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Sunday Times Culture Article

In recession-ravaged Ireland, the folk singer Damien Dempsey is a real working class hero says David Sinclair. Read the article here.

Almighty Love released in Ireland today!

How to get hold of Damo's fab new album.

Your Almighty Love

What does Almighty Love mean to you?

New Damo album pre-order

Get your hands on the new album fast

Almighty Love Tracklisting

Damo's new album tracks

Damien's new album news

'Almighty Love' Damien's new album release dates announced.

Damo's letter to fans

Howayiz my friends. It’s Damo here, puttin the finishin touches to this long overdue album...

Gerry Diver - Speech Project

Irish Trad Run Through A Steve Reich Blender

Celtic Skies

Lumiere and Damien Dempsey featured on Celtic Skies album.

Damo New Year's Eve show

As part of Dublin's first official New Years Festival NYE Dublin, held at College Green on Dec 31st, Damo will be playing a 30 minute set starting at 9.20pm.

Killarney festival

Festival postponed

Update and thanks

Thanks to everyone who has sung all their cares away

Between The Canals - Tickets on sale

Damo's acting debut awaits

Trafalgar show

Underneath Nelson's Column

New shows and website forum

The London Irish Centre show is SOLD OUT...

They are us - Damo and Maser prints

Limited edition Damo / Maser prints available soon

Damo acting debut

Between The Canals

TV Exclusive

Damien Dempsey and Glen Hansard will be performing the 'The Auld Triangle'

No appearance at Keltic Hooley

Damien Dempsey will not be appearing at this event.

West Fest 2011

Damo guest appearance.

Article about Damo and Maser's street art project in the UK Independent

Holly Williams wrote this fantastic feature about the "They Are Us" project which appeared in the Independent this weekend.

Letter to my Sixteen Year Old Self

Damien features in a new book called "With Love, from me...to me, A letter to my sixteen year old self"

Christmas charity single with Glen Hansard out on 3rd December

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Glen Hansard & Damien Dempsey are set to release ‘The Auld Triangle’ on December 3rd 2010 to raise awareness and much needed funds for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, (SVP).

Dublin show on sale and TV news

Vicar Street show and track featured

New Dates Announced

Damien will be playing selected gigs in Ireland and the UK this summer

DAMIEN FEATURES IN 'MUSIC OF IRELAND - WELCOME HOME' DOCUMENTARY AND ALBUM

Damien was interviewed for the documentary, and a new version of Maasai, entitled 'Maasai Returns' features on the accompanying CD produced by John Reynolds, out this week.

Letter from Damo

Click through to read through a personal note from Damo

Damo's acting debut

Damo to appear in Between the Canals: North Inner City

Photos and review from PREDA charity gig in Galway, Dec 3rd 09

Philip Cribbin of PREDA has sent us some photos, articles and a video from the PREDA charity gig Damien played last year.

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Photos and review from PREDA charity gig in Galway, Dec 3rd 09

The first photo is of Damien, concert promoter Pearse Doherty, Paul Vignoles, Philip Cribbin

The second is of Damo, Pearse Doherty and PLC (post leaving cert students) from Galway Community College who worked with Gogogo productions in helping to stage the event.  Damien himself was a PLC student in the Ballyfermot school of Rock.  The students made a film about Damien, the show, and his involvement with the charity, and you can watch it HERE  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPEOmHxaY1o

3rd photo is of Philip Cribbin and Caroline Jones making a small presentation to Damien on behalf of PREDA.

The final photo is of local bodhran maker and PREDA supporter Paul Vignoles presenting Damo with a bodhran on behalf of PREDA Galway

Some students also interviewed Damien, and you can read their article below.

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Damien Dempsey & Fr Shay Cullen: The Celtic Warriors
by Kenny Gaughan

Damien Dempsey played a gig in the Radisson, Galway on the 3rd December this year.  The gig was in aid of the charity PREDA, and we caught up with him after his sound check.  Even though he is an international star and does hundreds of interviews per year which must get monotonous, when he met us, he was incredibly friendly and genuine.  We thanked him for taking time to meet us before his gig and he just waved it off, instead, thanking us for taking the time to meet him!

This had been Damien’s second time playing Galway for the charity PREDA in 2 years.  And both times he played the gig; he refused to take any payment for it.  It really demonstrates his passion and commitment to the charity which was founded by Irish priest, Fr Shay Cullen.  The first gig was in the Roisin Dubh in February 2008.  That gig helped launch the Galway branch of PREDA, and there was a documentary made about it called ‘The Power Of A Voice” which is available to view on Youtube.

I asked Damien what first got him involved in the charity.  He said he had read an article about Fr Shay Cullen, and it inspired him to get involved.   “I don’t know, it really struck a chord with me, you know with all the scandals coming out here in the Church in Ireland, and here was a priest saving hundreds of kids from paedophile rings and it felt like a great antidote to what was going on in Ireland.”  He went on to say that Fr Shay was “a Celtic Warrior, ya know, fighting the good fight.”

Damien wrote of his admiration for previous Irish heroes such as Daniel O Connell and James Connolly in his song “It’s Important”, and he holds Fr Shay in such high esteem as those great men, “I was always mystified and enthralled and impassioned by men like Fr Shay, ya know, Irish men and women who gave their all for the things they believed in and felt strongly about and so I’d always follow them people, ya know, in Irish society, the ones who have the courage to stand up and say “That’s wrong.  I’m not gonna take that.”  And they fight against that.  They basically give everything they have, ya know, for what they feel is right and they give me faith in the human race.”

Damien seems to be fighting his own battle at the moment, as so many singer songwriters are, against the unending tide of corporation fuelled pop music flooding the market these days.  And with the X-Factor at the height of its popularity at the time, I asked Damien if he though music was becoming too corporate.  “Ehm, (sighs) I suppose so, yeah.  It’s all about getting rich quick now, ya know?  Like with the X-Factor.  Kids just want to get rich over night, ya know?  Like winning the lottery.  They think music is a way of just getting rich and famous real quick and eh, all they want to be is rich and famous in life.  Whereas in reality, a lot of people who are rich and famous and very unhappy.  You know, so, I think the underground stuff, the small time musicians all around the world, there’s millions of them out there just playing music.  And a lot of them out there are far more talented by the ones at the top.  And they’re just making a living off music, they’re real, they’re magic.  You get them sometimes at the top as well, but mostly it’s the day to day singers and the day to day musicians and the day to day songwriters, that’s where you get the real magic.”

Two hours later, that real magic appeared on stage.  He played a solo performance which completely blew the watching crowd away.  There is something awe-inspiring about Damien Dempsey as he performs.  You can see that there is nothing being held back.  Everything he has, he gives to the crowd.  Every word he sings, he puts his soul into.  He is a man of the people, whose songs embody peoples’ everyday frustrations, everyday dreams, everyday hopes and fears.  He catches the zeitgeist and verbalises it into song.  People are left drained after Damien Dempsey concerts.  It’s hard not to get engulfed in the emotion and the spirit of the performance as you watch him at his peak.

Phillip Cribbin, the Chairperson of PREDA Galway, introduced Damien before he came on stage to perform.  He summed up the Damien Dempsey experience in four words.  “Some people say that you should never meet your heroes because you will only be disappointed.  They’ve never met Damo.”

 

The students involved in the interview were:
Interviewer:          Kenny Gaughan  igorigorbiscan@yahoo.com              0879215659
Photographer:      Julia Puchovska   shakti_go@yahoo.com                      0866681375
Cameraperson:    Sophie O’Regan   norfs@eircom.net                                0872809954

 

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