I remember how it made me feel…. Jane Butler

Jane Butler’s research-led practice focuses on the experience of trauma and the relationship of body and mind to external environments. Her architectural interventions, installations and photography-based works are informed by elusive memories and neurological effects.

‘I remember how it made me feel’ is an accumulation of her work during two years on the Freelands Artists Programme. This exhibition serves as a meditative place to sit and reflect.

Jane Butler is an artist and organiser specialising in public and site-specific projects. Butler received a BA Fine Art (Sculpture) from Ulster University in 2009. She has produced projects in partnership with Belfast City Council, PLACE and TULCA Visual Arts Festival, Galway. Butler was a Co-Director and chair of Catalyst Arts (2012-2015). She is currently a Co-Director of Household, who work collaboratively with artists, writers, curators and the public to develop thought provoking projects in the public realm. She is also an active member of Array Collective; a group of Belfast-based artists who create collaborative actions in response to issues affecting Northern Ireland, who recently won the Turner Prize 2021 in the Herbert Coventry Museum, with their installation The Druthaibs Ball, 2021.

Between Tiny Cities រវាងទីក្រុងតូច

Belfast International Arts Festival in association with CQAF presents Between Tiny Cities រវាងទីក្រុងតូច by Nick Power as part of its extended 60th season.

Experience dancers Erak Mith, from Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Aaron Lim, from Darwin, Australia use the rituals, movement styles and language of their shared hip-hop culture. Between Tiny Cities រវាងទីក្រុងតូច reveals the dramatically different worlds that surround them and the choreographic links that unite them.

Choreographed by internationally-renowned Australian hip-hop dance artist Nick Power and accompanied by the beats and sound design of Jack Prest, the work blends the raw, wild energy of b*boy battles with skilful improvisation and choreography, offering a cross-cultural perspective on style, culture and locality.

The project is the result of a four-year dance exchange between Darwin’s D*City Rockers and Cambodia’s Tiny Toones youth program. The two crews have travelled, trained, battled and performed together, and Between Tiny Cities រវាងទីក្រុងតូច, is the culmination of that exchange.

Get up close and personal to the action! The performance takes place inside a 10m diameter circular space and the audience is invited to stand around the edge.

Post-show discussion on Friday 6 May.

Between Tiny Cities is presented as part of the UK/Australia Season 2021-22, a major programme of cultural exchange taking place across the two nations.

Concession rates apply on selected events to those aged 16 and under, over 60s, students, the unemployed, and disabled persons. Proof of status may be required.

https://belfastinternationalartsfestival.com/event/between-tiny-cities/

CQ Bazaar

CQ Bazaar returns to Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival with a feast of delights in (where else?!) the Common Market.

Live Music all evening with an eclectic mix of DJs, Independent record labels, second hand vinyl, Vintage clothes, antiques and Retro furniture.

The best Art, design and craft and a feast of delicious food from local producers. Come and treat your eyes, ears, mouth and pockets.

Brought to us by CQAF, Little FoxEvents and CQ Bid.

Winnie Ama – Artist in Residence

We’re delighted to introduce Winnie Ama as this year’s Artist in ResidenceWinnie is part of a new breed of electronic artists blending conscious lyrics, soulful alternative RnB vocals with dance, house and pop rhythms.

Winnie will be playing the closing night of the festival (8th May) at the Black Box:
Book here:https://cqaf.ticketsolve.com/shows/873634004

You can also catch Winnie in support of Altered Images, Sarah McQuaid, Michael Janisch and Dani Larkin.

The Belfast-born-and-raised Northern-Irish-Ghanaian artist has had success with multiple MusicWeek UK Club Chart top 10’s and support from BBC Introducing and BBC Radio Ulster referencing her fresh writing style and distinctive voice.

Winnie Ama’s writing style is inspired by Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and Amy Winehouse. She switched from writing poetry and stories to writing music.

Winnie studied jazz vocals before making her commercial music debut in 2019 writing 3 songs in collaboration with Francis Groove that made the top 10 in MusicWeek’s UK Urban/Black Club Chart – Can’t Wait #1, I Swear #7 and Born to Win #6.

She also appeared in Photo Vogue in 2019. Her solo debut What Are We was in MusicWeek’s Black Club Chart for 6 weeks, peaking at number 11.

Winnie Ama is also a lead data analyst for the Why Not Her? movement which campaigns for gender equality in the music industry and mentors other artists.

In 2022 she has a series of singles starting with electronic pop track Here I Go produced with Simon Le Saint on 25 February and a pop house collaborative track with two New York Producers Genpop and Pommy Awe of You out on 25 March.

Winnie’s full schedule of CQAF shows will be released in the coming weeks.

 

Winnie Ama – Here I Go (exclusive new track!)

Penguin Cafe + special guest Peter Broderick

Arthur Jeffes much loved collective – Penguin Cafe – are back in 2022 performing their eclectic array of genre-defying evocative pieces mixing Arthur’s beautiful compositions with some iconic PCO classics.

Originally brought together by Arthur to keep alive the music of his late father, Simon Jeffes of the iconic Penguin Cafe Orchestra,

Penguin Cafe have gone on to release four original and critically acclaimed albums; A Matter of Life… in 2011, The Red Book in 2014, The Imperfect Sea 2017 and Handfuls of Night in 2019, the latter two on Erased Tapes Records.

This year sees the Penguins touring extensively in the UK, beginning with a much-awaited show at London’s Barbican, and the special anniversary re-release of their first Penguin Cafe album, A Matter of Life….

We’re delighted that Erased Tapes labelmate Peter Broderick will join Penguin Cafe for this special Festival show.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

We are grateful to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for the loan of the Steinway D Piano, for the purpose of this event.

 

Jesse Dayton + special guest The Sabrejets

Jesse Dayton’s Beaumonster is filled with song interpretations that are part-greaser, a whole lotta twang, and quintessentially outlaw country badass. Beaumonster encapsulates a life filled with adventure and lore featuring some of the greatest musicians this world has ever known.

Now a successful independent act, in the last handful of years Dayton has played guitar on Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan’s latest solo album, launched his own weekly radio show, Dayton’s Badass Country Show, on Gimme Country and licensed more than 50 songs for film and television…not to mention playing over 150 live dates per year throughout Europe and North America while also releasing five albums for Blue Élan Records.

After sneaking into nightclubs to play gigs in his youth, 18-year-old Dayton and his trio began packing clubs and theaters across Houston, Dallas, and Austin. His first solo record—featuring great luminaries like Doug Sahm, Flaco Jimenez, and Johnny Gimble—hit #1 on the Americana Radio Charts, and then he was off to the races, touring the world as an opener for punk legends Social Distortion, The Supersuckers, and X.

While doing press in Nashville, he caught the attention of Waylon Jennings and was whisked off to Woodland Studios, where he was greeted by none other than Johnny Cash, who tells Dayton: “We’ve been waiting for you.”

Beaumonster finds Dayton performing songs written by the many talented musicians and songwriters featured throughout his memoir of the same name. The album zigs and zags from Waylon Jennings to Social Distortion and Townes Van Zandt to Willie Nelson — all who shared a connection with the storied Beaumont guitar slinger.

While on tour with the Supersuckers in 1994 Dayton found himself “…prayin’ the Devil didn’t steal [his] soul, and that [his] mama wouldn’t find out about [his] evil ways.” On his cover of “Born with a Tail,” Dayton starts off with a driving intro then adds a Spaghetti Western flair and somehow even more slide guitar that does justice to the Supersuckers own, the late Rontrose Heathman.

Story of My Life, a classic Social Distortion song was an easy pick for Dayton, “This song pretty much explains why [Mike Ness’] working class fans love him so much… he’s one of them.” Dayton’s punkabilly drawl cuts through a mix of organ and background vocals to give an entirely new feel to the group’s most iconic song.

Working with Waylon Jennings was a dream come true for Dayton, “[Waylon] put a dangerous cool factor into country music when it really needed it, and playing with him was mind blowin’.” Dayton’s cover of Just to Satisfy You is a tender interpretation of the heartbreak song and showcases a softer side to Dayton’s vocal abilities.

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved Seating/Standing

Myles McCormack

Rescheduled from OTL ’22

Myles McCormack is a multi-instrumentalist from Belfast who writes powerful songs with a delicate touch. In 2019 he released his debut solo album with a sold-out show in Belfast’s Duncairn Arts Centre.

It’s a sublime and carefully crafted debut from an artist who effortlessly bridges the gap between ruminative and blissful.

This past year has seen Myles work on a batch of new songs at home. By Demons, the first of this new material to be released, is a great example of his unique song-writing style and atmospheric sound and has been receiving praise across Irish and UK radio.

Myles will be supporting artist for a host of shows across the Out to Lunch festival, details of which will be released in the coming weeks.

“It’s a gossamer and quietly emphatic first gambit from an artist who continues to set himself apart” – THE THIN AIR

“You couldn’t bring yourself to turn away even if you wanted to” – CHORDBLOSSUM

“He carries within his work an effervescent tenure to unravel mysteries and turmoil” – FOLK&LORE

Shit Show Shambles – A Gameshow Extravaganza

All the games you have ever played trapped in your living room with the entire extended family at Christmas.

Travel the board, play the square and hinder the opposing team. Shit Show Shambles is an interactive, hosted board game living through your worst dreams and best nightmares. Join your host Emily and Rule master Ashton for a gameshow extravaganza.

Doors 7.30pm Unreserved Seating

Mustard

Fishamble: The New Play Company in association with Sunday’s Child presents ‘Mustard’.

When E meets the man of her dreams, a professional cyclist, love hits her in the pubic bone like a train. But when it ends she plummets into a black hole of heartbreak at the speed of a doped up team on the Tour de France. A one-woman show about heartbreak, madness and how condiments are the ultimate coping mechanism, by award-winning playwright & performer Eva O’Connor.

WINNER Scotsman Fringe First Award 2019

WINNER Lustrum Award, Edinburgh 2019

NOMINATED Scottish Mental Health Awards 2019

‘skilful writing elevates this above novelty into a breathless, intense show’ ★★★★★ Ed Fest Mag

‘so scarring and funny, so laden with jealousy and hate and wickedness’★★★★ Scotsman

‘The writing is appealingly spicy and has real poetic momentum’ The Stage

https://www.fishamble.com/mustard.html

Claire Barclay: Thrum

Claire Barclay is a visual artist recognised for producing large-scale sculptural installations created in response to specific contexts.  Her works are immersive sensory experiences that explore our interactions with materials and functionality, by combining formal elements that evoke thinking around the “psychological relationships between human beings and the objects that we live with and produce.”

In this exhibition Barclay includes a series of tactile sculptural environments, where large-scale forms, made predominantly from fabrics and metals, “suggest textile narratives and explore our complex relationships with cloth.”

Historical connections between the West of Scotland and Northern Ireland have become a focus while evolving the artworks.  More specifically, interactions and migrations of people due to work, trade, religion and colonisation, and how these relationships relate to textile production.  In particular, Ayrshire ‘whitework’ embroidery, linen cloth production, and indigenous dress have informed some of the formal and material choices within the sculptures.

Domestic, industrial and agricultural references are interwoven into ambiguous sculptural forms that explore the nature of human engagement in ‘making’ practices and our cultural and symbolic relationships with materials.

Taking inspiration from a range of reference points, including historical artefacts, museum collections, craft practices, methods and places of production, and anthropological perspectives, the work plays with upsetting conventional hierarchies and assumptions in relation to value and meaning of materials and forms.  Often the works indirectly question present day romanticisation and commodification of craft and heritage and provoke us to question our own relationship to these.

Visit https://themaclive.com/exhibition/claire-barclay-thrum for more details

Skull Drawings

Skull is an ongoing live event that has been running monthly since 2016. The Black Box website describes Skull as, “a night of recorded music and live drawing” and, “an escape” from what is termed, “…the relentless agora.”* “DJs Stuart Watson, Ryan Fitzsimmons, Jeff Doherty and guests develop an aural envelope each evening, whilst illustrator Duncan Ross strives to capture the consciousness of the moment through the inky medium of illustration. Adventurous punters may submit suggestions to Ross for realisation on the eve or, if feeling particularly exploratory, can contribute with the fruits of their own ductus (materials provided).”

For this installation, Ross is presenting two hundred A1 drawings improvised during Skull alongside a new, large scale print work. In conversation with the images, Skull DJs have prepared a variety of sonic interventions that will take place throughout the exhibition, retaining the Geist of Skull as an ephemeral multi-sensory event.

