CQAF2024 Sunday 12 May Archives

Black Belfast – Horror and True Crime Walking Tour

Posted on 20th March 202430th March 2024 by site_admin

TAKE A WALK ON THE DARK SIDE!

Dare you stalk the streets of old Belfast and uncover the horrors that lurk in her grisly past?

The Black Belfast Walking Tour with Alternative Uls-Tours

Dates and times: Sunday 5th May, 11:00am & Sunday 12th May, 11:00am

• Belfast’s former red-light district and its connection to an infamous serial killer

• The forgotten medieval graveyard beneath Belfast shoppers’ feet

• How a Victorian wig shop brought Halloween back to Belfast

• The tragic tale of Belfast’s ‘lost boys’ and the ‘Satanic panic’ of the 1970s

• Belfast’s little-known Jack the Ripper suspect

• The bizarre haunting of a Belfast bridge

• Belfast’s body snatchers and the story of Burke and Hare

• Bram Stoker’s Belfast visit and the true inspiration for Dracula

• The curse of the Titanic mummy

• The killing of the last wild wolf in Ulster

• Northern Ireland’s own Dr Harold Shipman and a chilling personal link

Please note:

• The walking tour starts at the Albert Memorial Clock on Queen’s Square in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast city centre, where your guide will be waiting for you

• Please arrive 10 minutes before the scheduled start time

• The tour will end outside the Dock Cafe on Queen’s Road in the Titanic Quarter

• The tour will last two and a half hours and cover around two miles

• The tour will go ahead in all weathers, so please dress accordingly

• There are public toilets near the start and end points

• The route is fully accessible, but please inform us in advance of any mobility issues

• Well-behaved dogs are welcome on the tour

• Your guide is a fully qualified Level 4 (blue badge) tour guide with a lifelong interest in the monstrous and the macabre

• The tour is fully insured through Tour Guides NI

Very important:

• The tour is open to all ages, but parental guidance is strongly advised due to the graphic and disturbing nature of some of the stories. You have been warned!

Revolucion to Roxy, Phil Manzanera In Conversation

Posted on 16th February 202422nd March 2024 by site_admin

Phil Manzanera, one of the UK’s best-known musicians and record producers, having shot to prominence in the early ‘70’s as the lead guitarist with the seminal band, Roxy Music, has written his memoir, titled ‘Revólución to Roxy’.

He joins us in conversation with Joe Nawaz to discuss his new book, his family history and musical adventures.

The book, with over 100 colour and black and white photographs, does, of course, cover Manzanera’s life and times with Roxy Music, David Gilmour and many of the luminaries of popular music, but it’s his startling family history, dating back to the expulsion of the Sephardic Jews from Spain in 1492, via the 1959 revolution in Cuba and the discovery of a Neapolitan Opera musician grandfather, that grips the reader every bit as the tales of being part of one of the UK’s greatest bands.

Phil commented on the reason for writing the book: “I’ve written this memoir for my English and Colombian family, dear friends and music fans, who have followed my musical twists and turns for over half a century. It’s a memoir that spans my 50’s childhood in Cuba, Hawaii and Venezuela, when everything seemed in the brightest technicolor, to monochrome but very cool ‘60’s London and the start of a music career that continues to enrich my life.
Roxy Music is an important part of the story but I hope the reader will find my family history every bit as fascinating as my music adventures: I’m proud to be related to the most famous 17th century Sephardic Jewish pirate of the Caribbean, a British spy and an Italian opera musician.”

Books will be on sale from No Alibi’s after the talk.

Janey Godley: On Screen & On-Stage

Posted on 20th March 202410th April 2024 by site_admin

CQAF are delighted to have Janey returning to Belfast to present a new documentary on her life and featuring CQAF! Janey will also perform a 45-minute set as part of this event.

An honest, moving and often hilarious documentary about comic Janey Godley, interweaving stories from her life with footage from her Not Dead Yet tour in the wake of her cancer diagnosis. Janey Godley will perform a 45 minute stand-up comedy set after the screening.

Janey Godley takes centre stage in this engaging and insightful documentary about the fearless and funny comic. Janey found fame for her sweary anti-Trump placards and became a social media sensation as she re-voiced First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s Covid briefings.

‘First I was cancelled, then I got cancer,’ Janey notes as she recalls being called out for racist historic tweets, apologising and then trying to rebuild her career before receiving her diagnosis. That didn’t stop her from going on tour and director John Archer interweaves fly-on-the-wall footage with interviews from people such as Jimmy Carr, Nicola Sturgeon, and Janey’s daughter, Ashley, that reveal details of a difficult Glasgow childhood.

My Darling Clementine

Posted on 4th January 202422nd March 2024 by site_admin

A labour of love on multiple levels, My Darling Clementine – the sobriquet of spouses Michael Weston King and Lou Dalgleish – began as a homage to classic country duets of the 60’s and 70’s á la George & Tammy and Johnny & June.

