User:Mhardy63/Damh the bard

Damh the Bard (born Dave Smith, birthdate unknown) is a contemporary pagan musician whose songs celebrate Druidry, nature and pagan spirituality. Writing primarily acoustic music, Damh the Bard performs live around the United Kingdom and had released eight albums as of 2015.

Early Life & Discovery of Paganism
Damh the Bard developed an interest in music from a young age, and as early as age 11 he was performing in pubs on Britain's Isle of Wight. He performed in several rock bands, but after discovering Druidry as a spiritual path and training with the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids -- a neopagan international Druid organization -- he began to write and perform strictly in folk and pagan style. Along with his musical concerts, Damh has also given talks, run workshops and participated in panel discussions at conferences and camps in the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA, with his favourite topics including Druidry, Awen and the creative quest, magick, treelore, and Arthurian lore.

He remembered,

Images ran through my mind, I pondered the question ‘What do the Druids and Druidry mean to me?’ and I saw mystics, tree wizards, storytellers and harpers, poets telling of the beauty and wonder of nature. I saw circles of stone, sacred mounds, dark tombs of death and rebirth. I saw a hand touch the green earth, and I heard the Earth respond to that touch. Deeper into the journey I went, until I could only see one path before me, the Path of the Druid.

He launched into the academic part of the study eagerly, but was less than diligent about the practical exercises, according to his own recollections, until he attended an OBOD summer camp the next year.

The camp was held in Sussex that year, so was only a little way from my home. I couldn’t stay for the full week, but decided to go for the first weekend. When I arrived I pitched my tent and sat to play a bit on my guitar (I had been taught Irish folk since I was 8 years old, but that was about the limit of my repertoire!). People arrived and some began to set and decorate the centre ceremonial circle. As the Sun began to set a piper began to play his pipes across the field. Then, seemingly from every tent stepped a figure robed in white. From all over the field the Druids walked towards the centre circle. I’ll never forget that image. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I simply couldn’t stop smiling. When we had all gathered in the circle the opening ceremony began, and the magic and drama I felt then changed the way I thought about the Gwersu and the OBOD itself. These people had all learnt their Craft using the same teaching materials I had at home, yet look, feel, experience what they could do! What incredible magic was being worked here! I vowed from that moment to begin the Bardic grade again, and this time I would throw myself into it utterly. I would explore the Bardic tradition and all of the magic it contained.

On Sunday the 10th August 1997 Damh competed in the Wessex Open Eisteddfod, the first Eisteddfod to be organised on English soil since the 1920s. Organised by Dylan Blight (aka Dylan Ap Thuin, founder of the Insular Order of Druids) and Portsmouth City council, the event was held in the open air in a green field by Southsea beach. As a free event open to the public and in front of a crowd of 800 plus people, many of the UK’s noted poets, musicians and re-enactors competed for the prize of a replica Iron Age Celtic neck torc and the title of Bard of Wessex, and Damh won them both.

Music Career
In November of the following year 1998, Damh was asked to play at the OBOD’s 10th anniversary party in support of Robin Williamson, who was to be made the first honorary Bard of the OBOD. For the concert, Damh put together a folk band called Spiral Castle, consisting of himself and three friends: Chris Tinniswood, Rob Hall and Carl Sutterby. The concert was such a great success that the band continued to play regularly at Pagan festivals across the country, including the main Pagan Federation International Conference held annually at Fairfield Halls in Croydon, South London. They also recorded a CD together called None but Seven.

Damh the Bard released his first solo CD under his adopted Druid name in 2002. Called Herne's Apprentice, the album's popularity among the small but growing neopagan movement confirmed his decision to channel his spiritual energy into his music. As of 2015, Damh the Bard had released eight CDs. Still active with OBOD, he hosts the group's monthly podcast, called DruidCast, which features his own music and that of other artists, interviews with guests and recorded lectures on Druid and other pagan spirituality.

Discography
Herne's Apprentice 2002

The Hills They Are Hollow 2003

Spirt of Albion 2006

The Cauldron Born 2008

Tales from the Crow Man 2009

As Nature Intended - live 2010

Antlered Crown and Standing Stone 2012

Sabbat 2015

Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Place of birth missing (living people)