Join us for a CQAF Skull on 28th April at the Black Box. Escape the relentless agora in a nite of recorded music and live drawing. DJs Jeff Doherty and Ryan Fitzsimmons develop an aural envelope each evening, whilst illustrator Duncan Ross strives to capture the consciousness of the moment through the inky medium of illustration. Adventurous clientèle may submit suggestions to Ross for realisation on the eve or, if feeling particularly exploratory, can contribute with the fruits of their own ductus (materials provided).

www.blackboxbelfast.com

SWADDLE Dominic McKeown

28/04/22 – 13/05/22. Opening: 5pm – 8pm. Open: Tuesday – Friday 11am – 5pm
Address: 109 – 113 Royal Avenue, Belfast BT1 1FF

The University of Atypical is delighted to invite you to SWADDLE, a thought provoking new exhibition by Dominic McKeown. Dominic received the University of Atypical’s Graduate Award 2020, with this support Dominic has received mentoring from artists Maud Cotter and Dr Colin Darke in the preparation for his first solo exhibition.

McKeown’s work stems from years of exploration into the relationship between the body, materials and structures that envelop us. SWADDLE explores our physical contact and psychological relationship with materials from our past and present experiences, our public and private spaces.

SWADDLE invites us to consider the material value of not only the architectural space of the gallery, but relationship between the viewer and the sculptural work within it. Devised to activate a self-awareness of our own presence within space and the intimacy of scale.

When we’re born, we are swaddled in cotton wool; protected from the beginning. The combination of concrete paired with woollen textiles creates tension between the materials and what we expect or understand their function to be. This contrast encourages the viewer to reflect on personal security, confront self-awareness and the conditioning of identity. Using found textile materials, the sculptures aim to embody our knowledge of architectural spaces incorporating items associated with protection, feeling safe or sheltered and personal identity expressed through dress.

We understand concrete as a vigorous material, by wrapping it in wool its hard exterior is cushioned protecting its exposed and vulnerable surface. A mask can provide confidence, security and soften external strains.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Dominic McKeown (b.1995, Belfast) studied Textile Design, Art and Fashion at Ulster University graduating in 2014. He has based his research and practice within his hometown of Belfast, completing a Masters in Fine Art at Ulster University in 2020. He is a member of Flax Art Studios and is an active worker within the art community within Belfast. He is a Co-Director of Catalyst Arts alongside working as freelance art technician.
For more information – d.mck.art (instagram)

Open: Tuesday – Friday 11am – 5pm
Address: 109 – 113 Royal Avenue, Belfast BT1 1FF
T: 028 90239450
E: administration@universityofatypical.org
W: www.universityofatypical.org

Flax Project Space presents ‘Becoming’

Private View: Thursday 28th April, 6pm – 9pm
Exhibition Dates: 28th April – 5th May, 1pm – 6pm
Flax Project Space, 7 North St, BT1 1NH, Belfast.

‘Becoming’ is a group exhibition featuring artists whose work explores how our artistic practices transition and transform over time.

The exhibition offers a range of enquiries into the idea of ‘becoming’, including reflections on how, considering Covid-19, many artists are now emerging from a form of hibernation, their work changed by a sustained period of not being able to share it. Years spent feeding their practices in the dark, to see only now what they have become. Curated by artist and researcher Hattie Godfrey, ‘Becoming’ presents the artist’s practice as a being that holds the possibility of change, a being that is always becoming.

Flax Art Studios Emerging Artist Programme is a satellite project of 34 recent graduate and emerging artists occupying 7 North St, Belfast. To coincide with this programme Flax opened a project space on the ground floor, providing opportunities for the artists involved to curate and programme their own exhibitions and events.

Dress Up Drink And Draw

Bedroom Pop is a colourful installation by Dreambean that explores childhood memories, identity and celebrates queer joy. Dreambean aims to create an inclusive space for everyone, they want the viewers to be curious and explore art through their immersive use of colour and humour.

For the Cathedral Arts Festival Dreambean is hosting a ‘dress up drink and draw’ at Catalyst Arts. The general public will be encouraged to queer the streets of Belfast, dress up as someone or in something that sparks joy, or simply dust off an old halloween costume.

The aim of this ‘dress up drink and draw’ is to allow the participants to become apart of Bedroom Pop and take on the role of the Artist by exploring the gallery space through a different identity.

Dreambean believes that we have missed enough parties over the last few years and wants to take this opportunity to bring the community together through art and celebration!

The Swing Gals

Rescheduled from OTL ’22

The Swing Gals are Northern Ireland’s original and leading vocal harmony trio. The girls have been performing together for over 12 years and are renowned for their innovative vocal arrangements of swing, jazz and a variety of popular modern genres.

They are delighted to return to the Out to Lunch Festival after their successful sell out performance in 2018. The Gals perform with their own band and appearances with the superb 16 piece Indigo Big Band have delighted their audiences.

Today’s line up consists of Ruth Jennings, Clare Galway and Karen Kirby, accompanied by Kathy McKeagney.  They will perform a varied programme of their sophisticated arrangements of songs from the iconic Andrews Sisters, ABBA, Diana Krall and the Sugababes.

Doors 12.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Mary Ann McCracken’s Belfast Walking Tour

Friday 29 April: https://cliftonbelfast.com/event/mary-ann-mccrackens-belfast-walking-tour-22/

Friday 6th May: https://cliftonbelfast.com/event/mary-ann-mccrackens-belfast-walking-tour-23/

Experience Mary Ann McCracken’s Belfast, as you walk in the footsteps of this remarkable abolitionist, philanthropist and social reformer. Mary Ann McCracken, who was born over 250 years ago, is intrinsically linked to the city of Belfast.  She lived her fearless life championing causes, moving from place to place, always on a mission to make life better for those less fortunate than herself.

Hear too about her more radical nature. Her role in the work of the United Irishmen, the 1798 rebellion and beyond. How she was devoted to her older brother Henry Joy – hanged for his leading role in the rebellion.

This walking tour takes in the locations linked to her life, her endeavours and that of her family. You will be led by an experienced guide through the same streets she walked over 200 years before. This new walking tour starts at Clifton House, where Mary Ann’s thirst for philanthropic causes first began, and where her impact can still be seen today, and finishes near Belfast City Hall.

Planning your visit:

• Walking tour lasts approx. 2 ½ hours
• Please arrive 10 minutes in advance of the tour start time
• Tickets are £12.50pp*, and include a complimentary tea and coffee
• Walking tour commences at Clifton House and finishes in Donegall Square
• Booking in advance is essential due to limited spaces
• Belfast Visitor Pass and Concession rates are £11.25. Please present your Visitor Pass on arrival. For further information on the Belfast Visitor Pass, visit: visitbelfast.com

About the Mary Ann McCracken Foundation
The Foundation was officially launch in 2021 to promote the life and times of this remarkable woman and to explore her legacy and relevance in the 21st century. The Foundation have, to date, republished Mary McNeill’s biography on Mary Ann McCracken, produced an historical map of Belfast, and recently award bursaries to Ulster University Masters Students.

The Heart Desires (Dil Chahta Hai )

Original Language: Hindi Director: Farhan Akhtar 3h 3m

Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna play loyal friends that overcome various obstacles of life in a film that captures college life and the transition into adulthood like no film before it.

Three friends, Akash (Aamir Khan), Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) and Siddharth (Akshaye Khanna), discover that post-collegiate life will test their tight-knit bond. As sweet Sameer falls for Pooja (Sonali Kulkarni), an unavailable beauty, Siddharth risks everything to pursue an older divorcée named Tara (Dimple Kapadia) whom his friends and family find unworthy of him. Meanwhile, brash Akash travels to Australia, where he reconnects with Shalini (Preity Zinta), a girl he’d previously wronged.

‘The voice that rings loudest and clearest is Farhan Akthar’s, fearlessly answering the call to forward Bollywood cinema into a bright, hopeful future’ – THEMOVIEREPORT.COM

GoGo Penguin ’22

GoGo Penguin have been internationally hailed as electrifying live performers, innovative soundtrack composers, and as a collective who channel electronic and club culture atmospheres alongside minimalist, jazz and rock influences to create music that pulses and flows from the dancefloor to meditative inner-worlds, transporting us into brand new realms.

They appear tonight performing music from their 2020 Blue Note Records release, the self-titled GoGo Penguin, together with new music and favourites from their luminous back catalogue.

2022 also marks the touring debut of the band’s latest member, drummer Jon Scott, who brings his own uniquely propulsive style to the Manchester based trio’s exhilarating music.

GoGo Penguin are: Chris Illingworth, piano, Nick Blacka, bass & Jon Scott drums

Plus Joe Reiser sound production

We are grateful to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for the loan of the Steinway D Piano, for the purpose of this event.

‘The taut synergy between racing, pulsing, frenetic percussion and looping leaping keyboard rollercoasters… draw listeners ever deeper into their dicey slipstream’  (****Mojo)

‘Powered by fluttering, junglist drums, slithering bass lines and an increasing bank of Eno-esque digital manipulations. Hypnotic stuff.’  (The Guardian)

‘Glistens with niggling bass and stabbing piano chords …..contemporary British jazz’s great experimenters’. (Bearded)

‘Meticulously structured, deftly paced and futuristic … owes as much to 1990s drum and bass as to jazz …hypnotic and quietly epic.’ (****Music OMH )

Arborist (Full Band) + Guests

To celebrate the legacy of Thomas McCabe, the man who successfully opposed the formation of the Belfast Slave Ship Company, Arborist will play a special show with a full band in the unique setting of First Presbyterian Church which McCabe attended.

Arborist came to the attention of critics with their debut single, the Americana tinged, Twisted Arrow, that features an astonishing duet with Kim Deal of The Breeders.

Their debut album Home Burial (2016) and the follow-up A Northern View both received glowing praise from the likes of The Guardian (“instant classic. ★★★★ ) MOJO (“…devastatingly bleak…upliftingly beautiful. ★★★★) and Uncut 8/10.

Arborist has gained BBC 6music play from Cerys Matthews, Cillian Murphy, Gideon Coe and Steve Lamacq who called single Taxi, “one of those records that makes you immediately stop what you’re doing.”

Prior to the concert, historian Raymond O’Regan will give a brief overview of the times in which McCabe lived and actor/writer Cillian Lenaghan will perform an excerpt from his forthcoming play, Sugar based on McCabe’s life.

All proceeds from the concert will be donated to help modern day victims of trafficking and slavery.

Supported by Experience Belfast Group and Walking Tours

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved seating

Lily Konigsberg

Lily We Need To Talk Now is a record Lily Konigsberg has been slowly chipping away at since 2016, revising and re-recording the songs over the years.

The eleven-track collection is her first proper full length, following her anthology of EPs and unreleased tracks, The Best of Lily Konigsberg Right Now, released in 2021 by Wharf Cat Records.

The new record is catchy the whole way through, like much of her poppy and plainspoken indie rock output that’s made her a fixture of the NYC underground in recent years.

Her voice twists and turns and dashes around her clever wordplay in new ways; there are hints of power-pop, pop-punk, and downtempo introspection, all dotted with Easter eggs of winking humour.

True to its title, this collection of songs is like a check in with herself. On That’s The Way I Like It, with backing vocals from longtime collaborator Paco Cathcart, she reflects on the feeling of “struggling with someone you love, and how you can get all evil about it, like a brat, like a baby.”

On Proud Home, she sings one of the records boldest earworm hooks (“You’ve got a lot of fucking things to be proud of!”) and tries to comfort a friend who has a crush on her mom.

“I really cracked myself up with the lyrics,” she says. “It’s kind of a Stacey’s Mom riff. I decided it’s a dedication to Adam Schlesinger [of Fountains of Wayne].”

Roses, Again is a new take on a familiar Lily tune (originally on Good Time Now) re-recorded at the request of her current live band, who have evolved the song on the road.

Currently receiving rave reviews from the likes of Pitchfork and NME, this will be Lily’s debut performance in Belfast.

Dani Larkin

Tipped by RTE Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, Double J (Australia) and Folk Radio UK as a rising star on the Irish folk and alternative scene, 2021 has been the breakthrough year for this emerging alt-folk artist Dani Larkin, with the release of her debut album ‘Notes For A Maiden Warrior’.

Nominated for ‘Best Album’ at Northern Ireland Music Prize (2021), and ‘Best Emerging Artist’ at RTE Folk Awards (2021)Dani Larkin has been an artist picking up speed with each release, and one that has been marking her mark on the industry, in her own way. With appearances last year at The Great Escape, Doolin Folk fest, Folk Alliance, and selected to open for Snow Patrol to sold-out venues of London’s Palladium Theatre and Belfast’s Waterfront Hall, as well as a special home show for Hot House Flowers – she is a live act not to be missed.