The 2011 debut “How Do You Plead?” was produced by Neil Brockbank (Nick Lowe) and featured some of London’s finest musicians from the 70’s pub rock era. Released in 2011, it was immediately acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic. Country Music People called it; “The greatest British country record ever made”

The follow-up, The Reconciliation, featuring guest appearances from Kinky Freidman and The Brodsky Quartet only enhanced the bands growing reputation and received a similar critical response with the New York Daily News choosing it as ‘album of the month’ while Popmatters put it in their Top 10 Country Albums of 2013.

Their next move was a slight departure as they the collaborated with best-selling crime writer, and avowed country music fan, Mark Billingham on the story and song project The Other Half.Billingham wrote a dark, nourish tale of murder, lust and revenge around eight of King & Dalgleish songs. The Other Half became an album, an audio book, and a stage show and featured contributions from actor David Morrisey and singer songwriter Graham Parker

After 18 months of touring The Other Half, including a run at The Edinburgh Festival Michael and Lou returned to the studio for album no. 4.Re-uniting with producer Neil Brockbank,Still Testifying was released in the summer 2017. Stylistically, it was a further shifting away from classic country to embrace gospel and country soul and was widely acclaimed with many writers praising the new direction.

Their latest album is called “Country Darkness” – a collaboration with keyboard genius Steve Nieve (The Attractions / The Imposters), which sees them reinterpreting the country songs of Elvis Costello. Released in November 2020 it charted in both the UK and European Americana charts receiving unanimous praise along the way

During the past 9 years they have played over 800 shows around the world, won numerous awards and have more than earned their own bona fides, with their wry yet heart-on-sleeve song-craft spotlighting the vagaries of romance and the human condition, and their match-made-in-heaven harmonies

“King and Dalgleish have earned their place in the roll call of great country duettists” – UNCUT

“MDC mix country gloom with excellent musicianship and very fine songs.” The Guardian

“King and Dalgleish have re-invented the country duet” – The mingling of these two voices is just heavenly” Mojo

“One of the most exquisitely pained country albums of the year comes from England” New York Daily News

Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story – In conversation with Daniel Rachel

Posted on 20th March 202422nd March 2024 by site_admin

Author Daniel Rachel joins us to talk about his new book 2 Tone: The Music, label and moment that shaped British Culture.

A SUNDAY TIMES MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
#2UNCUT BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

In 1979, 2 Tone exploded into the national consciousness as records by The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The Beat, and The Bodysnatchers burst onto the charts and a youth movement was born. 2 Tone was black and white: a multi-racial force of British and Caribbean island musicians singing about social issues, racism, class and gender struggles. It spoke of injustices in society and took fight against right wing extremism.

The music of 2 Tone was exuberant: white youth learning to dance to the infectious rhythm of ska and reggae; and crossed with a punk attitude to create an original hybrid.

The idea of 2 Tone was born in Coventry, masterminded by a middle-class art student raised in the church. Jerry Dammers had a vision of an English Motown. Borrowing £700, the label’s first record featured ‘Gangsters’ by The Specials’ backed by an instrumental track by the, as yet, unformed, Selecter. Within two months the single was at number six in the national charts.

Dammers signed Madness, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers as a glut of successive hits propelled 2 Tone onto Top of the Pops and into the hearts and minds of a generation. However, soon infighting amongst the bands and the pressures of running a label caused 2 Tone to bow to an inevitable weight of expectation and recrimination.

Still under the auspices of Jerry Dammers, 2 Tone entered in a new phase. Perhaps not as commercially successful as its 1979-1981 incarnation the label nevertheless continued to thrive for a further four years releasing a string of fresh signings and a stunning end-piece finale in ‘(Free) Nelson Mandela’.

Told in three parts, Too Much Too Young is the definitive story of a label that for a brief, bright burning moment, shaped British culture.

Marian Keyes In Conversation with Tara Flynn

Posted on 14th February 202422nd March 2024 by site_admin

Marian Keyes is a phenomenon. The multimillion copy, internationally bestselling author of some of the most widely loved, genre-defying novels of the past thirty years – including Rachel’s Holiday, Anybody Out There and Grown Ups – has millions of devoted readers around the world.

My Favourite Mistake is her sixteenth novel. In addition to her fifteen previous novels, Marian has also written three collections of journalism, upon which popular BBC Radio 4 show Between Ourselves was based.

Marian co-hosts the hit podcast Now You’re Asking with actress Tara Flynn for BBC Sounds and Radio 4, now on its third series. In 2022, she was named the British Book Awards Author of the Year. Marian lives in Dublin.

In today’s event, Marian will be interviewed on stage by her Now You’re Talking Co-host Tara Flynn.

Please note – Marian is unable to sign books at this event.

Scott Flanagan Plays Electric

Posted on 21st March 202425th March 2024 by site_admin

Pianist, composer and founder of Scott’s Jazz Club Scott Flanigan brings his exciting electric band to CQQF. Featuring Stephen McClenaghan on guitar, Diarmuid Lally on electric bass and Andrew McCoubrey on drums, this ensemble pays tribute to 1970s jazz funk fusion pioneers Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Weather Report.

