Out past Oughterard there s a moment that breaks your journey Clifdenward, like a hinge between the East and the West. The landscape changes abruptly. A new palette is at work and the mountains, stacked to sequence, rise up in convoy towards the horizon.
They may have been there forever, but the light is so independent, so utterly mercurial, that each new perspective, each new view seems like a brilliant first, animating the very rocks and stones and reeds and waters.
Is this a metaphor for De Dannan? Over the years they have di-, con- and sub-verted perceptions of traditional music. Hey Jude , The Star-Spangled Molly , The Queen Of Sheba (Arrives In Galway) , collaborations with Israeli musicians, half-sets in Harlem with Gospel singers
There were and are those who doubt these eclectic dabblings, but for the most part they are whipped back into line by the fiery finesse of the musicianship that has always characterised De Dannan s work.
They haven t let up in 1992, on the music or the collaborations. And they ve been stretching out towards new horizons, especially to the East, playing Japan and Australia. But election week found Alec Finn and Frankie Gavin in Oranmore, reflecting on these new experiences, and planning a reprise in the UK and Ireland.
"In Japan, we did the WOMAD Festival in Yokohama, just outside of Tokyo and it went down very well," says Frankie. "We drew a lot of people from all around Japan. You d be amazed at how many Irish people are living in Japan. Trains and busses from all over!"
But it wasn t}tr just the expats. They also drew in what Alec calls "the Japanese aficionado society of Irish music, who know everything. Absolutely incredible. Michael Coleman s aunty s sister s name! The lot!!"
"For a nation that s regarded as being very technologically adept," says Frankie, "and very workaholic, they have a remarkable sense of humour, and they re great crack to be with."
Alec: "And they drink whiskey!"
Frankie: "Yes, they like to take the occasional vase!"
Inevitably, there was a man with a tin whistle. And no ordinary man at that.
"We became very good friends with a guy named Hideki Mimura, who s an assistant to the Irish ambassador, Jim Sharkey. And lo and behold, didn t he turn up at WOMAD with these little pins that you put in your lapel, of the Irish and Japanese flags. And he took out a whistle and played a tune! And he speaks a bit of Irish, the same boy!"
Are there any collaborative ventures arising?
Alec: "Well, cross-fertilisation is part of the ethos of WOMAD. We wound up jamming with an extraordinary electric mandolin player from India, reggae artists from the Caribbean, Aly Khan the singer, and a Japanese rock group.
"And more formal collaborations sometimes follow. For example, Frankie has been asked to do a track with Aly Khan, who is an amazing singer from Rajasthan. But we ve been doing that sort of crossover thing ourselves with the gospel singers, and we re bringing them over to WOMAD in Brighton next week."
Australia, surprisingly, was virgin territory. De Dannan had been scheduled to go there some years ago, but they were unhappy at certain aspects of the American leg of their world tour, and pulled out of the antipodean trip.
"This time we went through John Nichols, who is perhaps the biggest promoter there, and played all the major cities.
"We really enjoyed ourselves. It s a big, empty, beautiful country. And very hospitable."
The trip was not without its lighter moments. Like the seisiun in Hobarth in Tasmania
Alec: "Hobarth must be the place on the planet which is furthest away from Galway But there it was, the classic pub session after the market on a Saturday
"And there they all were too! Quite a lot of Irish and Australians who played Irish music in for the day! In this pub called the King s Arms, settling in for a day s pint drinking.
"And they had a yoke on the wall to check your alcohol consumption, in case you d get picked up by the cops and breathalysed. You pay a dollar, you blow through a straw into the machine, and it tells you your alcohol count is so many milligrams per litre, or whatever.
"But of course nobody was using it for that. I was like a competition! What they were using it for was to see who would get the most pissed! Last night Bruce went up to 5,000 milliwhotsits!
"But the seisiun had the exact same atmosphere that you d find at a session in the Four Seasons, or the White Hart in London "
The Irish diaspora again.
Ideas have always been important to De Dannan, the Irish-American exploration of The Star-Spangled Molly , for example, or the reconstitution of old dancehall favourites of the forties and fifties. Most recently they have been fusing Irish traditional music with gospel singing. It is an idea which has not yet run its course.
Alex: "Well, we haven t yet been able to really give it a go. We just did an English tour, and the big Guinness thing in Dublin. And they only played a very small part in that. There were also a couple of very small gigs in Ireland.
"The process of getting them over, and paying them, and putting them up in hotels takes a lot of organising. It has to be worth their while. Which makes it difficult to stage in Ireland. But, we re going to keep that going, probably for a very long time, alongside other projects."
