Category: CQAF2025 – Sunday 4 May

On Bank Holiday weekend, Sunday May 4th, Belfast Underground/CQAF take over the Deers Head Music Hall with the Belfast Legend Iain McCready , one half of the famous Sugar Sweet duo , digging through 30 years of vinyl House Classics for your listening pleasure.

Support comes from Belfast Underground Records Head Honcho Gary “ Dilly “ Dillon , Eamon Beagon & Marty McAllister. Expect to hear Era defining House Tunes from the mid 80s to the present day.

This show is strictly for audiences aged 18 and over.

If you have access needs, feel free to email Aoife at aoife@cqaf.com for more info—we’re happy to help!

To celebrate the launch of their acclaimed new album “Crescent Nights”, The 4 Of Us return to CQAF to perform songs from their latest release, as well as familiar classics from an extensive back catalogue.

Hailing from Newry, Northern Ireland, The 4 Of Us has been captivating audiences for over three decades with their soulful melodies and compelling lyrics. With brothers Brendan and Declan Murphy at the helm, The 4 Of Us has left an indelible mark on the Irish music scene.

Their journey began in the late ’80s, and since then, they’ve evolved into one of Ireland’s most beloved and enduring musical acts. Known for their distinctive sound that seamlessly blends rock, folk, and pop influences, The 4 Of Us has produced a string of hits that have become anthems for fans across generations.

‘As well-crafted and evocative as anything they’ve done before’ – The Irish Times

This show is strictly for audiences aged 18 and over.

If you have access needs, feel free to email Aoife at aoife@cqaf.com for more info—we’re happy to help!

Formed in 1979 on the borders of Mali and Algeria, Tinariwen are world renowned as pioneers of the assouf style (“nostalgia” in tamashek). They address Tuareg people’s preoccupations in songs that mix traditional West African and Arab music with blues, folk and other influences.

Tinariwen singlehandedly invented a guitar style that has captured the world’s imagination. They call it ishumar or assouf. The rest of the planet has come to know it as the Tuareg blues. Its music that is imbued with sorrow and longing but it’s also music for forgetting our cares and for dancing. Far more than just a rock band, Tinariwen are ambassadors for their people and a way of life in tune with the natural world that is under threat as never before. Their message has never sounded more urgent and compelling than it does now.

Since gaining international recognition in the early 2000s, they have played more than 1100 shows around the world and released nine studio albums, three of them nominated for a Grammy, including Tassili, which won the award for Best World Music album in 2012.

“To say their music is captivating is underplaying it massively; it pulls you in and takes you on a desert journey, the lilting blues trance and the interplay between guitars and bass, percussion and vocals all creating a sensuous and pleasingly hazy mood.” – Louder Than War

A rock’n’roll sensation from the word go, Danish-Brazilian The Courettes are back with their fourth and best album to date – The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes. This time, they’re bigger, wider and deeper than ever before as they add more to the blistering ramalama that’s seen them cause pandemonium across the venues, festivals and airwaves of the UK, Europe, USA and Japan.

Hitting the sweet spot that straddles garage rock, girl groups, doowop harmonies, heartache and all points in between, here The Courettes build on the momentum of predecessor ‘Back In Mono’ with a collection of songs that opens up their sonic scope while confronting dark, emotional matter to reveal ‘The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes’.

Having evolved with each album release, The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes draws inspiration from many of the duo’s numerous idols that have only previously been hinted at. From the glorious opening beats and stabbing fuzz honks of ‘You Woo Me’ to the closing emotional tugs of ‘For Your Love’ via ‘SHAKE!’’s fuzzed-up urgency and ‘California’’s celebratory warmth, The Courettes have broadened their sound with an increased musical instrumentation and overall sophistication that’s evident in both their sound and songwriting.

“The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes blends two things,” explains Flavia. “First, of course, are the nods to the soul music and especially Motown, which is pop music the way we like it. But I think for the first time, lyrically, we actually open up to some deeper topics. It’s not disguised as teenage heartache songs anymore.”

For all that, The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes is an album aimed as much for what’s below the neck as above it, for this is an album that dances through the darkness to celebrate the joy that is living. “Life is so fragile,” smiles Flavia. “But what are you supposed to do? I’d rather dance.” And what better album to do that to?

This show is strictly for audiences aged 18 and over.

If you have access needs, feel free to email Aoife at aoife@cqaf.com for more info—we’re happy to help!