Robbie Peter Dunn (born 28 October 1951, in Dublin) is a well-known Irish folk singer songwriter based in Brisbane, Australia.
Robbie was born into a musical family where singing was the norm. He left school at the age of 15 and became a chef working in Donegal where he also sang in small bands. He worked at The Clarence Hotel in Dublin before moving to London, where he trained in French and Italian cuisine under French Masterchef, Raymond Zarb. [1]
While in London he sang in a blues band. During the late 1960s and early 1970s in London he became aware of racism for the first time when people turned their backs on him when they heard his Irish accent.
Although being a successful chef, singing was always part of his life and he did so in many of Dublin's famous pubs [2]
It was not until he met the Irish Seanchai, Liam Weldon in Tailors' Hall, Dublin in 1978 that his true musical and writing career took off. [3] Liam's influence on Robbie through his lyrics and singing was profound. Liam Weldon's lyrics took on a Celtic spiritual dimension, Pantheism, that Robbie had been searching for. This was the trend that was to run through Robbie's writings from then on.
In all his albums there are messages of love and compassion most of his songs have a Celtic spiritual message about discovering the wonders that exist inside every human being. [4] From the Irish Wedding Song comes the lyrics The wonders of creation, the salmon in the pool, the essence of the love that permeates this room, the riddle of the universe was carved upon the stones, when you comprehend the oneness you will never walk alone. [5]
From his song Pick Up The Phone comes the lyrics Everybody needs a little time and space, to put life's trials and tribulations back in their place, to heal the spirit to touch the soul, to find the inner peace that will fill that hole. [5]
He believes that it is only by loving ourselves can we bring an end to violence in the world.
Robbie is a traditional Dublin balladeer who tells stories through songs and music, carrying the message as many folk singers have before him. His major influences have been his mother Rose, Liam Weldon, John Lennon, Percy French and Jock Montgomery.
He has many musical styles and has also written many comic songs.
Robbie became politically aware in Derry in 1967 while staying at a friends house in the Bogside. On a Monday morning, the mother of one of his friends left for work and the father stayed at home to look after the kids. When asked why his dad did not work he was told "We are nationalists, they will not give us work."
On returning to Dublin he became involved with social issues and has continued working for civil rights for people whenever he can. He took part in many peace rallies and protest marches through the 1970s and 1980s. One of his early songs was in reference to a young girl, Carol Kelly, being shot dead by a plastic bullet in Belfast. Many of his songs refer to the futility of war, including War Is Just For Losers, Only Fools Talk Of War, which have both been performed at many peace rallies and concerts. One of his more recent songs is entitled War Is A Mental Disease. [5] He does not believe in nationalism or man-made religion as he feels they only divide people.
Francis Edward Ledwidge was a 20th-century Irish poet. From Slane, County Meath, and sometimes known as the "poet of the blackbirds", he was later also known as a First World War war poet. He befriended the established writer Lord Dunsany, who helped with publication of his works. He was killed in action at Ypres in 1917.
Paul Harrington is an Irish musician, who, with Charlie McGettigan, won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in 1994.
Irish music is music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.
The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumper sweaters and are widely credited with popularising Irish traditional music in the United States and revitalising it in Ireland, contributing to an Irish folk boom with groups like the Dubliners and the Wolfe Tones.
Liam Clancy was an Irish folk singer from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest member of the influential folk group the Clancy Brothers, regarded as Ireland's first pop stars. They achieved global sales of millions and appeared in sold-out concerts at such prominent venues as Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall.
Anúna is a vocal ensemble formed in Ireland in 1987 by Irish composer Michael McGlynn under the name An Uaithne. Taking the current name in 1991, the group has recorded 18 albums and achieved a high level of international success, including a significant role in Riverdance from 1994 to 1996. Almost all of their repertoire is composed or arranged by McGlynn. Despite having been based in Ireland since their foundation and providing training to many Irish singers, McGlynn announced in December 2022 that the group would cease public performance in Ireland, while continuing in Northern Ireland and beyond.
Frank Harte was a traditional Irish singer, song collector, architect and lecturer. He was born in Chapelizod, County Dublin, and raised in Dublin. His father, Peter Harte, who had moved from a farming background in Sligo, owned 'The Tap' pub in Chapelizod.