To mark the release of her debut album, she joined forces with the Irish Arts Centre, New York, for a special once off live show, and the album was picked up on several big folk editorial Spotify playlists.

She’s caught the attention of certain media too, including appearing as a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, as well as special guest on Panti Bliss’ podcast ‘The Panti Personals’ ahead of her embarking on her debut English headline album headline tour to close out a hugely successful year.

An artist renowned for her unforgettable live performances, her vocal takes centre stage, accompanied always by her impressive guitar and banjo playing. Larkin has the ability to blend the old and new perfectly through her songwriting, delicately weaving themes of Celtic folklore with the more modern day landscape of her own experiences.

“Brilliant songwriter, very much blending that love of place, family, time – and I always find her music enchanting. It just draws you in. She’s definitely an exciting artist to keep an eye on” Eve Blair – BBC Radio Ulster

“A fantastic album” RTE Arena

“Steadily emerging as a rising star on the Irish contemporary and alt folk scene.”  The Irish Times

“Dani Larkin’s songs are mesmeric and tied to the old Gaelic world.” Stuart Bailie // Belfast Telegraph

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating/Standing 

BC Camplight (SOLO)

Rescheduled from OTL ’22 

“This is an examination of madness and loss,” says Brian Christinzio, the inimitable force behind BC Camplight. “I hope it starts a long overdue conversation.”

Fired by his ongoing battle with mental illness, Shortly After Takeoff is the final, and finest, chapter of what Christinzio calls his “Manchester Trilogy”, following 2015’s How To Die In The North and 2018’s Deportation Blues.

All three albums were created after the native Philadelphian had moved to Manchester. Like Deportation BluesShortly After Takeoff spans singer-songwriter classicism, gnarly synth-pop and ‘50s rock’n’roll, with Christinzio’s similarly distinctive, flexible vocal carrying a fearless approach to lyrical introspection, but the new album is a major leap forward in songwriting sophistication and lyrical communication.

The album has alreadfy been revered by critics, become a stalwart on the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist, and put BC Camplight back on the stage where he belongs. With a slew of tours and festivals on the horizon Christinzio, a remarkably relentless entertainer, will bring his immense new live show to the UK and Europe.

“It’s no fun giving an audience a standard show that they can get elsewhere” explains Christinzio. “Sometimes it’s intense, sometimes it’s emotional, sometimes it’s basically a fucking stand-up routine. I always like to involve the audience and make it memorable for everyone involved. I think we are one of the best live bands in the world and it’s an odd feeling finally getting an opportunity to get in front of loads of ears and eyes. In a perfect world I’d be able to organise a concert on the roof of the Home Office one day”.

Doors 7:30pm | Standing/Seated

Rachel Sermanni

Rachel Sermanni is a Scottish based singer/songwriter who makes the mundane moments mystical: shock-positive pregnancy tests in train-station toilets, coffee machine breakages, cold river swims, the regret of not saying ‘I love You’, the moon and how it pulls, bare feet on wood floors, the soft glow of a house plant, ‘what even is consciousness?’, strange dreams lingering in quiet mornings.

She brims with dreamy indie-folk pop that speak of the struggle and desire to flow, to love, to live, to feel. Sometimes, her songs speak of the rare moments of quiet-still, found in the midst of this struggle and desire. Rachel is a Jellyfish. Surrendering to the currents of the big sea.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Inni-K / Éanna Ó Cróinín – Double Album Launch

Seolfaidh Inni-K an t-albam nua s’aici, Iníon, agus seolfaidh Éanna Ó Cróinín an t-albam úr s’aige, Píobaireacht na Mí.

Inni-K

Named by RTÉ.ie as “one of ten fierce women defining Irish culture”, Inni-K’s music draws on her extensive background in folk and traditional Irish music, as she ventures into new musical territories. Her songwriting career combines her unique approach to her craft with deft musicianship, evocative lyrics and ethereal vocals.

Inni-K’s new album of arranged sean-nós song Iníon sets out to create a re-hearing, in a way, of something dear, something essential, and in doing so, she has – with fellow collaborators – created a bold, new and contemporary experience of sean-nós song for her listener.

‘One of Ireland’s most exciting artists” Irish Times

Éanna Ó Cróinín

Tógadh Éanna Ó Cróinín i gceartlár na Gaeltachta, i Ráth Chairn, Co. na Mí. D’fhás sé aníos le cultúr gaelach, sheimhir na háite siúd, i measc amhránaithe agus damhsoirí sean-nóis, scéalaithe agus ceoltóirí na Gaeltachta. Thosnaigh sé ag foghlaim an cheol ar an fheadóg stáin ag aois an-óg, agus thóg sé dúshlán an phíb uillinn ar féin ag aois deich mbliana. D’fhoghlaim sé ceird an phíb i gclub na bpíobairí uillinn, NPU, i mBaile Átha Cliath, faoi choimirce Nollaig Mac Cárthaigh, Mic O’Brien, Seán óg Potts, Robbie Hannon agus go leor eile.

(2nd floor concert hall, no lift access, bring your own)

Doors 8.15pm | Unreserved Seating

Belfast Whiskey Tour

The Belfast Whiskey Experience leaves from Friend at Hand Whiskey Shop, 35-43 Hill St.

Belfast was once the home of Whiskey, producing at one stage 3 million gallons a year, 60% of the Irish market. Its heritage and home as being one of the world’s most important whiskey cities has returned once again.

Belfast Whiskey Experience is an adventure into finding out the secret history of the city’s most lucrative industry. Hear the stories behind legendary brands such as Dunville’s, Cowan’s, McConnells and Jury whiskey. We work with local historians and tradespeople to give our guests the ultimate experience.

This bespoke tour will include a stop at Irelands only 100% Irish whiskey shop, tastings of reborn Belfast whiskeys and finish with a Belfast Boilermaker (Guinness and whiskey chaser) or a classic Irish Coffee.

The walking tour element of the experience uses wireless MIC system to ensure extra safety for our guests.

Meet 15 minutes before start  |  Walking Tour

The Dodge Brothers

Rescheduled from OTL 22

Support by Dan Donnelly

Kicking off Out to Lunch in January in some style will beThe Dodge Brothers bringing their exuberant hybrid of country blues, rockabilly and jugband and we couldn’t be happier.

The Dodge Brothers bring to them a freshness that has feet stomping and hands clapping from California to Cropredy, from the Mississippi to the New Forest. Their songs feature vocal virtuosity and heartfelt harmonies underpinned by joyous guitars, thumping double bass and rattlin’ snare and washboard.

The Dodge Brothers features Mike Hammond(lead guitar, lead vocals, banjo), Mark Kermode (bass, harmonica, vocals), Aly Hirji(rhythm guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Alex Hammond (washboard, snare drum, percussion).

Their music has an authentically American tang – lead guitarist/vocalist Mike Hammond was raised in Alabama and his youthful musical travels took him all over the southern and western USA – but with a strong British perspective from Culture Show presenter and film critic Mark Kermode.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Echo and The Bunnymen – 40 Years of Magical Songs

One of the most influential British bands in modern history, Echo & The Bunnymen, return to the CQAF Marquee to celebrate the songs that have brought the group twenty top 20 hits and nine top 20 albums so far during their incredible 40-year career.

The band’s seminal albums ‘Crocodiles’‘Heaven Up Here’‘Porcupine’ and ‘Ocean Rain’ have been a major influence for acts such as Coldplay, The Killers and The Flaming Lips, whilst later albums ‘Evergreen’ and ‘What Are You Going To Do With Your Life?’ and ‘Siberia & Meteorites’ demonstrate what an amazing body of work the band have. Their latest album ‘The Stars & The Oceans & The Moon’ was released in Autumn 2018 with Q Magazine calling it “Magical”.

The Bunnymen are still revered in popular culture with the highly acclaimed and culturally phenomenal Netflix series ‘Stranger Things’, using their song ‘Nocturnal Me’ whilst the equally comparable ’13 Reasons Why’ has used ‘The Killing Moon’ and ‘My Kingdom’.

Stephen James Smith

Poetry reading like you’ve never seen it before.

Stephen delivers his poetry to a backdrop of graphic artistry created on the fly by the amazing graphic artist Steve Simpson and accompanied by a musical soundscape from Aidan Murphy.

This is a truly new kind of show.

Every single show is truly unique – the art is drawn in real-time on an iPad whilst Stephen delivers his big poetry to a live and inspiring soundscape – beautiful stuff!

Stephen James Smith is a Dublin poet and playwright central to the rise of the vibrant spoken word scene in Ireland today. His poetry videos have amassed over 2.5 million views.

In 2017 he was commissioned by St. Patrick’s festival to write a new poem as a “Celebratory Narrative” of Ireland. The resultant piece ‘My Ireland’ is accompanied by a short film which has been viewed over 300,000 times and was screened at the London film festival.

In 2018 he was commissioned by Dublin stadium sponsor Aviva to write a poem to highlight the recent rugby final between England & Ireland on Paddy’s day. The poem entitled “Bring it Home” chalked up over 750,000 views across the weekend – and Ireland won!

Stephen has performed at high profile events & venues such as Electric Picnic, other voices, The National Concert Hall in Dublin, The Barbican in London, Vicar Street & the London Palladium (alongside Oscar winner Glen Hansard); The Oscar Wilde Awards in Los Angeles, Glastonbury Festival and many more.

Ciara O’Neill EP Launch

Rescheduled from OTL 22

One of Northern Ireland’s best loved folk artists Ciara O’Neill launches her new EP La Lune as part of Out to Lunch.

Written during a creative period whilst working frontline in the NHS throughout the pandemic La Lune takes you on a journey through the moonlit streets of Paris to the sunny shores of Saint-Tropez.

A stunning successor to her previous albums, the haunting and ethereal The Ebony Trail (2016) and the beautiful Arrow (2018), Ciara has honed her craft with regular songwriting trips to Nashville where she has written with Grammy winning songwriters, performances at the prestigious ‘Bluebird Cafe’ and also to a US TV audience of 60 million for Music City Roots.

‘A must listen for folk fans’ Hotpress Magazine

Timeless, noirish and understated folk’ Dancing About Architecture

“Mesmerising, it takes you away like all good music should” Ralph McLean BBC Radio Ulster

“Ciara and her songs carry everything with such conviction, it makes her almost transparent.” Folk Radio UK

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

The Delines

Country-soul outfit, The Delines, return to Belfast as part of a European tour this coming February with Jerry Joseph support. The Delines who are well known to Belfast audiences will be returning with new material for this special date with the full line up.

The band hails from Portland, Oregon, where they have been working on new material over the past months before the lockdown which is set to be finished shortly. Look forward to new songs and older classics from their previous albums.

The Delines are led by vocalist Amy Boone (The Damnations, TX), the keyboard and horn work of Cory Gray, as well as Richmond Fontaine members: Sean Oldham, Freddie Trujillo, and Willy Vlautin.

Vlautin, the acclaimed novelist and songwriter for Richmond Fontaine, has penned all ten tracks. Vlautin’s book Lean on Pete was recently released as a major motion picture. Richmond Fontaine broke up in 2016 after releasing over ten records.

Jerry Joseph will be supporting and has just recorded his new album with the Drive-By Truckers featuring Jason Isbell which will be out this August 21st on Décor Records.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

All Points presents: Ai Messiah & Friends

Ai Messiah (live)
Seaplanes (live)
Deadman’s Ghost (A/V Screening)
Timmy Stewart (Ambient DJ set)

All Points is an audio-visual project showcasing emerging talent in venues of historical and cultural significance, blending the rich architectural heritage of Belfast with some of the finest new voices in Northern Irish music.

Ai Messiah’s sci-fi inspired debut LP ‘Sentience & Sapience’ was hailed as “an undulating tapestry of rousing strings, glimmering synths and cutting edge sound design.”(If Only UK) In a live setting, the album’s ambient soundscapes are reconfigured into dynamic and energetic arrangements, with FX-laden guitar & synth textures augmented by propulsive, jazz-inflected drumming.

Seaplanes is brothers Graham & David Ginty. The pair started to send musical ideas back and forth during lockdown, with nothing to do but run samples through a rake of guitar pedals to see what would happen. The sound they’ve created draws from electronica, post-rock and drone, with fierce crescendos and lulling ambience regularly appearing side by side in the same track.

Deadman’s Ghost presents re-scores for two experimental short films, exploring the worlds of isolated characters seeking to free themselves from repressive forces. Gothic chants, ominous synth drones and clattering percussion enliven the decayed visuals, implying narratives not originally intended by their directors.

Timmy Stewart is one of the resident DJs & promoters at the Night Institute in Belfast. He’s also one half of crate-digging DJ and production duo Black Bones, signed to Touch Sensitive records. He’ll be leaving the kick drums to the side for the evening and playing a set of atmospheric electronics curated especially for the occasion.

