Dispute over use of De Dannan name

WHAT’S IN a name? Quite a lot for some musicians it seems, after a spat between two of the founding members of trad supergroup De Dannan erupted yesterday into a public row as some of Ireland’s best-known musicians insulted each other on the airwaves.

Alec Finn, who founded the band along with fiddler Frankie Gavin, sent a solicitor’s letter recently to Gavin asking him to refrain from using the name De Dannan. Finn said he copyrighted the name after the band split up in 2004, not with a view to using it in the future, but to stop the name being exploited by others.

Frankie Gavin and De Dannan were top billing last night at a concert in Castlebar’s Royal Theatre as part of the World Fleadh. Finn said none of the musicians billed as De Dannan have ever played with the band before. “If the Rolling Stones were billed as ‘Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones’ and the other musicians were a bunch of unknowns, would you go and see them?” he asked.

Matters came to a head yesterday on RTÉ's Livelineprogramme. Finn was backed by fellow former member Johnny "Ringo" McDonagh, who was with De Dannan for 18 years.

McDonagh, the band’s former bodhrán player and percussionist, accused Gavin of “basically using the name for financial gain”.

He added that there were thousands of fiddle players out there. “He [Gavin] wouldn’t be my favourite,” McDonagh said.

His remarks provoked the fury of renowned button accordion player Tony MacMahon who said Gavin was the driving force behind the band: “Frankie Gavin is one of the most distinguished traditional musicians playing Irish music. Johnny is a first-rate accompanist, Alec is a second-rate accompanist. You’re not . . . in the same league.”

Gavin was not on the programme and could not be contacted by The Irish Timeslast night. However, he previously issued a statement saying that he registered the trade name Frankie Gavin and De Dannan with the Companies Registration Office.

He also told this paper in an interview this week: “The fact is, it’s difficult to make a living playing music. If it’s a business and a trade name that I’ve built up over 30 years, I think that I would have every right to use it.”

MacMahon accused Finn of leaning on “some institutional nonsense like owning the term De Dannan” to stop Gavin earning a living. McDonagh responded by saying that MacMahon’s remarks were “total bulls***” and that many of De Dannan’s best tunes were composed by another former band member, Charlie Piggott.

Stockton’s Wing member Mike Hanrahan said he was incensed by MacMahon’s remarks and accused the veteran musician and broadcaster of having “outdated and antiquated views on Irish music”.

Former De Dannan singer Dolores Keane, who appeared as a guest of Gavin’s last night though not as a member of the band, said she “very perturbed” that former friends had come to this.

“Why is it so bloody important to you,” she asked Finn live on air. Finn replied by saying that calling Gavin’s band De Dannan was pretending that it was the real thing.