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NI Acts for 2016
There's no question as to the identity of Northern Ireland's breakthrough artist of 2015. Derry teenager SOAK made good on her enormous potential – not to mention the weight of expectation that has...
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New Names Announced for Output Belfast
More speakers have been announced for a major conference being held at The MAC in Belfast next month to inspire those working in the music industry.Appearing alongside renowned producer Steve Albini –...
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John T. Davis Saves the West for Last
It’s weird enough that at the age of 68 filmmaker John T. Davis, whose much-admired documentaries have included Shellshock Rock, about Northern Irish punk music, and Route 66, about the semi-mythical...
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Food and Folksong
St Kentigern’s Irish Social Club is in Fallowfield, Manchester. I went there one Sunday afternoon, to watch Tyrone play the final of the Sam Maguire Cup. The place was packed. Everyone was squeezed...
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Transatlantic Sessions
Little wonder that death and heartache are the staple themes of universal folk music. After all, just consider the state of the world. Yet the very beauty of its physical landscapes and the songs of...
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Leading Rock Critic to Give Belfast Talk
Leading music critic and feminist writer Jessica Hopper has been announced as keynote speaker for Women's Work, a series of events in Belfast celebrating the role of women in music and fascilitating...
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Sort by Gender
Have you ever seen a woman doing the sound at a gig? Probably not, after all, that is the soundman’s job. Are we to believe, therefore, that women don’t understand sound or that they are incapable of -...
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Them and Now: Jackie McAuley
Belfast multi-instrumentalist Jackie McAuley has had one of the most dizzyingly varied careers of any Northern Irish rock musician. On the cutting edge of the British blues boom in the mid-60s as...
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Sing Along with the Open House Festival Choir
The Open House Festival Choir made its first appearance last summer as a highlight of the eclectic programme of arts and culture taking place each year in beautiful, often unusual venues throughout...
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The Sessions
When Beatles fans realized in 1980, after John Lennon died, that they could never again see the Fab Four perform together, it was traumatic. Or as George Harrison drily put it, 'The Beatles won’t get...
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Introducing Sylvier
How did Sylvier come about?Sylvier started during my first year at North West Regional College, where I am currently studying Music Production. Having access to the college’s studios, I began recording...
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Grandmaster Flash
May 8, 8pmFestival Marquee, BelfastDJ Grandmaster Flash and his group the Furious Five were hip-hop’s greatest innovators, transcending the genre’s party-music origins to explore the full scope of its...
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Two Door Cinema Club
So, welcome to this week's worst kept secret. The announcement that the tribute band 'Tudor Cinema Club' would be playing some of Ireland's most well-trodden gig venues this week fooled a few people at...
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Derry Showcase for Historic Music Scheme
A raft of emerging and established Northern Irish musicians will come together on Friday, April 22 at Bennigan’s Bar, Derry~Londonderry to mark the centenary of the birth of renowned violinist Yehudi...
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Lee 'Scratch' Perry
Saturday, May 7, 8pmCathedral Quarter Arts Festival Marquee, BelfastGrammy-winning reggae icon Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry is one of the most important figures in the history of reggae music. As an artist,...
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An Homage to Henry McCullough
I recently released an album in which two rock icons are the subjects of songs – Elvis Presley and Portstewart’s Henry McCullough. I first saw Henry perform at the Whitla Hall, Belfast in 1968, where...
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Leading Rock Critic to Give Belfast Talk
Leading music critic and feminist writer Jessica Hopper has been announced as keynote speaker for Women's Work, a series of events in Belfast celebrating the role of women in music and fascilitating...
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Superlungs Warms Up for Belfast
The tragedy of Terry Reid’s career is that he is better known for what he didn’t do than for what he did do. And, as any learned rock lover will know, what he didn’t do was join Led Zeppelin in 1968...
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The Zombies
Rod Argent and Chris White must be the most overlooked classic pop writing team of the '60s. Not only were they responsible for the imperishable 'She's Not There', but also much of that great mispelled...
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Sort by Gender
Have you ever seen a woman doing the sound at a gig? Probably not, after all, that is the soundman’s job. Are we to believe, therefore, that women don’t understand sound or that they are incapable of -...
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