What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?

Subject: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: michaelr
Date: 06 Jan 16 - 11:30 PM

He's been popping up on Sharon Shannon records and concert DVDs, and I can't figure out if it's some gigantic inside joke or what? His singing is laughably, bizarrely bad, yet he's presented as if an elder statesman of Irish music. ITMA has some recordings from An Goilin attesting to the fact that he was no better in 1991 than in 2006.

Here is a review of his record which is a bit more rude than I would be, but not inaccurate. What am I missing?

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 07 Jan 16 - 02:32 AM

I remember Da Danaan doing something similar about thirty plus years ago where they did the genuinely traditional singers no favours by placing them within a predominantly set based recording with no band singer.

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: Felipa
Date: 07 Jan 16 - 07:07 AM

read the review and it certainly isnt as if Dessie contributes unique or particularly interesting or old songs ...

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: thetwangman
Date: 07 Jan 16 - 07:44 AM

Under a Government scheme, every single citizen of Ireland gets to make a CD at some stage. It's a bit like National Service. I hope to get the call up soon myself.

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Jan 16 - 07:54 AM

It's quite an old record by now.

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: Ernest
Date: 07 Jan 16 - 12:25 PM

If you listen to old source singers you`ll find that many of them have similar ordinary (as opposed to classically trained) voices.

I got the cd and have heard him years ago in Inishbofin. Yes, he is not the greatest singer or fiddler in the world. Still, he and everybody else had fun.

I call that folk music.

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: GUEST,Howard Jones
Date: 08 Jan 16 - 07:53 AM

Traditional singing and playing is often a long way removed from modern, more polished interpretations. To the casual listener it can be challenging, and it can take perseverance to to get to grips with, but if you make the effort to appreciate it can be very rewarding. No different from many art forms, and not only in music.

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 08 Jan 16 - 08:22 AM

There are samples on YouTube.

I didn't feel the urge to investigate further.

"Challenging" isn't quite the word I'd have used.

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: maeve
Date: 08 Jan 16 - 08:38 AM

Here's one opinion: http://www.salutlive.com/2014/11/song-of-the-day-sharon-shannon-dessie-o-halloran-say-you-love-me.html
"He has a broken, strangled voice that, in all honesty, you'd think only a close relative could love. Except that the close relative has been joined by countless other admirers and the pair of old codgers who write all that appears at Salut! Live are among them.

"...ramshackle vocals on which O'Halloran may well hold some sort of trademark. But for the song and its context, that voice is as near to being the perfect match as you will find outside the pages of Mills & Boon.

"You hear that song and you imagine a wizened old man in an pub somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, sipping his pints of stout, rolling his own fags and occasionally breaking into the session to sing the songs he knows," a friend said.

And I love it. Maybe a whole concert of Dessie's voice would be stretching it a bit far, but I am totally hooked by the song and chorus, voice, mannerisms and the sheer fun value. Look at Sharon and the other musicians. Look at the faces of audience members. Everyone is having a fabulous time..."

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: Thompson
Date: 08 Jan 16 - 08:44 AM

There are sweet voices and there are characterful voices. Look at Tom Waits, Shane McGowan, Jimmy Durante…

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Jan 16 - 08:56 AM

In that link the instrumentation sounded more Cajun than Irish and, as a singer, he is certainly no worse than D L Meynard.

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 09 Jan 16 - 07:41 AM

He has an extensive collection of songs, which is why he is so revered. So what if it doesn't sound brilliant, it's all about the songs.

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: GUEST,Grubby
Date: 28 Jan 18 - 08:02 PM

Can anyone help with the name of the tune Sharron plays at the end of Dessie’s singing on “Say You Love Me”
Cheers
Grubby

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: GUEST,GUEST GUEST
Date: 29 Jan 18 - 10:14 AM

"The Humours Of Benny Hill".

Subject: RE: What's the deal with Dessie O'Halloran?
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Feb 18 - 04:39 PM

Blackbird