"The Maid and the Palmer" is an English language medieval murder ballad with supernatural/religious overtones. Because of its dark and sinister lyrics, the song was often avoided by folk singers. Child's main text in English comes from the seventeenth century ballad collection compiled by Thomas Percy, supplemented by a nineteenth century fragment recalled by Sir Walter Scott, although both Child and later scholars agree that the English language version(s) of the ballad derive from an earlier Continental original or "Magdalene ballad" that is based upon a medieval legend associated with Mary Magdalene, in which her story has become conflated with that of the Samaritan woman at the well in the Gospel of John. The ballad was present in oral tradition in Scotland in the early years of the nineteenth century but was subsequently lost there, however versions have since been recovered in Ireland, in particular among the Irish Traveller community, with an intervening gap of some 150 years. A small fragment of the ballad has also been claimed to have been recovered in the U.S.A., but the veracity of this record is disputed. The "palmer" of Child's title, as included the Percy MS version, refers to a pilgrim, normally from Western Europe, who had visited the holy places in Palestine and who, as a token of his visits to the Holy Land, brought back a palm leaf or a palm leaf folded into a cross. In the ballad the palmer, as a holy man, has the ability to see the Magdalene character/protagonist's past in which she has borne and buried numerous children and to prescribe what fate awaits her in the hereafter, in the form of a set of seven year penances following which she will be absolved from her sins; in Continental versions, and in one variant collected in Ireland, the palmer is in fact Jesus.
Mícheál Ó Domhnaill was an Irish singer, guitarist, composer, and producer who was a major influence on Irish traditional music in the second half of the twentieth century. He is remembered for his innovative work with Skara Brae, the first group to record vocal harmonization in Irish language songs, and The Bothy Band, one of the most influential groups in Irish traditional music. His reputation was enhanced by a successful collaboration with master fiddler Kevin Burke, and his work with the Celtic groups Relativity and Nightnoise, which achieved significant commercial and critical acclaim.
Sarah Makem a native of Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, was a traditional Irish singer. She was the wife of fiddler Peter Makem, mother of musicians Tommy Makem and Jack Makem, and grandmother of musicians Tom Sweeney, Jimmy Sweeney, Shane Makem, Conor Makem and Rory Makem. Sarah Makem and her cousin, Annie Jane Kelly, were members of the Singing Greenes of Keady.
Liam Weldon was a singer and songwriter in the Irish folk tradition.
Irish traditional music is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland.
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Sean-nós singing is unaccompanied traditional Irish vocal music usually performed in the Irish language. Sean-nós singing usually involves very long melodic phrases with highly ornamented and melismatic melodic lines, differing greatly from traditional folk singing elsewhere in Ireland, although there is significant regional variation within Ireland. Sean-nós songs cover a range of genres, from love song to lament to lullaby, traditionally with a strong focus on conveying the relevant emotion of the given song. The term sean-nós, which simply means "in the old way", is a vague term that can also refer to various other traditional activities, musical and non-musical.
Dan Milner is a singer of traditional Irish songs, a scholar-teacher and a writer. Born Daniel Michael Milner on March 27, 1945 in Birmingham, England to an Irish mother, Nora Mary Cremin of Brosna, Co. Kerry, and an Irish-English father, Willam Milner, he is the younger brother of Liam Donal Padraig Milner (1940-2008), who was also a fine singer. The Milner family moved frequently following World War II, the result being the brothers grew up in far-flung localities including Birmingham, Ballybunion, Co. Kerry, Toronto, Canada and Brooklyn, New York.
Robbie O'Connell is an Irish singer songwriter who performs solo, as well as with The Green Fields of America. He also appears with Dónal Clancy (cousin), Dan Milner, and fiddler Rose Clancy. O'Connell has also toured and recorded with The Clancy Brothers, being their nephew. For over 20 years, he has conducted small cultural tours to Ireland with Celtica Music & Tours and, for more than ten years, WGBH Learning Tours. Married with four grown children, he now spends his time between Bristol, Rhode Island and Waterford.
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