Frankie: "We feel that we need to develop the idea a bit more, that we didn t take it to the fullest potential, from a public performance point of view at any rate."
In ongoing performance, more and more points of contact between the two traditions will emerge: in gospel harmony there s a lot of sliding notes that are very similar to what a traditional fiddler might play, and so on. But the contact needs to be constant before all of these things become apparent.
Frankie: "They are now going to do some choral work on top of some of the tunes now so you ll have a layer of harmony voices behind a couple of reels, for example. We did that down in Glin a year and a half ago, at a party after the gig, having a bit of a session, which is something we rarely ever get to do now! But the effect was amazing, and they were stunned by it themselves.`"
"We re bringing them over to this WOMAD gig in London," Alec adds, "and a couple of other gigs there as well, and we re hoping to bring them over to Ireland for a tour, to Galway and the Gaiety in Dublin next week. It s all short notice, but when they were coming as far as London, it seemed like a real waste not to add on a number of Irish dates."
Discerning patrons please note.
And all the while the boys keep busy.
Meanwhile, they prepare their next De Dannan album and a handful of other projects. Let s see now: there s Alec s solo album, Frankie s Christmas and wildlife albums and a possible film score. For starters.
Alec s album: "It will be mainly guitar, but with some bouzouki. Mostly tunes, some slow airs, but possibly with a few originals as well."
Frankie s Christmas album: "It s out this weekend, and includes a few departures, like some ragtime, and jazz. Great fun! Lots of tunes we all know, and some of them turned upside down as well."
Frankie s wildlife album: "We have a longterm interest in wildlife, and recently I contacted Eamon de Buitlear for tapes. He sent me some examples of stuff, and I've put some music around them, letting the bird-call suggest the music. It s turning out very nicely. There s five tracks done to demo standard, which we hope to use to generate sponsorship, because it s expensive and time-consuming."
A possible film score: "It s not yet a big deal," says Alec. "Anjelica Huston is going to direct a film on Maud Gonne, and she has asked me to become involved. We know her for a long time through the fact that they lived in Galway. I ve known her brother for thirty years, and my wife knew her when they lived here.
"So, last three times we ve been in Los Angeles, she s come to the gigs, with Harry Dean Staunton, who usually comes up and does a couple of songs with us, which is great crack. And we usually get a good night out of it. She threw a big party for us a couple of years ago, Jack Nicholson was at it, Robert Palmer, and the whole Hollywood thing. An Irish night, in a private club.
"And then when she was over here this year she mentioned this movie she s going to do, and asked me if I d like to do some music for it. Which I would. Which is as far as it s gone."
The next De Dannan album: "Ehhh, we won t reveal too much, but we can tell you this it ll include some old-style pieces; one piece we re going to bring back from the past and redo it. And we re making a video to go with it."
A video?
Frankie: "Well, Irish music is so healthy now, and so many people are dabbling with Irish musicians, that it s time that it shifted into that MTV world. It has become much more mainstream in recent years, so that connection can be made."
So, if Irish music is indeed really healthy, what are the particular things that have impressed them in recent times?
Alec: "There s a great young crew of musicians coming up, for example on accordion, which is a very good sign. The standard is very high."
In contrast, however, there are very few young singers, and particularly male singers. De Dannan s Eleanor Shanley, Altan s Mairead Nm Mhaonaigh, and Hothouse Flowers Liam O Maonlai are exceptional singers but there s no scene stealer out there who draws a whole set of influences together in a way that might be compared to Sharon Shannon s accordion-playing or Davy Spillane s piping. A singer who absorbs traditions and influences, but is committed to bravely going where no one has gone before
Frankie: "The accordion was nearly dead a few years ago. People used to hate the accordion. Now there s accordion players all around the country and they re very, very good! They ve made it sound like quite a nice instrument!
"For example, I heard a young fellow in Spiddal last night, Johnny Connolly s son, and he played some hefty classical tune on the accordion, surrounded by fellas yahooing and yaboya-ing. Wrong context altogether, but you d want to hear what he was playing! Top grade stuff. Very, very good. Playing a very awkward tune, but with a lovely touch, and in a very Irish way.
"And the same is true of the pipes. But singing? No, you re right. There s a gap there."
It might have something to do with the way that people respond to and appreciate the music, that great respect for instrumental virtuosity and dexterity. It s very hard for a singer to compete.
An eighteen-year-old can do amazing things with his or her fingers on an instrument, but the knowledge that is required to sing, to incorporate both sean-nss and blues and gospel, is a different matter.
"You re right," says Frankie, "and that will be put right forthwith!"
Ya better believe it. In the meantime, there s the Gaiety