duggup

Dochas are an amazing young six piece steeped in the traditions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland as well as Ireland. Five women and a bloke on bodhran. The group perform a multitude of instruments as well as sing.

Gaelic vocalist Julie Fowlis provides haunting melodies and adds whistle, Jenna Reid is responsiblefor the fiddle playing. Carol Anne Mackay plays on a multitude of pipes whilst Eilidh Mackenzie adds harp with Kathleen Boyle on Keyboards and accordion. Martin O’Neill brings precise and flowing bodhran playing to round it all off. Head over to http://www.myspace.com/dochasmusic, pick a track… any track. It really doesn’t matter, they are all fabulous.

So, Dochas are a six-piece band with roots in Scotland, Shetland and Ireland. The band released their debut album, Dochas in 2002, and have released the follow-up, An Darna Umhail in 2004. The influences behind the tune sets are roughly the same – there is a big piping influence from Carol-Anne, Highland tunes, a Shetland set from Jenna, and the Irish tunes that Kathleen contributes

From an interview they gave in 2005

“We have done a couple of things a wee bit differently on the songs. We talked last time about doing a duet on a song that had both Gaelic and English words, with Jenna singing the English version. We didn’t do it then, but we have on this album with ‘I Ho Ro ‘S Na Hug Oro Eile and Ae Fond Kiss’ – Robert Burns borrowed the tune for ‘Ae Fond Kiss’ from ‘I Ho Ro’”

Here is a video of their Hogmanny 2007 BBC performance…