Corduroy

with DJ Support Pete Brady and Norm Crothers

Amidst the exaggerated swagger of Lad-Rock and the self-conscious Brit-Pop excesses of the mid-nineteen nineties, the NME Reader’s ‘Best Live Act’ awards, placed an Acid Jazz combo, Corduroy, amongst its top five…not bad for a band of who’s stage set largely consisted of instrumentals.

Formed in December 1991 and signed to Acid Jazz Records in January 1992, the south-London four-piece’s live performance was energetic and infectious; rubber-band bass runs, buzz-saw guitar lines, creative funky drumming and a relentless soundscape of Hammond organ and melodic electric piano, combined into an adrenaline rush that was exciting, filmic and cartoonish.

The ‘fabric four’ became an instant hit on the international live circuit, their shows a frenetic celebration of grooviness and fun.  2018 brought a new era of the Corduroy story; re-signing to Acid Jazz Records with a new album The Return Of The Fabric Four.

Ghouls On Film Presents: Beyond The Black Rainbow at the Freemasons Hall

We at the Arboria Institute welcome you to our state-of-the-art research facility at The Freemasons Hall at Arthur Square, where our dream is your happiness™.

Our head of research, Dr Barry Nyle, using therapeutic and physical tools, will submerge himself into the crevices of your mind and activate the pathways towards true inner peace. 

Please don’t be alarmed by the appearance of our Sentionaut healers; they are merely here to guide you down a path towards complete and utter annihilation, and we can assure you that any rumours you may have heard of malpractice, psychic interference, mind-wiping or neurological black holes are entirely unsubstantiated. 

This will be an experience like no other. 

A DIFFERENT WAY TO THINK
A NEW WAY TO LIVE
A PERFECT WAY TO BELIEVE

Ghouls on Film is a feminist horror film club, showing films that challenge the representations of women within the genre. Expect cult classics, independent releases and rare lesser-known films that explore how women can find agency in the world of horror. We are proud to be connected with our partner organisation, The Black Box.

This event is open to all genders and strives to be inclusive in its film screenings.

Please be aware, this film features scenes with strobe lighting and may be disruptive to those with photosensitivity, as well as sequences of a graphic nature – viewer discretion is advised.

We Are Here

Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast and Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda announce a collaborative exhibition partnership presenting WE ARE HERE, Artists’ Moving Image from the British Council Collection and LUX.

‏Exploring themes of marginality and its representation, community, storytelling, world-building and critically reframing histories, these linked exhibitions present films from SONGS OF A FORGOTTEN PAST, one of five artists’ film programmes curated by Tendai John Mutambu for the British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, and LUX, an international arts agency that supports and promotes artists’ moving image practices.

The two exhibitions and programme of events at Golden Thread Gallery and Highlanes Gallery are separate but in conversation with each other; different interpretations from different places, with visits from each side of the border to the other gallery offering a chance to see the films from each other’s ‘here’.

HOW DID WE GET TO: WE ARE HERE? At the Golden Thread Gallery

‏The artists’ films being shown across both our main galleries explore possibilities for new ways of seeing the world from the point of view of those who are marginalised and excluded from dominant cultural narratives and images; those which reflect an accepted, assumed meaning of ‘being from here’ and ‘belonging’. Reframing the question of how we all came to be here offers a prompt to disrupt, to play with and perhaps even to move beyond old ideas.

‏Northern Ireland, overwhelmingly white for centuries, is now experiencing unprecedented levels of migration. What is it like for new arrivals here to have to navigate the complexities and nuance of Northern Ireland’s identity politics? Sectarianism has been a poisonously fertile ground for racism in some areas. The shifting territories of Brexit and Covid create fear and uncertainty, easily turned upon those who ‘don’t belong’. Yet there has also been significant solidarity, genuine welcome and a recognition among NI citizens that those who come ‘from outside’ can represent an opportunity to move beyond long-calcified beliefs about ‘them’ and ‘us’.

‏On this island, at this time, with changing populations and ever-shifting senses of identity, engaging with a different way of exploring relationships to home, place, nationality and representation may perhaps lead to many ‘heres’ that are unexpected.

Hit the North

Seedhead Arts with support from Hennessy NI, is gearing up once more to bring Ireland’s biggest street art festival to Belfast, alongside the returning Festival of Fools and Belfast’s best arts festival, the CQAF.

As ‘Hit the North’ Street Arts Festival enters its tenth year, we’re delighted to be back to the May Day weekend with our legendary street art jam taking place on Sunday 1st May!

Unlike most festivals, we continued to celebrate Hit the North in 2020 and 2021, and this year we look forward to being a truly international event again with artists visiting from across Europe.

Join us and watch over 50 renowned international and local street artists create a breath-taking array of modern murals in Kent Street, Union Street and beyond. On Sunday spectators can expect entertainment, food trucks and refreshments as they watch murals come to life.

Notable artists confirmed include: Bust, Asbestos, Sophie Mess, Irony, Friz, Holly Pereira, Kenz, KVLR, Claire Prouvost, Shane Ha, Omin, Danni Simpson, JMK, GD Joyce, Codo, Mr Fenz.

The full artist line-up and supporting events will be revealed over the coming weeks. To find out more visit: https://www.seedheadarts.com/street-art/htn22

Black Is The Color Of My Voice

Inspired by the life of Nina Simone, Black Is The Color Of My Voice follows a successful jazz singer and civil rights activist seeking redemption after the untimely death of her father. She reflects on the journey that took her from a young piano prodigy destined for a life in the service of the church, to a renowned jazz vocalist at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement.

Written and directed by Apphia Campbell.  Fringe First award-winner Apphia Campbell’s acclaimed production heads on an extensive national tour, after sell-out seasons in Shanghai, New York, Edinburgh, and in the West End of London.

Running time 70 minutes

Written and directed by Apphia Campbell

Performed by Florence Odumosu

Ages 12+, references to violence and racism

“Moving portrayal of determination and survival.” ★★★★ The Times

“Nothing short of sensational… will make you cheer for her, smile with her and then sting your eyes with tears.” ★★★★★ Broadway Baby

‘A compelling and heartbreaking story, punctuated with bursts of song.’ ★★★★ Edinburgh Festivals Magazine

The Nowhere Inn – St Vincent

Starring real-life friends Annie Clark (a.k.a. Grammy-winning artist St. Vincent) and Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia, Sleater-Kinney), this is a mischievous, metafictional and frequently laugh-out-loud funny account of banding together to make a documentary about St. Vincent’s music, touring life and on-stage persona.

But they quickly discover unpredictable forces lurking within the subject and the filmmaker that threaten to derail the friendship, the project, and the duo’s creative lives.

From first-time filmmaker Bill Benz (Portlandia, At Home With Amy Sedaris) comes a densely woven and increasingly fractured commentary on reality, identity and authenticity.

A music documentary like no other, this is the story of two close friends who attempt to wrestle the truth out of a complex subject before the hall of mirrors that is their artistic lives devours.

Doors 1.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from National
Lottery.

Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr

Dir. Philipp Reichenheim, Germany/U.S.A, 2021, 82 mins.

FEATURING: J Mascis, Lou Barlow, Kim GordonHenry Rollins, Bob Mould, Thurston Moore and many others.

Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr is a feature documentary homage to one of the most influential bands on the American East Coast, which greatly inspired the burgeoning alternative rock scene – including Nirvana and Sonic Youth – in the 1990s.

Their unique style and unmistakable sound, later referred to as Grunge, laid the foundation for the entire “Slacker” culture of Generation X. It’s also the story of the eloquent and eccentric guitarist and bandleader J. Mascis, the bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph and a band that funnily does not talk to each other.

Communication takes place exclusively through music. Director Philipp Reichenheim nevertheless skilfully encourages the three introverted and shy icons to shoot the breeze and unpack their fascinating story.

The film offers exclusive rare insights into the crazy everyday life of the band across three decades, and illuminates the inner workings of a cult band from its embryonic beginnings in the 1980s and 90s to the present day subculture icons.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from National Lottery.

The Beatles Bungalow – Michael Donald Exhibition

Peter Jackson’s highly acclaimed recent film, Get Back, offers a rare insight into the creative process of the Beatles as they finished recording the album Let it Be.

Much of the album was written in the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in Rishikesh in the foothills off the Himalayas in northern India where the band sought spiritual solace and an escape from the trappings of fame. The ashram, while still open to the public has now fallen into decay and is a ruin slowly being swallowed up by the surrounding forest. 

The photographer, Michael Donald, visited the site in 2020 to make a record of the place before it disappears back into the mountains. The ghosts of the band are ever present in the crumbling paint of the bungalow where they lived for much of 1968 writing what would become, Let it Be.

http://www.michaeldonald.com

Declan O’Rourke + guest Niall McNamee

Award-winning Irish singer songwriter Declan O’Rourke  returns after 2 years with his Paul Weller-produced Arrivals, the most emotionally raw and affecting album of his career.

Arrivals sees Declan O’Rourke present his art in a different yet wholly distinctive manner. The sound is stripped back to Declan’s soulful and resonant voice, the virtuosic guitar playing for which he’s renowned and only the occasional sparse arrangement of strings and late night drums bringing colour and light to the LP’s 10 songs.

Weller, a fan of Declan’s songwriting for some years, also adds his multi-instrumental abilities to the recordings, including a beautiful piano accompaniment to the closing track.

Marked out as a major talent with the release of 2004’s debut Since Kyabram, Declan has produced possibly his finest work to date and this will be a very unique and special show as part of this year’s festival.

‘A masterful lyricist and staggering guitarist’    4**** MOJO

 Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

The Michael Janisch Band

Michael Janisch is a US-native who has lived in London for 17 years and in that time has established himself as a first-call electric & double bassist to the stars, a MOBO-Award nominated solo artist, an in-demand producer, and founder of Whirlwind Recordings, one of the premiere indie labels in jazz and related music.

His latest release Worlds Collide is an electro-acoustic joyride of original material recorded at Abbey Road Studios, combining contemporary jazz alongside free improvisations and soaring melodies over multi – metered grooves and swing.

Paying homage to artists as diverse as Ornette Coleman, Fela Kuti & Afro-Beat to the electronic music pioneer Aphex Twin, the album has been a hit on streaming sites with well over 1,000,000 global plays to date as well as one of the year’s most talked about and covered releases.

Janisch has performed with everyone from Joe Lovano to Claire Martin OBE to Kurt Rosenwinkel to Shirley Horn and Wynton Marsalis, not to mention the “who’s who” players of his generation ranging from Walter Smith III to Melissa Aldana and Soweto Kinch.

Joining Janisch (on basses) for this date to play new music, selections from Worlds Collide and a few gems from his last five albums is Slovenian artist Jure Pukl on tenor saxophone (Greg Hutchinson, Esperanza Spalding), Nathaniel Face on alto sax (Empirical, Gary Crosby), Rick Simpson on piano/keys (Christian Scott, Leo Richardson), and Shane Forbes on drums (Emperical, Jean Toussaint).

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved seating

Rory Nellis – ‘Written & Underlined’ Album Launch

Rescheduled from OTL 22

Rory Nellis launches his brand new album, Written & Underlined, with a full band show at McHughs in Belfast.

Rory is a singer-songwriter and guitarist based in Belfast. Producing a mix of folk-pop and indie-rock stemming from musings on life, death, relationships and politics he is a natural fit for fans of Wilco, Villagers and Duke Special.

Rory has been writing and performing since he was a teenager, gaining support from the likes of BBC Radio Ulster, RTE 2FM and Hot Press Magazine. Rory has toured all around Ireland and beyond – playing festivals and venues such as The Limelight, The Atlantic Sessions, Other Voices (Dingle), Whelan’s (Dublin) and The Bluebird Cafe (Nashville).

Nellis’s second album, There Are Enough Songs in the World, was widely acclaimed, seeing him being heralded as “One of Ireland’s most naturally gifted songsmiths” by The Thin Air. As Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody put it at the time: “the music is sweeping. There’s magic in it”.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved seating

Grace Petrie

‘She’s the urgent, pulsing, compassionate talent this world desperately needs.  The Observer

Protest singer Grace Petrie has an army of loyal fans across the alternative, folk, political and comedy scenes.

She’s toured to arenas with Frank Turner, has supported comedian Hannah Gadsby, toured with comedy phenomenon The Guilty Feminist, has done a prestigious live session on the BBC Radio 2 Jo Whiley Show and reached the top 40 in the UK album charts in autumn 2021 with her new album Connectivity.

