Dagda (band)

Dagda is an Irish New Age band. It comprises Reg Keating and Phillip O'Rely. The band is named after Dagda, an Irish god. They released their first album Hibernia: The Story of Ireland - OWL in 1997.

Dagda is an Irish duo comprising songwriter / producer Reg Keating and programmer / producer Phillip O'Reilly. They began working together at Owl studio in Dublin, Ireland during 1997 and quickly established a good musical partnership. Phillip plays keyboard and guitar while Reg plays keyboards and a selection of Irish flutes and whistles. For most of their productions, they engage additional top session musicians and vocalists to give them the exact sounds they are looking for^[1].

Their first joint production was Celtic Trance which achieved critical acclaim across USA. A track from this album was to feature in the 2001 Oscar winning documentary Into the arms of strangers. Other tracks by Dagda have been included in award winning films and over 30 compilations in such company as Sting, Sarah Brightman, Paul Hardcastle, Art of Noise, Era, Clannad, Mike Oldfield, Enigma, Bono and Maire Brennan, Ennio Morricone, Ry Cooder, Deep Forest, Moby and Faithless and many more.

Phillip was reared in Australia and had little interest in Celtic music before the formation of Dagda. His focus was programming, dance music and sound production. Reg had a deep interest in Celtic culture and had been writing, producing and recording concept albums for the Irish market for many years.

Reg had enjoyed success with Mystical Ireland, a 6 album new age package under the pen name New Ireland Orchestra, and Scoring in the USA, an album that peaked at No 2 in the Irish charts. He also had written a best selling series of Irish Legend books for children.

Dagda is an ancient Irish name for the chief of the Celtic gods.

In 2000, Dagda and Tom Donovan together recorded Barbarian, which was released in Denmark in 2001.

Discography

• 1997 - Hibernia: The Story of Ireland
• 1998 - Celtic Tranquility
• 1999 - Celtic Trance
• 2000 - Underworld
• 2001 - Sleeping with the Gods of Love
• 2007 - Classical Trance

References

1. ^ From the Owl Records website (http://www.owlrecords.com/Biodag.htm)