Dónal Maguire at the Baltimore Singers Club -- November 12th, 2008

The Baltimore Singers Club is very pleased to announce the news you've all been waiting for: Dónal Maguire, our first guest singer, will visit us on November 12th, 2008. Details are evolving rapidly, so check with baltimoresingersclub.blogspot.com often to stay in the loop!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact:

Peter Brice
The Baltimore Singers Club
baltimore.singers.club@gmail.com


Dónal Maguire, Irish Traditional Singer – US Tour

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – 14 September 2008 – Legendary Irish Traditional singer Dónal Maguire will tour the United States in November 2008 to promote his recently released album ‘Michael Davitt: The Forgotten Hero?’, an essay in song on the life of 19th century Irish Land League champion Michael Davitt, and his forthcoming biopic regarding the same. Maguire, one of Ireland’s most celebrated purveyors of narrative songs and ballads, will be making his second run of appearances in the US, following a successful tour of the East Coast in 2004 to promote his CD ‘Gilded Chains and Sordid Affluence’ and the re-release of his celebrated 1979 LP, ‘The Star of Sunday’s Well’.


Noteworthy dates for Dónal Maguire’s November 2008 tour include:

November 1 -- Laurel, MD -- Cook’s Treehouse, sponsored by the Folklore Society of Greater Washington

November 2 --New York, NY -- South Street Seaport Museum, Melville Gallery

November 6 -- Staten Island, NY -- House concert at the home of Bob Conroy

November 7 -- East Windsor, NJ -- House Concert at the home of Dick Greenhaus

November 9 -- St. Paul, MN -- The Traditional Singers Club of the Twin Cities

November 12 -- Baltimore, MD -- The Baltimore Singers Club

November 14-16 -- Queens, NY -- Eisteddfod Festival-NY, sponsored by The Folk Music Society of New York

More dates to be announced.

Dónal Maguire is internationally regarded as one of the finest living interpreters of traditional songs and ballads. A master vocalist and compelling storyteller, Dónal has a unique flair for rendering the traditional repertoire in a manner that is musically and intellectually poignant for modern people. He is equally lauded for his execution of contemporary material and is well known for his ability to re-breathe vim and vigor into the most tired lyrics. A deft hand at the mandolin and tenor banjo, an impeccable presenter with a transcendental wit, and an inexhaustible character, Dónal Maguire is a consummate performer whose abilities far exceed the perceived margins of folksong and traditional music. For more information and samples, see http://www.donalmaguire.co.uk/ or www.myspace.com/donalmaguire.

Born in Drogheda, County Louth, Dónal's emigration to England as a fifteen-year-old paradoxically accelerated his interest in Irish music and culture. Like so many other young Irish kids, Dónal was greatly inspired by the charismatic Clancy brothers and their triumphal return to Ireland from the USA in the early 60s. Whilst admiring Luke Kelly's strident style, Dónal soon became enamored of the high style exemplified by master-singers of the older generation like Joe Heaney, Paddy Tunney and Elizabeth Cronin.

The London Singers Workshop helped to develop his singing and he became a resident at the Singers Club, joining Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, John Faulkner, Sandra Kerr, and Terry Yarnell.

Dónal helped to the set up the Knave of Clubs in Bethnal Green, East London, together with Yarnell, Faulkner, Kerr and other members of agitprop group Combine. Latterly, Dolores Keane joined the residents. Dónal moved to Lancashire in 1976 and soon teamed up with virtuoso 2-row accordion player Liam Webster. They played together for over 20 years.

Dónal has conducted many singing workshops, always characterized by his relaxed, yet highly informative, professional style. He has also collected many songs, not only in his native County Louth, but from many sources in the U.K.

In 2001 Dónal decided to realize a lifetime ambition and devote himself to music on a full-time basis. In 2001, he re-released his highly regarded album ‘The Clergy's Lamentation’ with additional tracks and launched his first new record since 1979, ‘Gilded Chains and Sordid Affluence’ to rave reviews at the Rhythm Station, Rawtenstall, Lancashire.

In January 2004 Dónal re-released his celebrated album ‘The Star of Sunday’s Well’, re-mastered by eminent RTE producer Harry Bradshaw. During late Autumn 2004 Dónal engaged in a very successful tour of Eastern USA with gigs in NYC, New Hampshire and Maryland. Spring 2005 offered the opportunity for Dónal to make his first trip to Australia, playing the inaugural “Two Fires Festival” in Braidwood, NSW, and then the prestigious Australian National Festival in Canberra over the Easter holiday period.

Dónal's latest major project centers around the legendary Michael Davitt, arguably one of the most celebrated statesmen in 19th Century Irish history. Davitt, the supreme political organizer, social reformer, and egalitarian, migrated to Haslingden, County Lancashire (where, coincidentally, Dónal has lived since 1978) as a child from Mayo in the west of Ireland. Following the release of his latest album, ‘Michael Davitt: The Forgotten Hero?’, Dónal toured the UK and Ireland with a musically illustrated lecture, ‘Triumph over Adversity’, to celebrate the centenary of the great man’s death in 1906.