Tag Archives: folk

Only 10% of the headliners for TradFest Temple Bar 2022, are women and only 15% of headliners at the Doolin Folk Festival are women

This afternoon.

FairPlé analysed the line-ups of 16 festivals and concluded that, on average, women make up only 24.9% of the performers.

They write:

FairPlé is making a direct call out to all promoters, festival organisers and event programmers to make substantive gender balance a priority. There are plenty of amazing women, non-binary and gender-fluid artistes out there, but we are not getting to see or hear all of them. Details of many musicians can be found in our directory.

We are calling on festival funders and sponsors to take a proactive approach to the gender balance of the events you are supporting. At a minimum, all public funding should be conditional upon monitoring and reporting on gender balance of all aspects of the funded events.

Anyone?

The Festival Line-up Challenge (FairPlé)

This morning.

Just ‘dropped’.

The line-up for the 2022 Doolin Folkfest at Hotel Doolin, county Clare from June 10–12.

Louise Barker writes:

Over the years the Doolin Folk Festival has had it all, from Limerick rappers to Saharan Blues, from Clannad to King Kong Company, the festival takes the broadest definition of Folk Festival in that they believe that Folk Music is the music of the people, folk music needs to be able to touch our hearts, to capture the spirit of our times, to comment on what is wrong with the world. As Frank Harte says, ‘those in power write the history, those who suffer, write the songs.’

Fight!

Doolin Folkfest 2022

Dun Laoghaire Folk Festival

Tickets here

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Cat Meat – Americana with some very familiar faces

What you may need to know…

01. Cat Meat are something of a hub of Irish music veterans to say the least: Ian Olney (Power of Dreams/Cypress, Mine!) is central to the main line-up, while Morty McCarthy (Sultans of Ping/Pharmacy) has guested behind the kit, and live bassist Mark Healy has prior form in Cypress, Mine! and Lift.

02. Emerging a few years back, the band have recently dropped by some old stomping grounds, with gigs in Cork city and Ballydehob. The outfit plies a warm if somewhat forlorn mix of folk, Americana and blues.

03. Streaming above is the band’s new full-length, Trembling Tongues Make Magpie Bait, also available for free/pay-what-you-want download from the band’s Bandcamp.

04. We’ll keep you posted on any upcoming return Irish legs for the band, though video from their last few shows is up on their Facebook.

Thoughts: The sum of their influences and reference points, but with a hint of ’90s alternative ingenue amid it all.

Cat Meat

Gig

Morning Veils – Cork folk harbingers

What you may need to know…

01. The bearers of bad tidings sometimes do so with a slight grin, knowing well the nature of their predicament. So too do Leeside “forgotten folk” trio Morning Veils.

02. Emerging a few years back as an aside to its members’ main preoccupations, the trio is comprised of Elaine Howley (The Altered Hours/Crevice), Roslyn Steer (solo/Crevice/KantCope label/ex-Saint Yorda) and Aisling O’Riordan (Quarter Block Party festival).

03. Streaming above is the newly-released video for single Elusive Fruit, created, produced and directed by local performance artist Eilis Collins.

04. It’s taken from the band’s debut release, Her Kind, available for streaming and download from KantCope’s Bandcamp page. Cassette copies long sold out by now, of course.

Thoughts: Rarely seen in the wild, but always worth observing, Morning Veils’ reverby, shoegaze-leaning folk is a joy.

Morning Veils

Daithí - Photography by Ruth Medjber www.ruthlessimagery.com

Daithí – folk/electronica from Galway

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we checked in on Daithí, he’d been touring his recently-released extended-player, his first formal release as an independent artist.

02. Using elements of Irish pop-culture and music in his improvised, audiovisual live show, his work is another element in the modernisation of the trad/folk oeuvre.

03. Streaming above is the video for new single Aeroplane, featuring regular vocal collaborator Sinéad White. In his own words:

“Sinead and I wrote this song inspired by old Irish TV dramas from the ’80s and ’90s. True to the people of Ireland at the time, the characters in these shows all seem to have a hard time expressing their feelings, and we wanted to write a song that imagined what was going on in their heads, while they stumbled through talking to their love interest.