Festival appearances have included The Acoustic Stage at Glastonbury Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival in Australia and Vancouver Folk Festival in Canada among many more.

Grace will be accompanied on stage by long-time music collaborator, singer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Moss.

‘She writes the sort of songs you want to pin the lyrics of on your bedroom wall, or on the office door, to remind you and everyone else who might read them what is important and true’ Buzz Magazine

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

Bell X1 with Dowry Strings

A rescheduled show but it will be worth the wait – Bell X1 live is always a magical experience. The band are constantly evolving and changing things up for themselves and their fans.  Collaborating with Dowry Strings has resulted in an incredible and quite moving live experience.

This long awaited show for CQAF will debut new material along with a lot of the favourites spanning over the last 20 years.

“It’s been a joy to work with Éna and the strings on some more songs from the catalogue, and also some brand new tunes that we’re itching to play live” says Paul.

Bell X1 are Paul Noonan, Dave Geraghty & Dominic Philips.

Dowry Strings specialise in cross-timbral & cross-genre collaborations. The ensemble is run by Éna Brennan (Dowry) and includes musicians Gareth Quinn RedmondNozomi Cohen and Yseult Cooper Stockdale.

✮✮✮✮  ‘Another marvelous piece of work from a band that continues to gently, respectfully startle.’  – IRISH TIMES

 Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Margo Cilker

Margo Cilker is a woman who drinks deeply of life, and her debut record Pohorylle, out now on Loose, is brimming with it. For the last seven years, the Eastern Oregon songwriter has split her time between the road and various outposts across the world forging a path that is at once deeply rooted and ever-changing.

As Pohorylle traverses through the geography of Cilker’s memories—a touring musician’s tapestry of dive bars and breathtaking natural beauty—love is apparent, as is its inevitable partner: loss. After all, what bigger heartbreak is there than to be a fervent lover who must always keep moving? Cilker seems keenly aware of the precarious footing upon which love stands, and at many turns, the record circles a fire that is staggeringly beautiful and slipping away.

The record, which carries gentle nods to Lucinda Williams, Townes Van Zandt, and Gillian Welch, shines under the instincts of producer Sera Cahoone. Cahoone quickly got to work assembling a first-rate band: Jenny Conlee (The Decemberists) on keys, Jason Kardong (Son Volt) on pedal steel, Rebecca Young (Lindsey Fuller, Jesse Sykes) on bass, Mirabai Peart (Joanna Newsom) on strings, Kelly Pratt (Beirut) on horns, and the album’s engineer John Morgan Askew (Neko Case, Laura Gibson) on an array of other instruments.

The record also prominently features effortless harmonies from Sarah Cilker, Margo Cilker’s sister and frequent touring partner.

Over the last six years, Margo Cilker has toured extensively across the US and internationally, and is a staple in the independent festival circuit. She looks forward to returning to the road in full swing in 2022.

Doors 7.45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

Keyboard Fantasies (Screening)

As a sci-fi obsessed woman living in near isolation, Beverly Glenn-Copeland wrote and self-released Keyboard Fantasies, seven tracks of years-ahead-of-its-time curious folk-electronica hybrid.

Three decades on, the musician – now Glenn Copeland – began to receive emails from people across the world, thanking him for the music they’d recently discovered.

Keyboard Fantasies is a beautiful coming of age story; a timely lullaby to soothe those souls struggling to make sense of the world.

Doors 7.45 | Unreserved Seating

Supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from National Lottery.

Joep Beving

Joep Beving makes minimalist piano music, which he describes as ‘accessible music for complex emotions’.

Beving, a sensation of the contemporary classical streaming world, returns to his solo piano roots with Hermetism, his fourth album for Deutsche Grammophon which will be released globally on 8 April 2022. Inspired by ancient philosophy, Beving’s latest project is an album in search of universal ideas.

Written during the dark days of the pandemic, in an age of fear and polarisation, Hermetism blends poignant melancholy with an offer of hope, spanning twelve new tracks recorded on Beving’s cherished Schimmel piano.

Beving has used music to explore some of life’s big philosophical questions in three hugely successful albums – Solipsism, Prehension and Henosis.

For his latest project, he draws on Hermetism, a spiritual philosophy which stems from ancient writings attributed to the legendary Greek author Hermes Trismegistus.

These concepts – such as the principle of cause and effect and the principle of rhythm – are all about finding a continuous balance in life and existence.

After self-releasing his debut album Solipsism in 2015, Beving became a viral streaming sensation. His music has since been streamed over half a billion times, and he has performed sold-out shows around the globe.

Ultimately, he hopes that Hermetism will resonate on a deep level with his listeners. “In all the madness of recent times, this album has been the thing I’ve kept coming back to,” he explains. “In that sense Hermetism has been my own medicine for the pandemic.”

Katherine Priddy

Since emerging with her debut EP Wolf in 2018, UK artist Katherine Priddy has quickly become one of the most exciting names on the British singer songwriter scene.

Declared ‘The Best Thing I’ve Heard All Year’ by Richard Thompson, who later invited her to join him on his UK tour in 2021, Priddy’s haunting vocals and distinctive finger-picking guitar style have seen her sell out a headline tour, support world class artists including The Chieftains, John Smith and Vashti Bunyan and earn spots at prestigious festivals such as Cambridge Folk, Towersey and Beautiful Days.

Her much anticipated debut album, The Eternal Rocks Beneath, was released in June 2021 on Navigator Records to great acclaim. The album singles have received 200+ plays across national radio including BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio 2, and upon release, the album received a 5 star review in Songlines, a 4 star review in the Observer, reached No. 1 in the Official UK Folk Charts and No. 5 in the Americana charts.

Folk Radio UK made Priddy ‘Artist of the Month’ and said of the debut LP: “Foundations rarely come stronger than this. A debut of true substance, it’s like searching for a simple shelter and stumbling upon a diamond mine.”The album was later chosen as Album of the Week on RTE Radio 1 in Ireland, and made the list of Top 10 2021 Folk Albums in Mojo Magazine as national radio plays continued months after the release.

With exciting plans already lined up for 2022, including an appearance at the Folk Alliance International Showcase in Kansas in February, it seems Priddy’s momentum is showing no signs of slowing anytime soon.

Her live performances are engaging, moving and amusing by turn, delivering original songs with emotional maturity, depth and a tenderness that still carries a darker edge.

5/5 – Songlines

‘Not to be missed.’

An accomplished set of original songs delivered in a breathtaking voice 4/5 – The Observer

‘Sumptuous songs that define the impressive qualities of this most erudite of songwriters’ 4/5 – RNR

‘Beautiful and poised’ – Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music

‘This is so amazing.’ – Guy Garvey, BBC 6 Music

‘KP is pure. Beautiful in every way. Her music gives me that wonderful feeling when you know that something is so special.’ – Janice Long

John Shuttleworth – John Shuttleworth’s Back

‘John Shuttleworth’s Back’… is giving him trouble.

Years of strenuous DIY, not to mention playing his organ whilst perched upon a multi pack of Diet Sprite with no lumber support, has taken its toll.

But – ever the trouper – John returns to regale audiences with an evening of his classic songs (plus new ones and hilarious ‘back’ stories), pausing only to reapply his deep heat rub!

‘A ludicrously compelling night out.’  – Evening Standard

Doors 30 minutes before show begins | Unreserved Seating

Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain

A documentary about the uncommon life of the late storyteller, explorer and chef, Anthony Bourdain, who exploded onto the scene in 2000 with the publication of his restaurant memoir Kitchen Confidential.

From there it was an unstoppable rise to episodic fame, first with No Reservations, followed by Parts Unknown.

Bourdain’s passion for food, travel, and culture tapped into a deeper humanity that resonated with viewers who felt that they knew him. And to those who did know him, “Tony” was an uncommonly sensitive and insightful soul whose friendship left a lasting impact.

Kae Tempest

Kae Tempest is one of the most multifaceted artists on stages today, juggling multiple art forms with ease. At this count they are part performance poet, playwright, musician and author.  A Ted Hughes Award winner for their poetry, they’ve also been nominated for the Mercury Prize for two albums: Everybody Down (2014) and Let Them Eat Chaos (2017). Their third, The Book of Traps and Lessons (2019) was shortlisted for an Ivor Novello, Best Album. Their writing continually urges audiences to look for connection, intimacy and depth against a quiet everydayness.

The Line is a Curve (2022) is released 8 April and continues their long term collaboration with producer Dan Carey. It draws more openly on existing themes of identity and selfhood in their work,  further stoked by their coming out as an openly trans/non- binary performer. Kae began as a spoken word artist in Lewisham, comfortably straddling the nuance between rap and poetry slams. It is these roots of collaboration with a myriad of performers that make a reappearance in their new album. Kae features old friends like Kwake Bass, Confucious MC and newer links such as Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten and Leanne Le Havaas.

In their own words: ‘The Line Is A Curve is about letting go. Of shame, anxiety, isolation and falling instead into surrender. Embracing the cyclical nature of time, growth, love. This letting go can hopefully be felt across the record. In the musicality, the instrumentation, the lyricism, the delivery, the cover art. In the way it ends where it begins and begins where it ends’

Harmony Saves the World

Harmony is a wellness guru on a mission to save the world through the power of love.  Let’s face it – the world is sick, so why not be part of the cure?  Join Harmony’s revolution to save humanity by using her transforming programme to rid yourself of your prejudices and become truly enlightened.  Let her guide, embrace and transform you so that you too can love everyone, even the dicks.

And if you think that sounds too hard, don’t worry!  Harmony knows the difficulty of ridding yourself from prejudice because she was once as hate-filled and bitter as you are.

This is a show about how we really feel about the people around us, about our divided society, and how we talk to each other as we establish equality.  Harmony Saves the World is all about laughing through some uncomfortable truths and hopefully, maybe, being a bit kinder to each other.

Runs 50mins max.  Includes audience participation and some swearing. Suitable for 16yrs+

About Amadan Ensemble

Amadan are husband & wife team Jude Quinn & Gemma Mae Halligan, who have been creating edgy & physical theatre since 2014.  Using the styles of clown & bouffon Amadan want to engage with their audience in a visceral, entertaining, relevant & at times confrontational way. Amadan takes risks to make the world braver. We are Amadan.

https://www.amadanensemble.com/

Monty Python & The FOLEY Grail

Compass Presents an expanded screening of cult comedy film ‘Monty Python & The Holy Grail’ with audience-participation live foley.

Grab your coconuts and go on a quest for the Holy Grail.. (or Foley Grail, if you will!) Upon your arrival, you will be handed a package of foley-delights. Follow your cue-master to add live sound effects – en masse – and make one of the most laugh-out-loud films of all time even funnier!

Released in 1975, Monty Python’s Holy Grail is a comedy masterpiece and cult classic. King Arthur, King of the Britons, faces a multitude of obstacles including the tenacious Knights of Ni, a rude Frenchman and a killer rabbit on his quest to find the Grail.

This is a silly screening for silly people. We encourage you to dress for the occasion, shout out your favourite lines and arrive at upon your invisible horse.

Occupying the space between cinema curation, art, event production and interactive theatre Compass Presents has been creating mixed-artform events and shows since 2006. Inspired by the immersive power of cinema and the spine-tingle of live performance, we reimagine cult treasures and offer them to audiences afresh, mixing film with live elements, and to be experienced in strange locations.

Allergy Warning: The foley kit contains food items. Please inform Compass Presents if you have a food allergy beforehand by contacting: hello@compasspresents.com

Supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from National
Lottery.

The Night With presents … Juice Vocal Ensemble

The Night With… Juice Vocal Ensemble features the première of Matthew Whiteside’s And This Too Shall Pass along with a new work by Royal Conservatoire of Scotland student Amy Stewart and music from Juice’s Voices of Venus programme.

Juice Ensemble

Citing everything from The Boswell Sisters, Bjork and Meredith Monk as influences, their purely vocal music takes all manner of unpredictable directions, drawing on classical, world music, jazz, folk, pop, improvisation and theatre.

They have featured on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM and have performed at London’s Wigmore Hall, the South Bank, King’s Place and the Roundhouse as well as outside the UK, including concerts in Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, New York and at SXSW Festival Austin, Texas.

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved seating

John Francis Flynn

Rescheduled from OTL ’22

John Francis Flynn is a singer and multi-instrumentalist whose work centres around traditional and folk material from Ireland. He is a founding member of the band, Skipper’s Alley, with whom he has toured extensively throughout Europe and America.

While supporting Lankum on their 2019 UK tour he caught the eye of Geoff Travis and Jeanette Lee who quickly signed John to Rough Trade imprint label, River Lea.

