As a musician, Daniel’s influences and output are diverse. His current work harnesses an interest in field recordings and samples, alongside his work with dance music, and generating ambient soundscapes by blending his archive of sounds on digital turntables.
Daniel has performed as a musician since childhood on a variety of instruments including tuba, piano, trumpet and percussion, and was a member of the Hampshire County Youth Band.
After his Master’s degree in Fine Art in 2002, Daniel began to produce original scripts and soundtracks to dozens of short videos created with his wife Marianna which have been screened worldwide.
Watch films by Daniel at The Unstitute
Performance, music, poetry, video projection
by Marianna Magurudumian-O'Reilly, Mohsen El Belasy, Daniel O'Reilly
2024
Daniel uses his archive of field recordings in combination with poetry and original music loaded onto digital turntables to produce live ambient audio tracks on-the-fly, most notably for the inauguration of the Centenary of Surrealism at Maison André Breton in France in 2024.
Alongside Marianna, and longtime collaborator Mohsen El Belasy, they created an audio-visual performance entitled ‘Incantation for Dead Avant-Gardes’
Images from the performance of 'Incantation for Dead Avant Gardes' at the inauguration of the Centenary of Surrealism at Maison André Breton in France in 2024
2016
Alongside Marianna, Daniel took up residency in 2016-17 at Auroville Radio in Tamil Nadu, India, where he recorded events, concerts and debates for the community to access online.
He also created a body of original ambient music from his archive, which was broadcast to residents of Auroville on the radio.
Listen to UNvironments compositions here
DJ composition
by Daniel O'Reilly
2022
Daniel’s collaboration with the North African Group of Surrealists has been fruitful, producing numerous works alongside group leaders Mohsen El Belasy and Ghada Kamal. Together they have created events and exhibitions in Egypt and in France, incorporating original music by Daniel with poetry recorded by other surrealist collaborators to facilitate activities such as surrealist games and workshops.
Part of the Surrealist Games Workshop held at Lamasat Gallery, Cairo on the 5th January 2022
by Daniel O'Reilly
2022
DJ composition and poetry created for the International Exhibition of Surrealism, performed at Dai Zamalek Gallery in Cairo, 2022
Listen here
Top Cat Radio, Spain
2023-present
Daniel is a keen DJ, and plays under the moniker of Joint Chief. He has been collecting Drum & Bass and Jungle music since 2000. His interest in the UK underground music scene emphasises the role of the reggae sound systems in London, which fostered the Jungle and Drum & Bass movement in London and Bristol. He currently presents a monthly show on Top Cat Radio, a local station in Tortosa run by music enthusiasts. He can regularly be found DJing at events and parties in Catalonia.
Listen to episodes of the Drum & Bass Files on Top Cat Radio
Follow Daniel on Mixcloud