20-year trad vets Dàimh into Highland tour
This year marks a milestone for Dàimh, as the Gaelic folk quintet celebrate 20 years since first forming. Ahead of their upcoming Highland dates – and the launch of new album The Rough Bounds – we caught up with the band
Hi folks, thank you so much for answering these! You’re currently on tour just now – how have the first few dates been for you all?
It’s been going great thanks! We actually started off in Berwick upon Tweed, just over the border so I guess that makes it an international tour.
We’ve been round our local area too, Playing Arisaig, Muck, Canna and Skye. Canna clocked in as the 28th Scottish Island that we’ve performed on. People came from all over – I think the population quadrupled for the night.
Are you looking forward to your visit back to the Highlands, with these upcoming dates in Strathspey and Sutherland?
We are. We played in Strathy on our first ever tour 20 years ago and we’ve been up in Sutherland a few times over recent years teaching at feisean. There’s a great interest in music among the young ones so it’s great to see the Sutherland Sessions putting on so many great acts around the area. We’re looking forward to the Old Bridge Inn in Aviemore too, we played there a couple of years ago and had a great night.
You’re bringing a new album up with you – The Rough Bounds. How has this album come together for you? What did you set out to create with this latest collection of songs? And how are you feeling now that it’s out?
I think the new album is a logical step from our last two, with Tuneship we wrote all the music ourselves, then the Hebridean Sessions was all our old favourite traditional tunes. One thing both albums had in common was a sense of place. With The Rough Bounds we have combined our original tunes with the traditional but the main difference is we have had a lot longer to work on the songs with Ellen. She has spent the last couple of years sourcing songs that would work best with our sound.
I think we’re all very happy with it. Everybody has their own musical voice on it which is important.
You all come from such disparate locations, but the music is so tied up in the culture of the Highlands – particularly the west Highlands and Skye, the Gaelic speaking areas. How important has it been for Dàimh to embrace this aspect of Scottish culture? Particularly in an age where the Gaelic language remains under attack from certain groups despite the efforts made to promote it.
The original theme of the band was to celebrate the links between the various parts of the Gaelic speaking world as the band was formed with myself, Irishman Colm O’Rua, Cape Breton-er Angus MacKenzie and Californian- from-Arisaig stock Gabe McVarish. Over the years all the guys have made their lives in the area so we tend to concentrate on the Gaelic music from closer to home but it’s still just as important to keep it front and centre to everything we do. Our main aim is to make it accessible and enjoyable for everyone.
I don’t see Gaelic as being under attack, I see it as an on-going debate which can be looked at as a healthy sign as it shows it’s high on the national consciousness.
This year marks 20 years of Dàimh, congratulations! How do you feel looking back on such a legacy? Are there any particular moments from the band’s time together that particularly stand out for you?
We certainly have great stories with the five ‘old’ guys that have spent time with the band and moved on, though the new kids Yogi and Ellen have brought great things in their own right. The new members are a good indicator of any legacy we may have created as they were both were taught by us when they were at college and feisean so they grew up knowing our music.
Over the last 20 years of Dàimh, what has been the best gig the band has had the opportunity to play. What has been the most unusual?
We’ve done some pretty amazing and unusual stuff over the years and every venue is totally different! My favourite gigs are in the places that we would never have found ourselves in or even heard of for any other reason than we had a gig there. We launched our last album on Beaver Island which is a two hour ferry journey into Lake Michigan. Not your average tourist destination!
Now that The Rough Bounds is out soon, what plans do Dàimh have for the rest of the year?
We have a few European festivals lined up and then we’re away over to America in September. We have a few tour dates in November including our School of Dàimh where we host workshops with an aim to bring people in and develop their session skills.
Dàimh come to the Old Bridge Inn, Aviemore on Thursday; Ardgay Public Hall on Friday; and Strathy Village Hall on Saturday. For more information, go to www.daimh.net