John’s debut album I Would Not Live Always in Spring 2021 was released through River Lea in Spring 2021. Produced by highly regarded producer, Brendan Jenkinson. This release further highlighted the enormous talent hidden away in the corners of Ireland’s folk scene.

I Would Not Live Always featured in Mojo’s top ten folk albums of 2021 and John received Best Emerging Folk Artist & Best Folk Singer accolades at RTÉ Radio One Folk Awards.
Moving on Music is delighted to present John Francis Flynn’s debut Belfast performance in association with Strange Victory and Out To Lunch Festival

‘Human experience burns ferociously on this extraordinary debut from the uncompromising Irish artist John Francis Flynn. An extraordinary debut’ – THE GUARDIAN

‘Double Tin Whistle and Tape-Loops. Revelatory new takes on English and Irish folk songs in the manner of Sam Amidon. A singular and striking clarity of vision’ – UNCUT

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

London African Gospel Choir Presents The Bob Marley Songbook

The London African Gospel Choir (LAGC) are looking forward to their return to Belfast Cathedral Quarter.

This show sees the “redemption songs” reinterpreted; with the choir’s own inimitable African choral arrangements and Marley’s music stunningly arranged for the Choir’s band.

The London African Gospel Choir has gained international recognition for their critically acclaimed reworking of Paul Simon’s Graceland.

“Lively Up Yourselves” the great man said, welcome to a celebration to what is a part of many peoples lives, old and young…

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating 

Simon Armitage

The UK’s Poet Laureate Simon Armitage is one of Britain’s most well-established and well-loved literary talents, and has been bringing us his unique blend of wit, empathy and caustic insight for more than three decades, since the publication of his debut collection of poems Zoom! in 1989.

2021 welcomed two new publications: The Owl and the Nightingale, a new rendition of a Middle English narrative poem, bringing the verse to life with energy and humour; and A Vertical Art, a collection of Armitage’s spirited public lectures as Oxford University Professor of Poetry, bringing together subjects as diverse as Bob Dylan and Elizabeth Bishop.

Simon Armitage was born in Marsden, West Yorkshire in 1963. In 2020 he published Magnetic Field, a collection bringing together all the poems has written throughout his career about his home village.

Introduced by Hilary Copeland

Doors open 6.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Kathryn Joseph

Kathryn Joseph releases her forthcoming studio album for you who are the wronged on 22 April 2022 via Rock Action.

Unspoken truths take flight in songs that simmer and seethe with quiet anger, as Joseph gives voice to those robbed of their own. This record is a statement of abuse observed; its narrative woven with pain’s complexities, futility and stasis.

for you who are the wronged is the much anticipated follow-up to 2018’s from when i wake the want is, and her 2014 debut bones you have thrown me and blood i’ve spilled, which won 2015’s Scottish Album of the Year award.

If from when i wake… was written for love to return, this is where she fights tooth and claw to protect it. And though her sparrow-boned musical structures are as slight and sparse framed as their singer – they burn with a fearsome new certainty.

The sound is spacious, honouring the rawness of her original demos, written in early 2020. The subject matter is violation – of power, of love, of access – a pain that may not belong to her alone, but she strives to make sense of what’s being enacted on others.

In crafting these songs, Joseph offers a window into these toxic patterns that she hopes could save someone.

“Partly, it feels like the only thing I can do in terms of saying it out loud,” Kathryn shares. “It’s like code. No-one will hear their name, or recognise themselves, but in years to come, they might. For me, I think maybe there’s someone who might not even realise that they’re being abused until they listen to these songs. The ones who are already – I know how strong they are. They’re in my life, and they’re surviving it.”

Jake Xerxes Fussell

Singer, guitarist, and folk music interpreter Jake Xerxes Fussell has distinguished himself as one of his generation’s preeminent interpreters of traditional (and not so traditional) “folk” songs, a practice which he approaches with a refreshingly unfussy lack of nostalgia.

By re-contextualizing ancient vernacular songs and sources of the American South, he allows them to breathe and speak for themselves and for himself; he alternately inhabits them and allows them to inhabit him.

In all his work, Fussell humanizes his material with his own profound curatorial and interpretive gifts, unmooring stories and melodies from their specific eras and origins and setting them adrift in our own waterways.

Fussell’s new album Good and Green Again is set for release on Jan 21, 2022 via Paradise of Bachelors. Produced by James ElkingtonGood and Green Again navigates fresh sonic and compositional landscapes and is his most conceptually focused and breathtakingly rendered to-date.

Fussell and Elkington enlisted a group of formidable players hailing from Durham, North Carolina (where Fussell lives) and elsewhere, including regular bandmembers Casey Toll on upright bass, Libby Rodenbough on strings, and Nathan Golub on pedal steel.

They were joined by welcome newcomers Joe Westerlund (Megafaun, Califone) on drums, Joseph Decosimo on fiddle, Anna Jacobson on brass, and Bonnie “Prince” Billy, who contributes additional vocals.

If overall Good and Green Again sounds a little sadder and slower than Fussell’s past records, well, maybe we’re all a little sadder and slower these days.

A smoldering mood of regret and loss pervades. But three airy instrumentals, all Fussell originals, punctuate the program, offering respite and light in the form of crisp, shuffling play-party tunes, each in turn somewhat more hopeful and exuberant than the last.

Their resemblance to lullabies is, perhaps, not coincidental. Fussell and his partner welcomed their first child into the world during the making of Good and Green Again. These lovely songs bear that promise in letters of bright gold.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Love in Bright Landscapes – The Story of David McComb and The Triffids

Love in Bright Landscapes is the inspiring, tragic and intimate life story of David McComb, cult Australian singer/songwriter and driving force behind one of the greatest Australian bands, The Triffids.

Love in Bright Landscapes reveals the man behind the music; and McComb’s status as a quintessentially Australian artist.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Paul Currie – Work in Progress: The Chorus of Ghosts in my Skull Keep Telling Me to Take a Shit in the Fruit Salad

‘This is a brand new work in progress (WIP) show that will look at my personal struggle and experience with depression, anxiety and intrusive thoughts that I’ve suffered from since the age of 5 and many nervous & mental breakdowns.

For me, I think it’s a subject not properly spoken about enough in comedy, in society, or in the world. I want this show to help smash or at least crack the stigma we all have of mental health.’ – Paul Currie, December 2021

TCOGLIMSKTMTTASITFS is the sister show to Paul’s 2021 Edinburgh Fringe Sell Out show “TEET”

★★★★★ THE SCOTSMAN 

He’s fast developing a cult following. Everything Currie does has the spirit of Vic & Bob, The Young Ones and everything surreal that’s come before or since.’★★★★ EDFEST

‘He is simply and without question unmissable!’★★★★★ MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL<

Paul Currie is a disturbingly brilliant comic.’ ★★★★★ BROADWAY BABY 

‘I wish I’d seen him sooner. I’ll be back to see him every year. My favourite comedy show of the Fringe this year.’ STEWART LEE

Doors 12.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Tadhg Hickey – In One Eye, Out The Other

Rescheduled from OTL ’22

Acclaimed Irish comedian Tadhg Hickey (outstanding physical and comedic performer – The Scotsman), brings a weird and wonderful part theatre, part stand-up comedy show, In One Eye, Out The Other to this year’s Out to Lunch.

IOEOTO tells the story of Feargal, the downtrodden but cheery man who fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming an alcoholic. Using the Catholic calendar as a roadmap, Feargal leads us on a surreal and hilarious journey with many poignant twists in the hope of arriving at a sort of light at the end of the tunnel for the ‘bright man’.

The show is loosely based on Tadhg’s own journey with alcoholism. During promotion of the show, Tadhg went public with his own story and has since had many mental health and alcohol action groups, as well as sufferers, reach out to him.

Tadhg is one of the brightest and bravest new stars in Irish comedy and theatre. His satirical sketches have amassed several million views online, and earned the admiration of comedy royalty like Armando Ianucci.

‘In One Eye, Out The Other’ is characteristically brave and ambitious, as Tadhg searches for cathartic humour in a surreal retelling of his own battle with alcoholism.

“Great art. A vital catharsis. I laughed until I cried. Go see it.” – Sunday Independent

“Both funny and poignant; a brave, risky performance. This is exciting work” – The Independent

“Illuminating. Affecting in surprising ways. Feargal’s story will stay with you for days” – Sunday Business Post.

Doors open 30 minutes before show | Unreserved Seating

Jonathan Barnbrook in conversation

Jonathan Barnbrook is a graphic designer and musician. He will talk about his work and design and his musical collaboration with Anil Aykan.

Jonathan worked with David Bowie from 2003 up until his passing in 2016. In that time he was responsible for designing album covers including Heathen, The Next Day and Blackstar – for which he won a Grammy. Barnbrook was also part of the curating panel and main graphic designer for the exhibition ‘David Bowie Is’.

From school to college, Saint Martin’s and the Royal College of Art – a trajectory he says is down to free education – his dedication and skill in the medium were discussed across the industry before he even graduated from his masters. Post-education Jonathan set up his own studio immediately.

From here, an array of projects began – from David Bowie to Damien Hirst, Penguin Books, Adbusters, the Occupy movement, several famed font releases – leading the designer down a path of thoughtful and often political or music-related projects.

Most recently, however, the latter has become more of a focus, as the designer and his partner Anil Aykan launched Fragile Self. An electronic duo who place as much focus on visuals as music, their album took several years to make and includes a 480-page tome visualising the poetic detail of each song.

PLEASE NOTE

“The Conor Theatre is on the second floor of the Birley Building (art college), Block BA, of Ulster University’s Belfast campus in the Cathedral Quarter. Please arrive at the reception of the Birley Building with your ticket/s to gain access through the turnstiles to the stairs and elevators.

Mogwai

This will be epic. Ten studio albums, a live album and four compilations, four soundtracks, a record label, and a few blown PAs over uncountable gigs, Mogwai have become one of the most important groups of a British musical underground yet have steadfastly refused to sit back and rest on their laurels.

Over a period of 24 years their one constant has been of a mastery of dynamics, an embracing both of power and minimalism, and a willingness to experiment with new instrumentations and technology.

Earlier this year the band released their tenth studio album As The Love Continues, which has been hailed as “an instrumental masterclass”. Scoring the band their first No1 in the UK album charts, As the Love Continues also picked up Scottish Album of the Year and a Mercury Prize nomination.

Mastered at Abbey Road, the new album is both transcendent and surprising, and shows that Mogwai are still offering solace from the mundane. In a review from Clash Music, the album is given 9/10 and described as “their best, and is possibly their most consistent record since 2006’s Mr Beast.”

Key tracks include To The Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth, which is according to Clash Music “as huge as they’ve ever sounded”, and It’s What I Want To Do, Mum which “sounds exactly like a band who have been together since their teens, and are still creating music they are excited and energised by”.

There’s not an awful lot more you can say about Mogwai that hasn’t been said before really: established now, surely, as one of the most influential and respected bands Scotland has ever produced, Mogwai continue to go from strength to strength and remain one of the most extraordinary live bands you’re ever likely to see.

Of all the great Nineties guitar bands, Mogwai might be the one fighting hardest to keep the decade’s anything-goes spirit alive’ –  Rolling Stone

Other than creating mind-shredding, eardrum-perforating noise-rock, you can always count on Mogwai to come up with brilliant song titles’ – NME

Doors 7.30 | Standing/Limited Unreserved Seating 

Shaparak Khorsandi – IT WAS THE 90s!

The decade where Shaparak left an important part of her brain somewhere in a field in Hampshire…

From indie discos to unflattering crop tops…a trip down memory lane to the decade where ‘kinky’ was nurse roleplay and whipped cream, and Shaparak found herself flying about London with hope in her heart, a tenner in her pocket and spare knickers in her handbag.

How does the decade of binge drinking and walks of shame look now without snakebite and black tinted specs?

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved seating

Mary Ann McCracken’s Belfast Walking Tour

Friday 29 April: https://cliftonbelfast.com/event/mary-ann-mccrackens-belfast-walking-tour-22/

Friday 6th May: https://cliftonbelfast.com/event/mary-ann-mccrackens-belfast-walking-tour-23/

Experience Mary Ann McCracken’s Belfast, as you walk in the footsteps of this remarkable abolitionist, philanthropist and social reformer. Mary Ann McCracken, who was born over 250 years ago, is intrinsically linked to the city of Belfast.  She lived her fearless life championing causes, moving from place to place, always on a mission to make life better for those less fortunate than herself.

Hear too about her more radical nature. Her role in the work of the United Irishmen, the 1798 rebellion and beyond. How she was devoted to her older brother Henry Joy – hanged for his leading role in the rebellion.

