Dalla | |
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Origin | Treggajorran, Cornwall |
Genres | Folk World Music |
Years active | 2001–present |
Labels | Dalla Records |
Website | http://www.dalla.co.uk |
Members | |
Hilary Coleman Neil Davey |
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Past members | |
Simon Lockley |
Dalla is a dance band in Cornwall known for providing music for Noze looan dances.
Members play the clarinet, bouzouki, fiddle, guitar, accordion and percussion. They sing in both Cornish and English.[1]
Various members of Dalla formerly played in Bucca,[2] Sowena,[3] and other bands. The music displays influences from these previous sounds. Dalla often appear with many additional instruments, which vary from event to event.
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Dalla's Myspace profile cites their influences as:[4]
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Dalla has greatly influenced Cornish music, encouraging the formation of 'Noze looan' bands, particularly by younger people and influencing bands such as The Red Army (band), Pentorr[14] and Tezen Koynt.[15] They have been involved in numerous Cornish music projects, run by Cumpas such as 'kick up your heels' in which young people from across Cornwall played in a large underground concert at Carnglaze Caverns, or the 'crowders and horners' project, to encourage processional Cornish music and dance.
Just Cornish [16] described Dalla as "possibly the most popular contemporary Cornish music group ever."
In the Cornish Guardian, Bert Biscoe is quoted as saying "There is an intelligence that inhabits and underpins the various activities of Dalla . . . " [17]
(Note that though Dalla has a 'core' of two to three members they rarely perform without additional musicians, and on such occasions when there are only two they are usually referred to as the 'dalla duo'.)
Dalla started out as a more traditional folk band in the early 1990s called 'The Jack and Jenny Band', to little critical or commercial acclaim. In 1999 they became Sowena, a more professional sounding band with a sturdier core and greatly increased promotion. Two years later, the band underwent a second transformation as remaining additional members left and Neil Davey joined to complete the classic Dalla sound.
"Tezen Koynt feature three of Cornwall's finest young musicians: fiddlers Steph Doble and Faith Coles, and guitarist Tim du Feu. Between them they have performed at festivals in Wales, Brittany, the Isle of Man, Ireland and the USA. Although trying their hand at some Irish material, their material is predominantly rooted in the Cornish tradition, in which the group are exponents of the Kerno-Breton 'Noz Looan' school."