• Celtronic 2020: Together-Apart

    June 30, 2020 - By 

    For the last 20 years, Celtronic has been a vital part of the island’s world-beating festival scene. Uniting some of the very best names in electronic music worldwide with all Ireland has to offer, its annual, forward-pushing presence in Derry has been an unwavering joy to behold. As with so many other festivals, big and small, organisers have had to think outside the box to make this year’s outing a reality. Cue Celtronic 2020: Together-Apart. Taking place online from Tuesday June 20th to Sunday July 5th, this year’s festival will feature over 100 hours of exclusive performances from more than 60…

  • Half Moon Festival 2020

    June 17, 2020 - By 

    Originally due to be launched as a multi-venue series at The Kino in Cork back in March, the inaugural Half Moon Festival will take place online from Friday, June 26th to Sunday, June 28th. No doubt likely to return in its full form next year, the line-up for this year’s inaugural outing offers up a stellar, multi-disciplinary series of music, performance, podcasting and beyond. Inspired by the way in which Cork’s Half Moon street “acts as a bridge between everyday life and the cultural spaces that are central to Cork,” the inaugural outing will feature Trá Pháidín, Síomha, Pulses featuring…

  • Brilliant Corners 2020

    February 20, 2020 - By 

    A remarkably consistent, ever-rewarding peak of the Irish festival calendar over the last eight years, Brilliant Corners can lay claim to being the island’s most carefully-curated jazz festival. Packing out (all being well) a mélange of Belfast’s finest venues and bars – both big and small – from February 27 to March 8, this year’s bill is a suitably essential affair. Curated, as ever, by the clued-in heads at Moving on Music, acts and events as mottled as the Mercury Prize-nominated Dinosaur, Athens, Georgia trailblazers Kenosha Kid, the always compelling Joseph Leighton Quartet, Wood River and the downright unmissable Parker/Niblock/Sanders will take over the likes…

  • Other Voices Ballina 2020

    February 10, 2020 - By 

    With just over three weeks to go, the final acts for this year’s Other Voices Ballina have been announced. Returning to the Co. Mayo town across February 28-29, the festival will welcome David Gray, Kildare’s JYellowl, Soda Blonde, JC Stewart and The Howl & The Hum. Joining the likes of previously announced acts including Elbow and Jesca Hoop, the acts will perform within the 225-year-old walls of St. Michael’s Church over the two days and nights. Beyond the church is the Other Voices Ballina music trail, featuring Irish acts including Joel Harkin, Murli, Shookrah, The Mary Wallopers and Squarehead. Check out…

  • Spilt Milk Festival 2019

    November 21, 2019 - By 

    The brainchild of one of the country’s finest imprints, Art For Blind, Split Milk is a brand new audio-visual festival in Sligo. Bringing together national and international artists to perform and exhibit in intimate venues across Sligo Town alongside emerging local artists, the three-day festival will take place across November 22-24. And the festival’s inaugural line-up is quite something. Including several TTA favourites, Percolator, Landless (pictured), Aoife Nessa Frances, Katie Geraldine O’Neill, Problem Patterns, Ensemble Economique, Jusme ft. Farid Williams, Gulpt, BB84, Dult, Spekulativ Fiktion, Rachael Lavelle, Diarmuid McDiarmada and Marge Bouvier will perform across the weekend. Better yet, there will be film…

  • Wanda: Feminism and Moving Image

    October 29, 2019 - By 

    Belfast’s feminist film festival, WANDA: Feminism & Moving Image, returns for its second outing later this week. Opening on Thursday, October 31st and running until Sunday, November 3, the festival have pulled out the stops to present a wonderfully diverse programme, spanning new and retrospective films and features directed by women. Launching at Queen’s Film Theatre with The Juniper Tree, this year’s programme features, among many other screenings, discussions and panels across the city, the NI premiere of Kim Longinotto’s critically-acclaimed Irish-produced documentary Shooting the Mafia. Co-director Rose Baker said, “As the festival’s key aim is to revisit ‘lost’ films by…

  • Sounds Of The Undergrowth: Open Ear redefines what an Irish festival can be

    June 11, 2019 - By 

    If there was ever a space to disprove the absurd notion that the world of Irish independent music is disjointed or lacks community it would be Open Ear – Not that it needed disproving. For the past four years, the small festival on Cork’s Sherkin Island has shone a light on a countrywide scene that has, for some decades now, been quietly growing – thriving in the undergrowth. Expanding this year to a capacity of roughly 600 attendees, Open Ear’s celebration of Ireland’s experimental music scene, from its stalwarts to its adventurous young artists, is a testament to the unity and…

  • Preview: Pauli Lyytinen Magnetia Orkesteri @ Brilliant Corners

    March 8, 2019 - By 

    On Friday, March 8, Belfast’s Black Box will play host to one of the outright highlights of this year’s Brilliant Corners Jazz Festival. Backed with his Magnetia Orkesteri – a masterfully mottled assembly of some of his country’s very best players – multi award-winning Finnish saxophonist Pauli Lyytinen will present a career-spanning performance. Renown for drawing on their individual soloistic strengths and nigh on psychic interplay, this project’s blend of free-jazz and western chamber music is implosive, triumphant and essential. Tickets are a measly £12 and can be snapped up here. Sitting on the fence? Delve into 2017’s Pauli Lyytinen Magnetia Orkesteri. Pauli…

  • Dublin Feminist Film Festival 2018

    October 3, 2018 - By 

    Celebrating their fifth year, Dublin Feminist Film Festival will return to the city across November 20-22. With its theme of Reframe/Refocus, Generator Hostel and will host the launch of the festival, alongside other events, on Tuesday, November 20. Screenings will then take over Light House Cinema from November 21-22. Organisers said, ‘Rather than foreground particular topics, our programme this year will feature films not only directed by women, but also featuring women cinematographers, producers, DOPs etc. We hope to broaden the notion of what the “by” means in “Films by Women,” while also raising questions about whether and how films…

  • Festival Mixtape: Arcadian Field

    July 25, 2018 - By 

    One of the most scenic, intimate music festivals in Ireland returns for its third year over the weekend of August 4 & 5, Arcadian Field. Taking place at Bellurgan Park at the foot of the Cooley Mountains just outside Dundalk – its manor house woven into the festival area – it’s a celebration of all that’s culturally rich in Irish music, art, spoken word, poetry, theatre, comedy, workshops & in nature – with a Burning Man-esque fire ritual on the final night, as well as candlelit drawing room performances and nature walks. There are several new programming additions on offer this year. As well as…