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De Dannan
Biography
De Danann has played an influential role in the development of modern Irish music. Although they're remained rooted in Ireland's musical tradition, the band's virtuosic instrumental skills and expressive vocalizing has enabled them to reach out to a worldwide audience. According to Earle Hitchner, music writer for The Wall Street Journal and The Irish Echo, "any serious discussion of the evolution of Irish traditional music over the past quarter century must include the enormous contribution of De Danann." The seeds that grew into De Danann were planted during informal, Sunday-morning jam sessions at Hughes Pub in Spiddal, a small town in County Galway. Two participants of these sessions, Frankie Gavin, a fiery fiddler, and Yorkshire-born Alec Finn, a bouzouki and guitar player who had previously played with Connemara, agreed to pool their resources. Joined by bohran and bones player Johnny "Ringo" McDonogh and banjo player Charlie Piggott, Gavin and Finn began to perform as De Danann, taking their name from the Tuatha Dé Danann, a group of characters in Irish mythology. Prior to recording their self-titled debut album in 1975, the group added vocalist Delores Keane.