Daily Ireland

By Eileen Walsh, 12 May 2005

Great Start for the Finnish
Strictly speaking singer-songwriter Steafán Hanvey is not Finnish at all; he is actually from Downpatrick, in County Down in Northern Ireland, though he did spend many years in Finland, crying over beautiful women, by all accounts. This intense cloud of emotional angst had a silver lining however, in that during his time in Helsinki, he penned many of the beautiful songs that feature in his remarkable soon to be released debut album Steafán Hanvey and The Honeymoon Junkies.

Since moving back to Ireland, Steafán has opened up for the likes of John Spillane, Damien Dempsey, The Walls, Relish, The Devlins, and The HotHouse Flowers and has been invited to go on a whistle-stop tour of Ireland with Liam O'Maonlai on 7 dates of his Irish tour in May.

And it was as support for the hugely talented Liam O' Maonlai that we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of this star being born.

Bravely attired in a strangely attractive get up that made him resemble some kind of Bavarian surfer, Steafán quickly developed a rapport with the crowd. Perhaps he got the freezing cool shirt in Helsinki. He treated us to Fairweather Friend, a powerful opening number that left the hungry Derry audience begging for more.

The beautiful clarity of his voice was bewitching as he sang My Woman, according to him, the only love song ever written in Downpatrick. "There's nothing wrong with Downpatrick," he laughed. " I moved to Dublin though, when I came back after six and a half years of living in Helsinki, because that was where all the action was." Then he said he got himself a bike to get around, and joked that he had nearly got himself killed a couple of times going around Dublin, getting soaked in the rain. This partly inspired him to write Dublin Sky, a feelgood number which he wrote when his girlfriend dumped him. Apparently when she broke it off, she said something like, "Now, why don't you go and write a song about it?" So he did.

And he sang, "She said, sing it all night long

And when it comes to three, think of me."

So the poor love-struck guy goes off and ends up singing about his ex girlfriend up and down the country at three in the morning.

"Maybe girlfriends should take out pre-relationship contracts with singers before they agree to go out with them," he laughed "And say that they'll only agree to a date if they're guaranteed 50% royalties for any songs written about them."

Steafán Hanvey's melting melodies, sung so tenderly, touched the audience and if the number of fans jumping all around him after the show, armed with CD's of his latest single My Woman (Ode to You) are anything to go by, he is sure to be a blazing star. Watch this space.

Steafán Hanvey will be appearing as a special guest on Liam O' Maonlai's first solo Irish tour at the following venues in May: 15th May Cork (De Barra's Folk Club), 16th May Dublin (Whelan's), 20th May Cork (Village Arts Centre), 26th May Donegal (The Balor Theatre).

Daily Ireland

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