sang them far better than any mere mortal can ever aspire to reproduce. By all means do it for your own enjoyment, but when you try to make money out of it, you cross that line into the relm of pitiful talentless parrot-folk.

Damien Dempsey deserves exactly 0 credit for these songs. He may be a nice guy and a good mate blah blah blah.......but he will never compare to these artists because he's just not original.

I'd have to disagree completely. Damien Dempsey made a name for himself long before singing anybody elses songs. He has had a lot more success with his own material than his most recent album of traditional/cover songs. He's a number one selling artist in his own right.

While they may not be better than some of the earlier recordings (I doubt he'd argue otherwise), I think Damien Dempsey does many of the songs justice on his recordings. Luke Kelly may have made the majority of these songs his own, but he didn't 'own' the songs. If it wasn't for people like Damien Dempsey and the many other people out there singing these songs (on a smaller scale) they would soon be lost forever.

Comparing Damien Dempsey to people like Luke Kelly and Christy Moore is pointless. Damien Dempsey is first and foremost a songwriter. Luke Kelly and Christy Moore are not.

Luke Kelly is the greatest singer this country has ever produced. It's one of those rare occassions where there is no argument.

fh041205

Oh i'm glad someone dragged this up again.

As far as I'm concerned, it is a sin to try and make a career out of singing Luke Kelly/Pogues etc. songs. They sang them far better than any mere mortal can ever aspire to reproduce. By all means do it for your own enjoyment, but when you try to make money out of it, you cross that line into the relm of pitiful talentless parrot-folk.

Damien Dempsey deserves exactly 0 credit for these songs. He may be a nice guy and a good mate blah blah blah.......but he will never compare to these artists because he's just not original.

luvs2spooge

Green Hornet wrote: »

+1.

Puts on the accent. Drive you crazy.

How annoying is this??....-ive a friend, we're from Wexford, and whenever theres a singsong goin on he sings Kelly The Boy From Kilanne or the Twang Man in the very same accent as Damo Dempsey...drives me up the f*cking wall!!!!

But Id like the bit a Damo every now and then!

the bolt

Jon wrote: »

Dare I say it, Dempsey's version of 'A rainy night in Soho' is better than the original!

sorry have to disagree with that,good live ,not brilliant

vag77

TheAlmightyZeus wrote: »

Goin to see him in Vicar St. on the 18th of December. Its gonna be great!

I SAW HIM LAST THURS NIGHT IN DE BARRAS IN CLONAKILTY WELL RECOMMENED ITS LIKE SITTING IN YOUR FRONTROOM LISTENING TO HIM BRILLANT

Nick_oliveri

Ill just leave this here.
http://visualplant.net/video/publishers/ufomusic/damiendempsey.php

TheAlmightyZeus

Goin to see him in Vicar St. on the 18th of December. Its gonna be great!

suzy66

:)Damo is the real deal....no bull****, songs written and performed from the heart. That counts for a lot in these days of manufactured ****e and size zero! Go see him live and then come on here and say he's crap!