A Belfast native, Scott Flanigan is one of the foremost keyboard players on the Irish jazz scene. He performs regularly across the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Germany, and has recently performed with Van Morrison, the Ulster Orchestra, Larry Coryell, Jean Toussaint, Jim Mullen and Linley Hamilton. As a leader, Scott successfully tours his own contemporary piano trio, as well as a hard-swinging organ quartet. He also runs the successful Scott’s Jazz Club in East Belfast, a weekly jazz club bringing the best in Irish and European jazz to local audiences.

Equally at home in academia as well as the bandstand, Scott received his BMus degree from Ulster University and his MMus in Jazz Performance from Dublin Institute of Technology. Scott has recently completed his Ph.D in Jazz Performance at Ulster University, exploring and assimilating contemporary trends in jazz piano into his own playing.

Scott is also in demand as a teacher of jazz harmony, improvisation and concert preparation, lecturing in jazz piano at Cork School of Music and at Queens University Belfast, alongside a busy teaching schedule both online and at home in Belfast.

Tickets £12.50

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved seating

Niall McCabe

Posted on 14th February 202422nd March 2024 by site_admin

With self-effacing humour and stories told of growing up on a remote Irish Island Niall McCabe possess an effortless charm which both captivates and liberates his audience.

Like the wild Atlantic landscape of his home McCabe’s songs feel timeless and natural yet belie the dense shaping of a dynamic creative force. Deft, intricate guitar work brings a lightness to the weight of Island isolation yet the sound, soul and stories of McCabe’s life and experiences breathe a deep cultured sense of discernment through his vocals.

His natural distinct voice is earning him a growing loyal fanbase, discovering his music as he travels extensively, with his recent album tour schedule bringing him to venture off the Island, across Ireland, UK, Europe and North America.

As well as becoming an accomplished finger-style guitar player, Niall has been lending his unique voice to Irish trad-fusion band Beoga, touring Ireland, Europe and the USA while also playing support for Ed Sheeran, Foy Vance and Johnny Swim and more recently opening for Chris Issak on his UK Tour, to two sold out audiences at Eventim Apollo London and Wolverhampton Civic Halls.

McCabe’s eagerly anticipated ‘Rituals’ album was released in February 2023 to critical acclaim and featured as RTE Album of the Week, while the song Rituals topped the RTE Radio airplay charts for five consecutive weeks.

Jane Weaver

Posted on 16th November 202322nd March 2024 by site_admin

Reclaiming her universe, Jane Weaver returns with brand new single ‘Love In Constant Spectacle’, evoking spectacular images perhaps impossible to capture with the human eye, nor aperture.

Taking measured steps that lead you to something very special, our protagonist pours all her creative resources before the needle drops. Secretly, this might be more conceptual in its execution, than initially meets the eye.

“It’s about searching for joy, wanting to love and feel loved, then uncovering it in unusual places and in the smallest, hidden things in life. Magnified under rocks and stones, it explores connecting with nature and your surroundings as opposed to other people – focusing on autonomy, new beginnings and feeling bewitched” adds Jane Weaver.

This is the poetic vision of one woman only, turning a new chapter, erecting a new scaffold, drawing empty landscapes as we slowly watch new colours, codes shapes and languages fill the frame. Produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Dry Cleaning), this is evidently a new awakening.

Accompanied by a new video animated by Kamran Kaur she describes “The woman here is always moving forward in pursuit of something but constantly finding herself succumbing to nature’s spell. Nature leads her back to herself, as that which she was searching for was there all along.”

From a long-standing pillar of the UK’s independent pop landscape, this is Jane Weaver’s first single since her unanimously lorded top 40 album ‘Flock’ and one-off single ‘Oblique Fantasy’.

“Genuinely different and exhilarating”★★★★ The Guardian

Jane Weaver continues to enrapture and expand her legacy into 2024 with a freshly announced tour… and more new music imminently.

‘Ukraine – Searching for the Normal’ Cathal McNaughton

Posted on 20th March 202422nd March 2024 by site_admin

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Cathal McNaughton makes a poignant return to Belfast Exposed this April, unveiling his latest collection of images entitled ‘Ukraine – Searching for the Normal’.

These powerful photographs offer a compelling perspective on the enduring political struggles in Ukraine. McNaughton’s lens has previously captured the world’s attention with his photographic chronicles of the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and with ‘Kashmir: Valley of Tears’, as previously showcased at Belfast Exposed. These bodies of work earned him the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Photography in 2018.

‘Ukraine: Searching for the Normal’ exemplifies his unmatched skill and empathy as a visual storyteller, vividly narrating the tale of a nation grappling with the turmoil of war while striving to maintain an aspect of everyday life.

Belfast Exposed, 23 Donegall Street, Open Tues-Sat 11am-5pm, Free Entry

Category: CQAF2024 Sunday 12 May