Dónal Donohoe » Blog

Hyperbolic Guitar

Dónal — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:26:44 +0000

My first single has just been released, it’s called Hyperbolic Guitar and is a solo instrumental piece on the acoustic guitar. Unlike all my previous releases which were full albums either on vinyl or CD and download this track is only available as a download from iTunes, CD Baby, etc.

The piece is an attempt to capture the exponential expanse of hyperbolic space in the rhythm of music. Exploring the relationship between hyperbolic geometry and music, this tune was composed after attending a lecture about hyperbolic geometry by Dr. Daina Taimina at the Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin.

Bert Jansch – L.A. Turnaround

Dónal — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:38:34 +0000

It was probably because of being constantly at the front of my vinyl collection that my original copy of L.A. Turnaround (purchased after it’s release in the 1970’s) became warped either from direct sunlight or from being left too near to a radiator, resulting in the needle skipping when I tried to play it on my turntable. That was sometime in the 1980’s and by then it was impossible to replace, being no longer available and leaving me bereft of one of my favourite Bert Jansch albums. So when the postman arrived last week with the re-released CD version it was a special treat and all other plans for that afternoon were dropped as I sat down to listen to it again after so many years. I wasn’t disappointed, it sounded just as smooth as it did in the 1970’s having been produced then by Mike Nesmith and remastered for re-release under Bert’s supervision.

Some albums sound timeless, impossible to pin down to a particular period and this is one of them. Comprising of ‘Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning’ one of his most beautiful love songs, ‘One For Jo’ one of his most well known and popular songs and ‘Chambertin’ one of his most spellbinding guitar instumentals to name just a few of the tracks, it really is a special album. Tony Stratton Smith on whose Charisma label L.A. Turnaround first appeared described it as probably one of the five best albums Charisma had ever released. I would say that it is probably one of the best five albums that Bert Jansch has ever released.

Sojourn In Belfast

Dónal — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 19:47:43 +0000

The dry dock where the Titanic was built.

“Titanic was comin’ ’round the curve
When it ran into that great big iceberg
Cryin’ fare thee, Titanic, fare thee well ”
Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly)

Walking by the river Lagan towards the city centre to have coffee on Rosemary Street.

Taking a little break on the way.

Sandycove

Dónal — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:47:34 +0000

A walk by the sea

and then it’s coffee time.

Culture In The Digital Age

Dónal — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:02:02 +0000

At a time when the sale of CDs has been falling for many years in a row and where the sale of music downloads has failed to halt the decline in overall music sales it is interesting to note the increase in revenue from the sale of video games. The digital age and the internet has opened up unlimited possibilities for discovering new art, books, music, films etc and unlike in previous times when certain books or vinyl records were difficult to get hold of, now it is almost possible to source anything by searching on the internet. So has the new technology meant that unknown artists are managing to get greater exposure for their art and reap the economic dividends of such exposure? Apparently not, as the figures show the biggest seller this year is a video war game where people can act like big boys with guns and virtually blow the ‘bad guys’ away as they pop up on their screens throughout the game. One might have thought that watching the evening news would fill anyone’s life with enough bloodshed, killing, war and destruction that they would want to devote their leisure time to the pursuit of some more peaceful activities, virtual or otherwise. But it seems that at this point in the time the masses would prefer to play Cowboys and Indians on their little boxes or play air guitar on one of the interactive music games and pretend they are playing music.
Throughout history new inventions and discoveries have been put to both good and bad use, the splitting of the atom led to nuclear bombs being dropped on two cities, whereas other new developments have led to people’s lives being saved, improved or enriched by the manner in which they were applied. Looking back through history certain periods stand out as cultural high points, whether in early Greece, the renaissance in Europe in the middle ages or the 1960’s in the twentieth century when peace and love was going to change the world and make it a better place to live in. Of course the world didn’t change, but for a while people dreamed that they could change it, how many people dream that now? When future generations look back at this period in which we are now living, where karaoke machines have replaced musicians in many small venues and where educated people spend hours and hours playing war games, will they describe it as a time of cultural enlightenment

Intimacy

Dónal — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 14:07:50 +0000

Having played music almost everyday this year so far putting the final touches to some new songs and playing through some old ones that I had not played for a while, reminded me again why I love music so much. Few things in this world can be as uplifting as listening to or playing the music you like. What a pity then that musicians need to eat, stay warm in winter and pay all the bills that everyone else has to, for if it were not the case then this really would be a perfect world and the whole debate raging presently about whether or not musicians should be paid for their music would be redundant. But alas, musicians do need to eat and this debate will in my opinion continue for some time as none of the many business models put forward so far to provide a solution have stood the test of time or shown that they would be suitable for anything more than a small group of already established acts. That many of these proposals come from people who have never in their life stood on a stage and performed music in front of an audience or tried to write a song or compose a piece of music comes as no surprise, but when I hear people telling musicians that what they better be able to sell is intimacy, then I think something is being misunderstood. The most intimate thing a musician has to offer to an audience or anyone else is their music.

