Galway Advertiser 1994/1994_09_15/GA_15091994_E1_029.pdf 

Extracted text

THAT'S
E D I T E D BY J E F F O ' C O N N E L L

OA'S OUIPE TO GOINGS O N A N D GOING OUT

O
A

n e o f t h e m o s t exciting m u s i c a l d e v e l o p m e n t s o f the past decade has b e e n c o m p o s e r S h a u n D a v e y ' s m a r r i a g e o f t r a d i t i o n a l m u s i c a n d i n s t r u m e n t s w i t h t h e c l a s s i c a l t r a d i t i o n , b r i l l i a n t l y d e m o n s t r a t e d i n such i n n o v a t i v e compositions as T h e B r e n d a n V o y a g e ' , G r a n u a i l e ' , a n d T h e R e l i e f o f D e r r y S y m p h o n y ' . N o w o n e o f his earbest c o m p o s i t i o n s , T h e P i l g r i m ' has been released o n the T a r a label i n a radically n e w v e r s i o n , first p r e m i e r e d i n G l a s g o w at the e n d o f 1990, to m a r k the h a n d o v e r o f tne E u r o p e a n C i t y o f C u l t u r e b a t o n t o D u b l i n . T h i s w e e k S h a u n D a v e y talks to J e f f O ' C o n n e U about his m a r r i a g e o f t w o traditions.
brating historic links between Ireland and Spain featur ing the RTE Concert Orchestra and a host of traditional musicians including Davy Spillane, Nollaig Casey, Mairtin O'Connor, as well as Spanish musicians. he incredible success of another of Bill Whelan's compositions for orchestra, chorus and uilleann pipes, 'Riverdance', which has set an Irish record for weeks at No. 1, demonstrates also the 'punt-paying' popularity of this marriage of two traditions .hat previ ously had only a nodding acquaintance with one anoth er. distinction of making it on to RTE's version of Tops of the Pops', which was one of the things that certainly gave me a taste for recording. In order to get on the show we had tt make a demo tape, which we did in the old Eamonn Andrews Studios in Henry Street, where we recorded with Bill Somerville-Large. That's rather nice, because he recorded Rita Connelly's first album and her most recent one as well." That initial involvement with the techniques of recording was very important for him: "It began a kind of trail that I've subsequently followed, leading from a time when I was very green but also very keen to find

Marriag of Two Traditions
T
I
Morrison to become a trainee film-editor and Shaun to take a further degree at the Courthold that would enable him to teach History of Art. "But we both had chosen London because we reckoned that was where we could get a publishing deal and a recording deal." t was frustrating business that involved the mortifi cation of walking the streets and going into publish ing houses where it seemed all anybody was inter ested in was partying and having meetings and being 'unobtainable'. "It was a very chastening experience", Shaun remembers, "because I was a serious songwriter at that time and was already fascinated with the ques tion of how you can transgress the musical norms of songwriting and make a song more interesting that the simple 3-minute pop song - not that I have anything against a well-crafted pop song!" Shaun's musical education was gained not from class es in Theory and Composition but rather through practi cal experience and an unquestionable intuitive ability expressing itself through actual compositional work. "Much of my musical education has come through learning how to listen to lots of different kinds of music and then to try to understand both how andwhy it works the way it does." His musical influences are virtually limitless but back in the early 70's, when the whole concept of World Music was only a glimmer of Peter Gabriel's eye, Shaun was especially fascinated by ethnic music. Before it caught on, Irish musicians like Andy Irvine who was then in that seminal band Planxty had started to make musical links with Bulgarian music. eturning to Dublin after taking his degree at the Courthold, Shaun relumed to Dublin and got a job lecturing in the History of Art at the College of Art and, for a brief spell. Trinity College. "Thai's the career that I quite easily could have developed, because I enjoyed it." However, the music was still strongly present in his life. "When I returned to Dublin I formed a band we called Bugle with Donal Lunny, who very generously took a year out of Planxty to explore musical possibili ties in a different context. At the end of the year hadn't achieved a commerical basis so Donal went back to Planxty and I started to teach." During the two years he spent teaching Shaun was still busily writing and recording music and produced a couple of records for people like Sonny Condell and Midnight Well. He was, he gradually realised, trying to do two jobs at the same time. "At the point where I found that I was actually pretending that taking my stu dents into the recording studio was part of their educa tion I realised I had to make a choice." He chose music. t wasn't as much of a leap in the dark as it might sound because he had decided by that time that there was a living to be made from music. Initially, this took the form of writing music for commericals which, he says, "proved to be a terrific training ground, both musically and socially, because it meant that I was pro ducing music that was strictly for other people, for 'clients', in fact, written to a particular "brief, but always to my own taste. It was a very valuable discipline." The commercials he scored ranged from 7-Up and Stag to Pennys, all of the banks. Odiums (where he had to create the sound of an owl) and Harp. "It was an interesting form; each 30-second piece had to have a beginning, middle and end, and sometimes it allowed you to write a good piece of music. That happened to me with a piece called T h e Pride of the Herd*, which was an NDC Butter commercial and later came out as a 'single'.

