Album Notes

\"The sound of Damanta, and lead singer Elegwen O\'Maoileoin\'s songs, have been described by Juno-winning folk producer Paul Gitlitz, as a cross between Ian Anderson (the voice of Jethro Tull) and Jim Morrison of the Doors. Except unlike Jethro Tull Damanta has a distinctly Irish sound.\"
-- Catholine Butler, The Celtic Connection


FUNK, GROOVE & GAELIC.

\"Epic ballads, tragic laments & bloody battle dirges!\"

No other Irish band presents the ancient a cappella Gaelic sean nos song tradition alongside rocking electrified faerie ballads and lovelorn melancholic laments…all with a taste for the darker, melancholic side of Irish music while keeping things grooving and funky the whole time. Damanta\'s folk is fuckin\' deadly! As was once said by a listener on Inis Mor.

Damanta is a group of wandering minstrels, all of whom were left at the doorsteps of families in Canada or Ireland, through various miracles of the Holy Virgin Herself, and serendipitous acts by the wee folk, these minstrels banded together to form a merry...well, band.

While sitting by the seaside on the Aran Isle of Inis Mor, where Damanta has some strong ties, new songs are found, drifting in the wind. At the same time, nothing is like playing jigs and reels in a pub between the darkling hours of the night.

But Damanta does not do all: If your taste for Celtic is the Irish Descendants, Irish Rovers, or any band that starts with \"Irish...,\" this is not what we do. Our music is not about BEING Irish, or Descendents, or Celtic or any such thing. Our songs are about humanity, (well, mostly - sometimes theyre about faeries and pagan gods), and the lyrics often consider the tragedy of life, with a glimpse of salvation that of course Our Sacred Mother offers her sons in Heaven. And so, when we are sitting in the local pub with the gods, faeries and Jesus Christ, we will give a health for the moments of joy and revelry we have had....
...while playing our music
...singing our songs
...and dancing our little dance in this life of ours.

If that\'s the kind of Celtic, or Irish you like, well, then Damanta might be your cup of whiskey.