Snow And Sorrow

Dónal — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:10:28 +0000

The light fades as the sun sinks behind the hills and the temperature drops, I look out across the land as far as I can see but my thoughts travel further to where she lies in the frozen ground. It has been frozen since she passed away so suddenly and so peacefully, she had been out for a walk with her friend, had joked with me on the phone but by the end of that day she was gone forever. I turn to face the empty space left by her passing but it is too soon to face the memories or to look to the future, there is just the present and the snow and cold. Somehow being snowed in here on the hill for days at a time over the Christmas holiday and the New Year seemed to suit my mood, leaving me isolated from the rest of the world to come to terms with the loss on my own.

Some days there was so much ice on the road up the hill that it was impossible to drive up or down it and today there was so much snow that trying to make it to the nearest town for supplies was out of the question. The weather forcast is for the cold spell to continue so making it to town tomorrow might not be possible either and if this episode is to be repeated regularly every winter whether as a result of climate change or not then I may need to store up extra supplies of food and fuel every autumn from now on to be prepared for such eventualities. But a thaw will come and after that so will the first signs of spring, perhaps then it will be time for all of those memories, so many of them happy ones to return.

Liam Clancy

Dónal — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:45:12 +0000

Recently we saw the passing of Liam Clancy, the last of the Clancy Brothers and of course Tommy Makem. ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’, ‘Óró Sé do Bheatha ‘bhaile’, ‘The Parting Glass’, I heard all of these songs and many others for the first time sung by Liam Clancy. He was a great singer, his voice was powerful but yet had great warmth and resonance, it will be his legacy.

Karaoke Days

Dónal — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:50:46 +0000

Probably nothing else has taken up so much space in the entertainment section of both the printed and electronic media in recent times as the hype surrounding the music talent shows on TV both in Europe and in the US. The person behind the biggest of these shows is also behind much of what gets into the charts, especially coming up to Christmas. Most of the songs sung on these shows up to and including the finals are old hits that have been covered many times before, so nothing new there. The show would seem to be as much about the so called celebrity judges who sit on the panel assessing the performers as it is about the performers, how many of these judges are qualified to judge music is debatable and they are more likely there to further their own careers as much as they are supposedly trying to help and develop new upcoming musical talent. This was very obvious recently when for two weeks in a row a certain act, where singing and dancing abilities were virtually non-existent, were kept in the contest by the judges ahead of acts that were for all to see far more musical simply because their antics brought more viewers to the show.

It has been stated by many and this was confirmed by the person who is top judge on both of these shows that if Bob Dylan were to participate in the contest he would be voted off immiediatly by these judges, presumably for his lack of star quality. So we are led to believe by these people who control much of the music we hear on mainstream radio and TV that what the world needs to hear is not an artist who writes original and often thought provoking songs but manufactured pop stars, whose image and musical output they control, singing cover numbers that are rarely anything near as good as the originals. But then I would say all that wouldn’t I, being as I am naturally suspicious of musical talent shows where a musical insturment is never to be seen.

Famous Blue Raincoat & Other Songs

Dónal — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:04:38 +0000

He danced on to the stage sang, played and entertained for almost three hours, then danced off in to the night. Yes they were all there, Suzanne, So Long Marianne, Bird On The Wire, Who By Fire, Dance Me To The End Of Love, Hallelujah, I’m Your Man, the list goes on and it is impressive that one man could write so many great songs. Having spent so many years on the periphery of the music business and having been written off as irrelevant, unable to sing, Leonard Cohen is the finest lyricist that I have ever heard and it is surely some form of poetic justice that he is at last receiving some recognition for his work while he is still in this world. The concert at the O2 in Dublin was not the first time I had heard Leonard Cohen perform live and I hope that it will not be the last.