The first time I ever heard anything by Shaun Davey was way back in 1980 one morning when I happened to be listening to a show Mike Murphy hosted between 8.00 and 9.00 a.m. I only started paying attention after the music had been playing for a minute or so, but when I began listening closely I put down my razor and turned up the sound dial to hear more clearly. fter the its' stirring conclusion I waited to hear who it was by but Mike just moved on, as they say in radioland, to 'the next item', and I was left none the wiser. I made sure to listen the next morning in case he played the piece again, which he did but again without saying who it was by. This went on for the next few days and I was beginning to get frantic. Did he know I was listening? Was he deliberately witholding this information just to irritate me? Enlightenment came to pass on Day 6 - "And that was 'Rounding Newfoundland' from Shaun Davey's ' Brendan Voyage', with Liam O'Flynn playing the uilleann pipes". I ran right out and bought it. I thought it was brilliant then, and, after wearing out, losing through loaning, and falling victim to the dreaded tape spindle gremlin, three copies later, I still think the same. I couldn't have told anyone at the time just why it was so brilliant, but I did recognise that Shaun Davey was doing something very different. Most people, including myself, who take more than a passing interest in music normally put the uilleann pipes in the wickerwork bas ket labelled Traditional Music', along with fiddles, bodhrans, whistles, accordians and other so-called 'folk' instruments. The other receptacle - no simple wickwork construction but rosewood with a silk lining - is where you find violins, oboes, pianos, cellos and big bass bas soons: orchestral instruments used for so-called 'classi cal' music.

R

S

heer ignorance, nothing less. Music, as all the great composers have always known, is music, whether it be folk, jazz, blues, orchestral or wash board and comb, and those who have set up these artifi cial categories - handy on occasion but essentially meaningless - have always had the unpleasant but inevitable experience of seeing their neat boxes kicked over and raided by the truly creative and innovative artists and composers. So it has always been. And this is just what Shaun Davey has done. As PJ. Curtis remarks in 'Notes from the Heart', one of the most significant developments in modern Irish music lias been the use of traditional music in the classical context', pointing out that 'the breakthrough came with composer Shaun Davey's suite for uilleann pipes, T h e Brendan Voyage'. The impact on listeners was immedi ate and decisive; as Curtis comments, "Shaun Davey's marriage of uilleann pipes and full orchestra was warm ly received by fans of traditional and classical music alike. The Brendan Voyage', which was followed by the first version of T h e Pilgrim' in 1983, 'Granuaille' in 1985, and The Relief of Derry Symphony' in 1989. Davey's bold gamble has had considerable impact on other Irish musicians and composers, helping to free them from the tyranny of musical categories to create a new kind of music. Independently but undoubtedly associated with Davey's breakthrough, it is only necessary to mention Micheal O Suilleadbhain's 'Oilean/Island', a three-part suite bringing together the Irish Chamber Orchestra and flautist Matt Molloy; 'Island Wedding', an orginal com position in sixteen movements for traditional instru ments and orchestra by Leitrim fiddler Charlie Lennon, and featuring Liam O'Flynn and Frankie Gavin; and Bill Whelan's 'Seville Suite', an eight movement piece cele

I

B

elfast-bom, Shaun got his early education at Campbell College in Belfast and later, when his father's job with a bank led to his transfer to Dublin, he attended Trinity, where he took his degree. Although today Shaun Davey is fully committed to a musical career, he actually started his working life as a lecturer in the History of Art. Was music important at that stage of his life? "Actually, the music was always very important. I was a member of a college Blues band - not a very good member, either! But we did have the perhaps dubious

A

my feet in this new world. It introduced me to all sorts of different directions that I was to follow before 1 did find my feet. So, in that sense the early experience was, in a sense, crucial." fter finishing his degree at Trinity, in 1969 Shaun headed off for the Courthold Institute in London to study the History of Art. Yet he was carrying 'other baggage' with him: "1 went to London as one half of a song-writing partnership; my partner was James Morrison who is now at Windmill Lane Studios." Both had gone to London for good career reasons:

CONTINUED ON PAGE T!

INSIDE THIS W E E K : DRUID S N E W PLAY