The video for the song uses footage from a short film that was shot in my home town Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare, in the 1990s. The video stars real locals from the area, and deals with the hardships of being a bachelor in rural Ireland. I had completely forgot about it until I came across the tape in my parents’ house, and some of the footage is just incredible.”

04. This Friday, he plays the Roisín Dubh in Galway, followed by a Saturday night date in Dublin’s Opium Rooms and a Bank Holiday Sunday show at Cyprus Avenue in Cork. Check social media for more info/times.

Thoughts: More polished pop than jigs ‘n’ reels referencer, Daithí and Sinéad White’s thematic drawings on the Irish condition accompany an expansion of his sound.

Daithí

Pic by Ruth Medjber

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I Draw Slow – Dublin Americana/roots

What you may need to know…

01. When not on the Irish touring grind for the past decade, Dubland five-piece I Draw Slow have been busy whittling away at modern Nashville, appearing regularly at folk & country fests across the States.

02. After thirteen Stateside tours, the band may have made their breakthrough, signing to Americana label Compass Records, joining Altan and Ron Sexsmith on the roster.

03. Streaming above is their new video, for single My Portion, filmed on Achill Island.

04. New album Turn Your Face to the Sun releases on May 12th, having been funded entirely through pre-orders. They launch the record at Whelan’s in Dublin on the 14th, and play Cork’s Cyprus Avenue on the 20th.

Thoughts: Harmony-laden contemporary roots music that never slips into well-trod genre schlock.

I Draw Slow

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Saint Caoilian – Cork music superman polishes his halo

What you may need to know…

01. Since we last checked in with Shaker Hymn/Southern Hospitality Board/Quarter/regular disc-jockeying man Caoilian Sherlock, he’s met the minimum requirements to formally receive sainthood before embarking on his solo career in earnest.

02. Himself and Leeside music omnipresence Mr.K have been jamming under the Worm name and have started Small Town Disco, a wee label between them, as reported last week.

03. Streaming above is the video for single I’ll Be a Fool for You, premiered last week over at Nialler9. It’s the leadoff single for Faraway, available May 5th through Small Town Disco.

04. Catch him in Dubland on April 6th in Whelan’s, providing support for Marlene Enright on her tour for album Placemats and Second Cuts.

Thoughts: One of Irish music’s real renaissance men; an artist, curator and enthusiastic spectator in equal measure.

Saint Caoilian

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Myles Manley – the world’s greatest popstar returns

What you may need to know…

01. Last time we checked in with Myles Manley, he was back in Ireland after a spell in Arsenal’s starting eleven.

02. He’s since returned his focus to the oddball, Beefheartian pop with which he’s earned his name, signing to Dublin-based Little L Records for a seven-figure advance on a ten-album contract.

03. Streaming above is the high-budget video for new B-side Pasta Solo, accompanying new single Relax, Enjoy Your Night Upon the Town.

04. The following dates line his tour itinerary before the European festival-headliner swing: March 23:  Buncrana, Ned’s Point; March 24: Derry, Bennigans; March 25: Dublin, The Workman’s Club; Apr 8: Limerick, Dolan’s Warehouse; Apr 9: Dundalk, The Spirit Store.

Thoughts: Smart-aleckry aside, some genuine ingenue on display here, as is typical for someone that seemingly inhabits a creative bubble all his own.

Myles Manley

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Phantom Dog Beneath the Moon – rural psychedelia/shoegaze

What you may need to know…

01. Aaron Hurley and Scott McLaughlin make up the duo of Phantom Dog Beneath the Moon, proponents of “folk-gaze”.

02. Releasing their first new material in almost seven years, the pair have broken a silence that’s been since 2010’s full-length The Trees, the Sea in a Lunar Stream.

03. Streaming above is the newly-released video for the title track from third album The Statue of the Hunter is Lost at Sea.

04. Catch them at the Roisín Dubh in Galway on March 22nd, as part of a double-header with labelmate A Lilac Decline, for a joint record launch.

Thoughts: Minimal, yet dense in terms of themes and atmosphere, with newfound strokes of ambience and psychedelia leading it all forward.

Phantom Dog Beneath the Moon