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Pirates Of Puirt Review Dàimh has only been swashbuckling for a few years now, but this follow up to their 2000 debut firmly establishes them as Scotland's finest young traditional tune band. With their myriad of origins-Morar, Cape Breton, Arisaig, California and Dublin-one would perhaps expect a Celtic soup of the runniest proportions. However, Dàimh is more like a single malt, and what a punch. The sheer tightness of the playing, particularly between MacKenzie and McVarish, is stunning and hits you in the solar plexus harder than a broadsword. Understated guitar and bodhran from Martin and Bremner hold everything together and provide a kick in just the right places. O Rua's plucky banjo and fine tune writing (especially mazurka 'Down and Out in Santiago de Compestella') seals the package. Great tracks include #1, which hovers in Allan MacDonald's strange reel 'Tar the House' until exploding into 'Castlebay' and 'The Antrim Rose', and set #6 'The C Tune'. Apparently, Martin found the first tune of the set 'The Wren's Death' in MacKenzie's drawers, and they transposed the last tune 'The First Month of Spring' to C major to fit on the Scottish small pipes in A. OK. Anyway, the liner notes make amusing reading whilst listening to this superb album. ................................................................................................................................................................
Daimh
— The Pirates of Puirt **** Entirely instrumental bands need something extra in their flight case, and Daimh have just that. The second album from this pan-Celtic quintet — their name is pronounced Da-eve — finds them harnessing the cask-strength energy associated with the traditional music of their respective origins in the West Highlands, Cape Breton, and Dublin (Davis, California, must be one of that state's less laid-back outposts because fiddler Gabe McVarish fits right in with the hurly-burly), and mixing and matching it with high-grade musical nous and periods of reflection. The result, with fiddle, pipes, whistles, and banjo locking together over purposeful bodhran and deft guitar rhythms, is a potent, clear-sighted, and forthright sound which, live, might need a drop of water in it. - Rob Adams, The Herald ................................................................................................................................................................
Daimh
– Pirates of Puirt It starts with smooth, perfectly controlled fiddling. Next comes driving banjo, rumbling along in the lower octave. Then the pipes hit you smack between the eyes with a tempo change, and finally the Dàimh dreadnought is firing on all cylinders, with offbeat guitar and some seriously nifty bodhran. And that’s just track 1. This cosmopolitan combo has collected fiddler Gabe McVarish from California, piper Angus MacKenzie from Cape Breton, banjoman Colm O’Rua from Dublin, and stokers James Bremner and Ross Martin from Scotland’s west coast. Whatever alchemy occurred when these five met, it produced a band with a tight polished sound who can handle fast and slow tunes with skill and imagination. Dàimh’s repertoire spans Ireland, Scotland and North America, and combines classics such as Scarta Glen Slide and Paddy O’Brien’s Antrim Rose with more recent compositions like Rector at the Fèis and the Korgi, plus several of the boys’ own tunes with even stranger names. The most striking thing about The Pirates of Puirt is the apparent ease with which the Scottish pipes handle music, which ought to be well beyond their nine-note compass. Arranging fiddle tunes, particularly Irish ones, for the royal beast is usually a nightmare and often a failure, but Angus MacKenzie sails through melodies like Alasdair Fraser’s Welcome and The Maids of Tullyknockbrine without a fudged note. There’s not many could even get their fingers round John Kelly’s Slide on the highland pipes, but this man makes it sound so easy. In fact, whether it’s pipes, fiddly or banjo, reels or jigs or airs. Dàimh’s performance seems effortless, the true mark of great musicians. - Alex Monaghan ................................................................................................................................................................
DAIMH
- Pirates Of Puirt Daimh (pronounced Da-ave) are five musicians who, individually, have their own style, but are able to fuse these together effortlessly to produce a CD of quality. Each take a turn at leading so a tune can move from gentle guitar to forceful bagpipes, as on "Mazurka", or start with banjo before whistle takes over as on "the Funny Whistle". Instruments slip into support mode with no sign of a join, almost as the mood takes them. Their backgrounds are as widespread as the material, ranging from Cape Breton, California, Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. This is reflected in the tunes, the sources of which are credited in the well-produced CD liner. Talking of production, this is one of the clearest sounds I have heard for some time so credit to the recording engineer and producer. But back to the music- my favourite track is "The Lady's Dance" set which closes this CD, starting with a pipe march, moving into a strathspey before ending with an old time tune from Cape Breton. Excellent Stuff. I don't know if there is a place called Puirt to be a pirate from (is it a Gaelic word to do with music?) but there is a tranquill Loch Daimh where little grebe, whooper swans and ospreys frequent - I have seen a picture, the wonders of Internet!! Daimh means friendship - so reflects the obvious friendship these five musicians have for each other. An album to watch out for. - Dave Beeby ................................................................................................................................................................
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