FOLK/Music Dan?, Irish

Friday: 6 p.m. Heritage, Festival kickoff; Saturday: 2 p.m. Heritage, 6:15 p.m. Penobscot; Sunday: 4 p.m. Railroad

The heart of Irish music remains, as it has been for centuries, the “sessiun,” the informal musical and social gatherings where any and all gather to play traditional tunes. The Irish even have a word for sharing music in this way: craic.

More than any band working today, the young Irish group Dan? brings conviviality, energy, passion and spontaneity to the concert stage. Named for an ancient Irish goddess associated with the land and long life, Dan? is committed to the tradition and yet equally eager to bring a fresh, inspiring approach to its performances.

“The essence of that spontaneity you get jamming away at a really good sessiun,” says Tom Doorley. “That is where the heart of Dan? comes from. We just want to … anchor down the sound into enough of an arrangement for a concert and yet still have that energy of it being a little loose, so you can create more of a spark onstage, and each night becomes a different concert from the night before.”

With the release of its most recent recording, “The Road Less Traveled,” Dan? welcomes back founding guitarist Donal Clancy and introduces stunning new vocalist Muireen Nic Amhlaoibh from the Irish-speaking Corca Dhuibhne in West Kerry. Completing the ensemble are button accordionist Brendan McCarthy and Bodhran player and piper Dannchadh Gough, both from Waterford, flutist Tom Doorley and bouzouki and fiddler brother Eamonn Doorley of Dublin, and Donegal fiddler Oisin MacAuley.

Dan?’s members never intended to form a band. What began in 1995 as a musical lark turned into a great deal more. When longtime musical friends and sessiun mates from County Waterford, including McCarthy and Clancy, happened to meet the Doorley brothers at a Dublin sessiun, they hit it off. To enter a new band competition (for fun), they needed a name and picked “Dan?,” mother of the ancient Irish gods. They won and were soon touring the world.

The Irish Herald has dubbed Dan? “the finest traditional band in Ireland.” Earl Hitchner of The Irish Echo calls McCarthy’s accordion and MacAuley’s fiddle “one of the most potent one-two punches in Irish traditional music today.” In 1999, Dan? was named Best Overall Traditional Art by Irish Music Magazine. In 2001 the BBC’s Folk Music Awards named it the best band of the year. In 2004, the BBC recognized the group again with two honors, Best Group and Best Original Song, for their recording of Tommy Sands’ “County Down.”