Feature: Damien Dempsey at Trafalgar Square on 13th March for St Patrick’s Day Parade

Published: 10 March, 2011
by TERRY MESSENGER

TO headline the London Saint Patrick’s Day Festival in Trafalgar Square is “a huge buzz” for Dubliner Damien Dempsey.

The Irish in England have a very special place in the heart of one of Ireland’s best-loved contemporary musicians.

“I had uncles who came here in the 1980s when there was no work in Ireland – it was brutal,” says Damo sipping a quiet pint.

We are in an Irish-themed pub, not far from Kilburn, his uncles’ place of exile, where Damo, as the singer/songwriter is known, is friendly and familiar with bar staff and regulars.

It would be easy to criticise the decor as clichéd homage to Irish culture. But Damo wouldn’t be having any of that. He’s at home here among the ex-pats and the artefacts.

“When anyone says Plastic Paddy to me, I rear up and people know not to say that in my company,” he says. “The Irish have had a tough old time here through the troubles and people calling them murderers.

“A lot of Irish had to leave their country and make lives for themselves and their children abroad. Anyone who never had to leave Ireland, who thinks that they are better or more Irish than the ones who did leave – nah, I don’t like that.”

So to headline the biggest cultural event in England for the Irish, their descendants and well-wishers, is “a big privilege”. Damo is due to appear at Trafalgar Square in the free festival which follows the St Patrick’s Day Parade from Green Park on Sunday. He is also scheduled to play at the London Irish Centre in Camden Town, tomorrow (Friday) in a gig that sold out many weeks ago.

Damien Dempsey fuses traditional Irish music, rock, and rap in an original mix that has him likened to an Irish JayZ. His fans include Bono, Morrissey and the half of Ireland who recoil from Louis Walsh’s hit factory.  

An ex-amateur boxer, he comes from a council estate in Donaghmede, north Dublin, also home to Commitments author Roddy Doyle.

Arguably, his greatest work is Colony, a cry of pain, indignation and resistance to colonial conquerors everywhere.

Says Damo: “The Irish had a similar history to the Africans, the native Americans, the native Australians – we were the white version of them.”

Damo is a true patriot, proud of his country but constructively critical.

Colony is also addressed to fellow Irish who object to immigrants to their country, unaware of the irony. “They haven’t a f***ing clue about their own history. They read the News of the World and they watch the football and that’s all they know.”

Celtic Tiger, released in 2006 at the apex of Ireland’s hubristic economic boom, was an indictment of the nation’s greed and materialism and prescient warning of the almighty crash that followed. Sing all Your Cares Away is a lament about drink and drug dependence, absent fathers, self neglect and the catastrophic consequences of joy-riding – an everyday tale of folk in Donaghmede.

But there is always a message of redemption in Damo’s songs and the many diehard fans who sing along go away inspired and uplifted. At their heart is a humanity which transcends Damo’s neighbourhood and nationality.

“I’m just a fella who likes singing songs,” he says. “I’m proud of Ireland, our hospitality, and the fact that we punch above our weight when it comes to culture. But so often nationalism can be a load of bollocks. We all come from Africa origin­ally. We all come from a very small gene pool.”

• Damien Dempsey is at Trafalgar Square on Sunday as part of St Patrick’s Day Parade. He plays the London Irish Centre in Camden Square, Camden Town, tomorrow (Friday)