“First, there’s a historical connection: ancient Celts were very hard working, worked together as clans, forming tight knit communities that shared burdens and benefits,” he said. McDonnell finds the links between storytelling and Celtic music easy and natural.
#Celtic music fest full#
But it turns out there’s quite a demand for it.” So much so that last November, McDonnell brought his Irish storytelling experiences full circle as an American telling Irish stories at the Sneem Storytelling Festival In County Kerry, Ireland.
“We’re in an era where you’ve got to get to the point in 30 seconds or less. “It’s an old, old art form, but not something people are used to today,” he explained. “The audience really got into it, and Liam invited me back last year and again this year,” he said. “He’d never tried anything like this and didn’t know what to expect,” but agreed to try it. McDonnell first contacted festival organizer Bill “Liam” Gibbons about appearing here in 2011. He completed his research with a six-week trip to the Emerald Isle. McDonnell spent three years immersed in researching “ClanDonnell.” He was greatly aided by Trinity College in Dublin, which has a large collection of digitized Irish historical documents and records available online. … And so the stories of individual McDonnells became the stories of the McDonnell clans, and the stories of the McDonnell clans became the story of Ireland.” I also realized that few histories of Ireland are written in a form that is enjoyable for the non-historian. “In assembling the stories, I discovered that the McDonnells have been in Ireland for a long, long time. Over time and much research, he began to see the ever-growing collection of stories as a book initially as a group of interesting tales, but eventually as the vehicle for a unique approach to telling the history of Ireland. “How did people live and what did they believe? How did these facts shape how we live and think today? On a more personal and specific level, why was I born an American and how did I end up with the last name ‘McDonnell’? These questions led me on a crusade to learn more about Ireland and the history of the Irish people.” “I’ve always felt a connection to history… what it is about our past that makes us who and what we are now,” McDonnell explained. While enjoying a 30-year career as an attorney, he also pursued a passion for history, and began collecting stories of his family, the McDonnells. The affable Irish-American was born in Detroit and has lived almost his entire life in Michigan.
He is uniquely qualified to discuss that subject, having extensively researched and authored a 900-page non-fiction book, “ClanDonnell: A Storied History of Ireland.” The book has been praised as “a life’s work” and described as a “personal journey through Irish history” written in an inviting and entertaining style that is much more oral history than dry academic reporting. McDonnell performs “An Hour of Irish Storytelling,” during which he shares some humorous, adventurous and occasionally touching stories, mixed in with a bit of Irish history.
He appears, along with more than 30 musical groups and artists and two dance groups, at the event that has become the largest Irish music festival on the West Coast. An award-winning author, he will do seven storytelling sessions and two workshops at Galway Bay Irish Pub and the Ocean Shores Convention Center. 18-23, at the 13th Annual Celtic Music Feis, or Festival, in Ocean Shores. Irish storyteller David McDonnell makes his third Grays Harbor appearance next Tuesday through Sunday, Oct.