“Music is in my blood” Legendary Irish violinist Frankie Gavin looks back at his roots

During my previous visit to Dublin, I was lucky enough to see one of the most famous bands in Irish traditional music.

Frankie Gavin and De Dannan drew large crowds to the splendor of St Patrick’s Cathedral in central Dublin.

De Dannan started in dramatic fashion, with fiddler Gavin serving to up the tempo beautifully.

The second set of tracks, featuring reels and jigs, recalled the glory days of the Flanagan Brothers in 1920s and 1930s New York.

The songs that followed by singer Michelle Lally were truly wonderful, delivered with her unmistakably powerful and majestic voice.

After a series of invigorating reels that paid homage to the men of my own county, legendary Sligo violinists Paddy Killoran and Michael Coleman, who both made influential recordings in America at the turn of the last century, De Dannan then made a rip – roaring version of one of Handel’s masterpieces, The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.

Tears and cheers erupted spontaneously as Gavin’s virtuoso fiddle playing captured the goodwill of his mixed-age audience.

The next morning, in the luxury of one of Dublin’s most famous hotels, owned by none other than U2’s Bono, I met the affable Frankie Gavin where we chatted about the previous night’s performance and the story of De Dannan…

Frankie, what do you have in common with Bono and U2?

I have little or nothing, to be honest with you.

I love rock’n’roll, but I was lucky enough to have played with the best rock’n’roll band in the world, The Rolling Stones.

You were born in County Galway and I believe you come from a large family of traditional musicians?

I was born and raised in Corrandulla in Galway.

I got a whistle for my fourth birthday, and that’s where it all started.

Music is in my blood because there was a huge volume of music from both sides of the family.

All my brothers and sisters played the violin and the concertino, and I was able to pick up an instrument and play by ear.

By the age of ten, I could also master the violin, flute and other traditional instruments.

I have received formal training in music, but my violin ability is mostly self-taught.

When I was 17, I won first place in Ireland in the violin and flute competitions. I’m the youngest in a family of four and everyone in the house has been playing.

I was heavily influenced by the 1978 recordings of Michael Coleman and James Morrison from your county, Sligo.

Can I take you back to 1961 and President JF Kennedy’s visit to Galway?

I had the chance to play for President Kennedy when I was six when he visited Galway.

Since then, I have played for other presidents: George Bush, Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama. The first time I got an invitation from the White House to play for George Bush, I didn’t quite believe it and thought it was a prank. He was throwing a big dinner party for all his Irish-American friends; it was an incredible opportunity. Bush was a very funny man.

Do you remember when De Dannan first took the stage?

It was around 1974, when I started the band. I was only about fifteen at the time and I was still in high school. We started sessions at the Hughes pub in Spiddal; myself, Charlie Piggott, Alec Finn and Johnny McDonagh. We seemed to gel right away. We then had a gig at a folk club in Dublin and it took off from there.

What prompted you to get Dolores Keane to join the band?

Some of the guys said it would be nice to have a singer with us. Dolores Keane was a close neighbor and close friend. Actually, my dad dated Dolores’ mom a long time ago. When Dolores joined us she was an instant hit and we recorded a song, The Ramblin Irishman, which put us on the map I guess. Then Dolores got married and went to work in London. She did, however, return to make a few albums with De Dannan in the following years.

Mary Black followed Dolores and we had a huge hit with A Song for Ireland.

Mary left after a few years to pursue a solo career in more contemporary music.

I then discovered Maura O’Connell singing in a hotel in Sixmilebridge in County Clare. She was just amazing.

You’ve played with some of the biggest bands, including the Rolling Stones, how was it?

It was absolutely great to be with the Stones but terrifying to play with them for the first time at Oakland Arena just outside San Francisco in front of 80,000 people.

I remember Keith Richards saying my instrument would be known as a fiddle in the north and a fiddle in the south of England.

Where does the name De Dannan come from?

The group was named after a legendary Irish tribe, Tuatha De Dannan, and they have remained loyal ever since. Of course, being an unusual name, people remember it.

The band’s line-up has obviously changed over the years – are you the only original member left?

I would say the present De Dannan is the best version of the bunch. You have now seen and heard us, what do you think?

Find Frankie Gavin at The Chapel, Salisbury on Friday 4 March. Doors at 7:30 p.m., music at 8 p.m. Tickets are available here. A donation of £2.50 from each ticket will go to Salisbury Hospice.