This walking tour takes in the locations linked to her life, her endeavours and that of her family. You will be led by an experienced guide through the same streets she walked over 200 years before. This new walking tour starts at Clifton House, where Mary Ann’s thirst for philanthropic causes first began, and where her impact can still be seen today, and finishes near Belfast City Hall.

Planning your visit:

• Walking tour lasts approx. 2 ½ hours
• Please arrive 10 minutes in advance of the tour start time
• Tickets are £12.50pp*, and include a complimentary tea and coffee
• Walking tour commences at Clifton House and finishes in Donegall Square
• Booking in advance is essential due to limited spaces
• Belfast Visitor Pass and Concession rates are £11.25. Please present your Visitor Pass on arrival. For further information on the Belfast Visitor Pass, visit: visitbelfast.com

About the Mary Ann McCracken Foundation
The Foundation was officially launch in 2021 to promote the life and times of this remarkable woman and to explore her legacy and relevance in the 21st century. The Foundation have, to date, republished Mary McNeill’s biography on Mary Ann McCracken, produced an historical map of Belfast, and recently award bursaries to Ulster University Masters Students.

Sarah McQuaid

The St Buryan Sessions is the sixth solo album by award-winning singer/songwriter Sarah McQuaid. Born in Madrid to a Spanish father and an American mother, then raised in Chicago, Sarah lived in Ireland for thirteen years.

Her first three albums were recorded in Ireland with producer Gerry O’Beirne. Her latest album The St Buryan Sessions had its genesis in the spring of 2020 when Sarah’s gigs and tours were cancelled due to Covid.

Thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign she was able to finance a live solo recording (without an audience) in the medieval church of St Buryan, not far from her home in rural West Cornwall. The recording in an old stone church gives the acoustics an ethereal dimension, especially to the vocals.

Sarah, a member of the St Buryan choir and also a multi-instrumentalist, moves between acoustic guitar, piano, electric guitar and not forgetting her vintage floor tom drum.

Sarah, has one of the most instantly recognisable voices in contemporary acoustic/folk music.

The St Buryan Sessions represents a journey through a wide range of styles — from world music to the jazz standard Autumn Leaves.

“One of the most instantly recognisable voices in current music … Shades of Joni Mitchell in a jam with Karen Carpenter and Lana Del Rey.” —Trust The Doc

“Captivating, unorthodox songwriting … layered satin vocals … enthralling, harrowing arrangements … a gateway into a true innovator’s soul.” —PopMatters 

“I’ve attended hundreds of concerts of all kinds, and her subtle mastery onstage launches her straight into my fave shows ever.” —Huffington Post

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating/Standing 

Ruth McGinley

Rescheduled from OTL ’22

By the age of 17, Ruth McGinley had already gained widespread recognition as one of Ireland’s leading pianists, winning countless accolades including both the piano finals of both the BBC and RTÉ Young Musician of the Year awards. Since then, her career has been wide-ranging and daring, collaborating with some of the most acclaimed teachers and musicians working today, and straying from the typical classical-pianist journey.

The Derry native studied at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Royal Academy in London before being awarded a Postgraduate in Solo Performance from the Royal College in London. She has performed as soloist with many orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra and as a solo recitalist throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Ruth broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, BBC Radio Ulster and RTE, and was honoured to be invited to perform as soloist at the BBC Proms in the Park.

But it is perhaps the spaces between where Ruth’s interests really lie. A determination to walk her own path, Ruth’s love of music goes far beyond the classical world. A highly sought-after collaborator, Ruth works with musicians from many backgrounds including jazz, folk, electronic and other.

This concert programme will feature classical works by Arvo Pärt, Erik Satie, Chick Corea and reimagined folk songs by Neil Martin.

‘Stylistic variety is seamlessly blended throughout in intelligently proportioned playing as sincere as it is supple. More please!’  Michael Quinn, CLASSICAL EAR. 

Bear

Adapted by Cliodhna McAllister, from the novel by Marian Engel.

“Tear my head off, Bear. Claw out my heart.” Led by animal instinct. Intoxicated by primal desire. Marked by violent passion. When Lou meets Bear, she is forever changed.

‘Bear’ is the provocative tale of a woman’s transformative experience on a remote Canadian island. Dispatched to catalogue the contents of the island’s abandoned nineteenth-century estate, Lou finds she is not alone – there’s always a bear on Cary Island. And there are always secrets.  Consumed by primal desire, Lou’s relationship with Bear takes her on a journey of sexual and spiritual awakening. She won’t leave the island the same woman she used to be.

Blacklight Productions are proud to premier ‘Bear’  – the first adaptation of Marian Engel’s acclaimed and controversial novel – at CQAF 2022.

Cast: Aoife Honohan

Writer & Director: Cliodhna McAllister

Producer: Fionnula Ryan

Costume Design: Henrique Caliento

Set & Lighting Design/Op: Chris Merton

Sound Design/Op: Jamie Bishop

Supported by the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire and Future Foundations NI

Richard Hawley

It was with regret that we’ve received the news that Richard Hawley’s Irish Tour has been cancelled for health reasons.

Richard has sent the following;

‘It is with huge regret that due to unforeseen health issues Richard Hawley has been forced to postpone his Irish tour in May 2022.

He apologizes to all the fans that have bought tickets and promises the shows will be rearranged later in the year.

After a long pandemic and many cancelled shows we are sure everyone can imagine it’s the last thing he wanted to do but it’s unavoidable.

Richard looks forward to being back to full health in the next few months and to be able to fulfill all the dates.

Please look out for further announcements and you will be contacted with rescheduled dates as soon as they are confirmed.’

All tickets are currently being refunded.

Very disappointing news to return to after the Easter break but there are still many great shows to be enjoyed at this year’s CQAF and we hope you can join us for a show or two.


One of the shows we had been most looking forward to in CQAF 2020 was the performance by Richard Hawley. Then COVID-19 struck and the rest is history. We’re delighted therefore to welcome Richard to the closing weekend of CQAF 2022.

Pre-COVID, 2020 had been a landmark year for Richard with his ninth studio album, Further, slamming into the UK album charts at No.3 in the same year he celebrated his twentieth anniversary as a solo artist.

In the two decades that have elapsed since Hawley jettisoned band life, first with The Longpigs and then as Pulp’s guitarist, the 52-year-old songwriter has forged one of the most singular and diverse careers in modern music.

His ability to cut across styles, time and, in some instances, place, is down to Hawley’s deep and intuitive understanding of music itself, his grounding stemming back to his childhood when his father, a musician himself, introduced Richard to country, blues and rock’n’roll.

Talk to him about his blues heroes, and he is likely to list Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup (“the master!”) and Freddie King as personal favourites.

At heart, though, Hawley remains in love with rock’n’roll in its purest form and he sports the quiff to prove it. “People often ask me why I still have a quiff. I always tell them it’s because I still can,” he deadpans.

His appearance in Belfast promises to be a special show from a musician that has a knack for creating poignant and powerful songs like Tonight the Streets are Ours and The Ocean.

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

Ayanna Witter-Johnson

Ayanna Witter-Johnson is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, pianist and cellist. She has a phenomenal mastery for seamlessly crossing the boundaries of classical, jazz, reggae, soul and R&B, to imprint her unique musical signature with her virtuosic tap, strum and bow with her cello into her sound.

An acclaimed and celebrated performer, Ayanna has collaborated with many stellar artists, including Anoushka Shankar, Nitin Sawhney, Andrea Bocelli and Jools Holland. She has also toured extensively across the UK, Europe and the US.

As a composer, Ayanna has been commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Ligeti Quartet, Kronos Quartet and The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company to name but a few. She was also selected as an arranger/orchestrator for the London Symphony Orchestra (Hugh Masekela, Belief) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Urban Classic).

Ayanna has released three EPs and put out her debut album Road Runner in 2019, with its two subsequent singles Nothing Less and Crossroads. With her January 2021 surprise-released EP Rise Up, Ayanna again combined reggae, classical, jazz and R&B to celebrate black culture and identity to uplift and inspire the next generation. The stunning collection of three tracks and videos featuring Akala on Rise Up, Cleveland Watkiss on Declaration Of Rights and the Rise Up Riddim have received a huge amount of critical acclaim.

Many of Ayanna’s remarkable tracks have received airplay on radio stations, including BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, 2, 3, 4, 6, BBC Radio London, BBC Manchester, Jazz FM and Scala Radio. Her TV credits include BBC One, London Live, Channel 4 (Sing It Loud: Black and Proud), BBC Proms and a stunning performance on Later…with Jools Holland (BBC One).

2021 has been a stellar year for Ayanna. She is currently working on her sophomore album and collaborating with Solem Quartet as part of their Beethoven Bartok Now series. 2021 also saw Ayanna returning to the live stage, headlining at London’s iconic Jazz Café and Kings Place. She also made additional performances supporting Nubiyan Twist on their UK tour, participating in ‘Jazz Voice’ (the opening of the London Jazz Festival) at the Royal Festival Hall and a 22-date US tour with Opera superstar Andrea Bocelli.

As a performer of extraordinary versatility, Ayanna’s live shows are intimate journeys that chronicle her experience as a female artist in the 21st century. Due to her musical prowess, mesmerising vocals, non-compromising lyrics, and ability to deftly reinterpret songs on the cello. Ayanna Witter Johnson is the very definition of eclectic soul.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating/ Standing 

 

Gwenifer Raymond

Rescheduled from OTL ’22

Gwenifer Raymond began playing guitar at the age of eight shortly after having been first exposed to punk and grunge. After years of playing around the Welsh valleys in various punk outfits she began listening more to pre-war blues musicians as well as Appalachian folk players, eventually leading into the guitar players of the American Primitive genre.

In 2017 she released her first single Sometimes There’s Blood and released her debut album You Never Were Much of a Dancer in June of 2018 to worldwide acclaim.

What followed was much international touring. Gwenifer headlined shows across much of Europe, debuted at several summer festivals including Green Man, Black Deer, Supernormal, Shambala to name but a fraction. She also played a number of support slots for artists such as Michael Chapman, Michael Hurley, Xylouris White and Charlie Parr.

The release of Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain has been highly anticipated after Gwenifer’s debut album, You Were Never Much of a Dancer, received critical acclaim from numerous publications including The Guardian.

Listeners who enjoyed her unmistakable virtuosity on the guitar and banjo, as well as the adventurous musical journey her debut album travelled through, can expect nothing less from this new release.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

This Ship Argo : Live Film Soundtrack

CQAF are delighted to present a new commission at St. Joseph’s Church in Sailortown from This Ship Argo. Funded by The Leche Trust. CQAF have commissioned the musician/ composer ‘This Ship Argo’ (Aileen McKenna) to produce a new composition for a specially edited film.  This Ship Argo will be playing live to visual material.

The performance would be presented in the historic St Joseph’s Church in an area of Belfast known as Sailor town.  The commissioned work would tie into themes of the sea and seafaring industries in a historical context. Imagery for the film, sometimes abstract and poetic, would tie in with the subtle and delicate score produced by This Ship Argo.

This Ship Argo is the moniker of Aileen McKenna; a producer, musician, composer, vocalist and remixer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Aileen combines synths, vocals and the occasional sample to create low-tempo electronic soundscapes that are at times both ambient and uplifting through to angry and intense, but always engaging and intriguing. The depth of layers and detail within her work rewards repeated listening, always presenting something new to pick out with each play. This is not only a reflection of her training as a classical pianist but as a guitarist, a vocalist and her experiences with auditory-visual synaesthesia. Aileen’s work is reflective of her love of multiple genres, from singer-songwriters, her love of indie-pop and riot girl through orchestral works, traditional pieces and electronica which combine to make up the palate of This Ship Argo.

A prolific producer, her first album – “Kintsugi” – was released on 22nd January 2020 with the second album – “Always the Bees: Never the Honey” – exactly one year later on 22nd January 2021, and a host of standalone singles in-between. The inclusion of her track Isomer on Hannah Peel’s All Queens Mix on the Maryanne Hobbs show shortly after release, only serves to demonstrate her artistry with Peel saying “I love the dreaminess of this track”. Her work has also been championed in multiple playlists by Daniel Avery for both Apple Music (Underground Dance) and on Spotify, and has been included in short films and multiple compilations released in 2021 with more set for release before the end of the year and into 2022.

All work is recorded, mixed, mastered and produced by her in her home studio and is the result of McKenna’s dedication to her craft and a determination to be self-reliant. This extends to the creation of all her own artwork and accompanying videos, as well as visual accompaniments for live-streams during lockdown. This work earned her a place as a finalist in the Best Album category of the Northern Irish Music Prize 2021 as well as a spot in the NI Electronic Workshop: an initiative run collaboratively between Hannah Peel, Start Together Studio, The Oh Yeah Centre, Northern Ireland Screen, Tonn Recordings and the legendary Analogue Catalogue recording studio in Northern Ireland.

Supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from National Lottery.

The Incredible Journey (Dog Friendly Screening)

We’re delighted to present this very special CQAF cinematic doggie treat.

The Incredible Journey is the timeless tale of Luath the Yellow Labrador, Bodger the elderly English Bull Terrier and Tao the Siamese Cat, as they embark on a long trek through the rugged wilderness of the Sierra Nevada mountains in a quest to reach home and their beloved owners.

We invite you and your four-legged friend to join us for this Disney classic!

Doors  10.30am | Unreserved Seating

Traditional Bread Baking Workshop

Roll your sleeves up and get floury! Tracey Jeffery from Tracey’s Farmhouse Kitchen will demonstrate how to make Northern Ireland’s most loved traditional breads – Soda and Potato bread.

Now it’s your turn! You’ll make your own soda and potato breads in the traditional way – no measuring or weighing required!

Your breads will cook on a Griddle and from start to finish they’ll be ready to eat within 15 minutes. You’ll take home 4 farls of Soda and 4 farls of Potato bread, or enjoy them with lunch, hot off the griddle. There’s even a prize for the best breads.

Includes tea / coffee on arrival, bread making experience, followed by lunch.

Meet at Northern Whig, 15 minutes before your start time.

Ashley Campbell

Ashley Campbell was originally a theater major at Pepperdine University. Music had always been a major part of her life from beginning piano lessons at age 6 and picking up the guitar at 15. But it wasn’t until she was asked to learn the banjo for a role in Pepperdine’s Edinburgh Theater program that music began to take the wheel as both a passion and a career.

Shortly after graduation, Ashley spent the next three years touring with her father, Glen Campbell, playing banjo and keyboards. As the tour went on, Ashley began writing and performing music of her own and subsequently moved to Nashville in 2013 where she signed a publishing deal and began her own journey as an artist. Ashley went on to write and release her first single “Remembering” in 2015. A deeply personal reflection about her father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, “Remembering” was featured on her father’s documentary, Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me. The soundtrack for the documentary (also featuring a cover by Ashley of her father’s song “Home Again”) would go on to win two grammy’s.

The success launched Ashley into a solo career as an independent artist, releasing her first album, The Lonely One, in 2018. Ashley co-produced the record with her brother Cal and released on her own label (Whistle Stop Records). The Lonely One album hit the Top Ten of the UK Country Chart upon release. Since then, Ashley has toured all over the US as well as the UK and Europe including opening for Kris Kristofferson in London, the C2C Festival MainStage in 2018, and playing at Carnegie Hall with songwriting legend Jimmy Webb.

Ashley’s sophomore album, Something Lovely (produced by friend and co-writer of “Remembering” Kai Welch) was released October 9, 2020 with Vacancy Records. The album features eleven new tracks including “If I Wasn’t” which features Vince Gill on vocals and electric guitar. Ashley’s hard-wired musicality, clarity and easy lyrical delivery gives this collection a classic feel but the songwriting and production are right up the the minute. There is depth as well as undoubted style. A mature and confident set from a musician who has earned her place in the spotlight.

Doors 1.30pm | Unreserved Seating 

Teddy Thompson – Heartbreaker Please Tour

Rescheduled from OTL 22 with an additional show added.

Following the release of his critically acclaimed album, Heartbreaker PleaseTeddy Thompson kicks off a UK tour with a special concert in the Black Box as part of this year’s Out to Lunch.

Recorded in Brooklyn and written and produced by Teddy, Heartbreaker Please sees the critically acclaimed artist at the top of his craft, serving up the medicine of resignation with sweet, catchy satisfaction. “Here’s the thing,” Teddy sings frankly on his new album, “you don’t love me anymore. I can tell you’ve got one foot out the door.” From its opening track, Thompson’s new album reckons with the breakdown of love with a wistful levity as satisfying as it is devastatingly honest.

From a young age, Sam Cooke, Hank Williams, Chuck Berry, and the Everly Brothers made up the bulk of his listening and you can hear that ache in his voice. After releasing his self-titled debut in 2000, Teddy went on tour as part of Roseanne Cash’s band.

Since then he’s released five acclaimed albums, collaborated with good friends Martha and Rufus Wainwright, contributed to numerous tribute projects, and produced albums for Americana singer-songwriter Dori Freeman, Shelby Lynne, Allison Moorer and his mother, Linda Thompson.

Doors 30 mins before the show | Unreserved seating

Malojian: Journey Through the Past – An Afternoon of Neil Young Songs

Rescheduled from OTL ’22

NI troubadour Malojian and Out to Lunch invite you to a very special afternoon show celebrating the music of the iconic singer songwriter Neil Young.

The show features songs from the huge Neil repertoire, with a focus on the early 1970s including songs from the albums Harvest and After the Gold Rush.

Malojian whose own music has been heavily influenced by Neil Young and his band will present their beautiful interpretations of his songs in an afternoon you soon won’t forget.

“There was a band playing in my head and I felt like getting high”

Door open 1.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Brigid O’Neill – ‘Intangible Heritage’ EP Launch

Rescheduled from OTL ’22

Described by Ralph McLean of BBC Radio Ulster as “A great songwriter with a voice that can break your heart at 30 paces” Brigid O’Neill from Co. Down is a genre-spanning songsmith whose evergreen music appeals to multiple generations.

The last few years have seen the critically acclaimed artist earn a formidable reputation as one of the most versatile, unique and fearless storytellers on the island. Her latest album Touchstone sees her effortlessly weave elements of folk, country and jazz into relatable tales of happiness, heartbreak and the human condition, with recently released singles Leaving and Prayers from her highly anticipated follow-up album, receiving great reviews.

Brigid has performed everywhere from the world-famous Bluebird Cafe in Nashville to the iconic Grand Opera House in Belfast, writing with Grammy award writers along the way. She is a recipient of numerous Arts Council and Music Industry awards and was long-listed for the Glastonbury Festival 2020 Emerging Talent Competition and Northern Ireland Music Prize 2021.

Some time ago she had the idea to write songs about special buildings in Belfast and commissioned by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, the project grew to include Derry and Armagh. Intangible Heritage a trilogy of songs from this very special project, recorded live at Sonic Visuals Studio, following an award and invitation from the British Council to perform at the online UK-China Festival of Contemporary Culture 2021.

It includes Sisters Born Here inspired by the historically significant Armagh Gaol, Belfast Angel about the Art Deco Bank in Belfast and Window Seat about Austins Dept Store in Derry.

An immensely gifted storyteller. Very special indeed’ – HOTPRESS

Brigid O’Neill has voice like a clear cut diamond’ –  BRITISH COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL

Supremely confident both musically and lyrically’ – GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL

Really beautiful’ – FIACHNA Ó BRAONAIN RTE RADIO 1

Doors 1.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Comfort and Joy

This is one of our very favourite films from Bill Forsyth – one of our very favourite directors.

After his girlfriend walks out on him, Glasgow DJ Alan “Dicky” Bird witnesses an ice cream van being attacked and destroyed by an angry competitor. He becomes embroiled in the struggle between two Italian families, the Bernardis and the Rossis, over the carve up of ice cream distribution in the city.

Featuring an incredible cast including Bill Patterson, Alex Norton and Clare Grogan, Comfort and Joy is a darkly funny treat.

We’re thrilled that CLARE GROGAN will also be nipping over from sound-checking with Altered Images to talk about her experience working on this minor classic.

Supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from National Lottery.

Seacht Líne

Seacht Líne is a post-trad band based in Belfast and London, formed by brothers Joshua and Connor Burnside.

It is an instrumental musical project born during the coronavirus lockdown, with an emphasis on family, home and nostalgia.

The first-ever live show for the ‘post-Trad’ instrumental musical project that was formed during lockdown by brothers Joshua and Connor Burnside.

With one based in Belfast, one living in London, they used technology to record the EP ‘Hawk on the Cliff’ at a distance. The music is heavily rooted in the themes of family, home and nostalgia.

https://www.theduncairn.com/events/seacht-line

Bróna McVittie

Pioneering her own brand of cosmic folk, County Down native Bróna McVittie both deftly reimagines traditional folk and crafts her own nature-inspired songs with a rich mix of folk and electronic instruments.

Her debut solo album We Are the Wildlife, released in 2018, earned her a string of four star reviews from MOJOUncutThe Guardian and The Independent and garnered high praise from critics including Nigel Williamson and the late Andy Gill.

The album’s single Under the Pines was featured in Lauren Laverne’s best-of-2018 list. And before her Womad appearance in 2019 Bróna was interviewed live by Cerys Matthews on her BBC 6 Music festival highlights show.

Her second album The Man in the Mountain, released in 2020 made Folk Album of the Month in The Guardian. Later that year Jude Rogers ranked it 4th in her 10 Best Folk Albums of 2020.

The Man in the Mountain features notable collaborations with avant-garde Nordic composer Arve Henriksen and electronica trailblazers Isan. The title track, inspired by the local legends and lore of Bróna’s homeland, tells a tale of a battle between Irish and Scottish giants.

Her desire to steer traditional folk into the 21st century is borne out of her immersion in the London Irish music scene (for many years she was lead singer for 6-piece trad outfit The London Lasses) and her longtime love of electronica. Her own songwriting is harnessed in a deep reflection on the natural world.

Bróna recently performed with her trio at Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Dublin City Hall, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, London’s Kings Place, Celtic Connections Festival, TradFest and Womad. She returns to the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival with an exclusive preview of the new single from her forthcoming third album.

She is supported by The National Lottery and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

‘McVittie’s voice is clear, hypnotic and uncannily timeless, floating between Broadcast’s Trish Keenan and Clannad’s Moya Brennan.’★★★★ MOJO

‘Every note of sweetness to McVittie’s voice has a bite behind it too, showing you the stuff under the skin.’★★★★  THE GUARDIAN

‘A rare, and rarefied beauty’★★★★ THE INDEPENDENT

‘Simply gorgeous’★★★★ UNCUT

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Soul II Soul – Club Classics

Soul II Soul – Club Classics
(DJ support from Superfly Funk and Soul, Belfast)

Following the success of their shows in 2018, iconic British band Soul II Soul will take their acclaimed Club Classics tour back on the road in 2022, paying tribute to their legendary debut album, Club Classics Vol 1.

With huge hits including ‘Keep On Movin’ (which sold over a million copies in the US alone) and the UK number one single ‘Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)’Soul II Soulprogressed from being one of the leaders of the 1980’s warehouse scene to pioneering British black music around the world, and securing commercial success for themselves and the huge amount of artists they have influenced.

During the course of their stellar career the band have sold over 10 million albums worldwide and main man Jazzie B was awarded an OBE for services to music in 2008, as well as winning an Ivor Novello Award for Inspiration, as “the man who gave British black music a soul of its own”.

Mostly Standing | Doors 7.30pm

 

Lucy Porter: Be Prepared

TV favourite Lucy returns with another fantastic stand-up show.

At Brownies, Lucy thought she’d be prepared for anything as long as she had her emergency 10p for a phone box and knew how to tie a Fisherman’s knot.

Life turned out to be slightly more complicated than Brown Owl let on.

Recent TV includes Would I Lie to You, QI and Impossible, she’s a regular on Radio 4’s News Quiz and The Now Show.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Altered Images

The summer Clare Grogan left school her band Altered Images were signed to Sony Records and Clare appeared in the BAFTA winning comedy Gregory’s Girl directed by Bill Forsyth.

Altered Images quickly had worldwide success, selling millions of records and topping the charts in numerous countries. They recorded 3 Top 10 Albums and had 6 UK TOP 40 hits and were voted BEST NEW GROUP at the NME awards.

The band worked closely with Scottish painter David Band creating original pieces of art work that were released as special edition prints alongside the singles.

Clare Grogan recently received a Special Recognition Award at the Scottish Music Awards and has had roles in some of the UK’s best loved TV shows including Skins – which she also wrote songs for, Waterloo Road, Eastenders, Red Dwarf, Father Ted, Taggart and Forgiven.

Clare’s film credits include Gregory’s Girl, Comfort and Joy, Smallest Game in Town, Loyal, Emo and BAFTA winning drama The Wee Man. She has presented for 6Music and BBC RADIO SCOTLAND. Her debut novel Tallulah and the Teen Stars reached No 2 in the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Chart. Clare has been on tour for the first time in 13 years – she enjoyed misbehaving in between singing.

Nosferatu – Live Soundtracked by Jozef Van Wissem (Only Lovers Left Alive)

The esteemed lutist Jozef Van Wissem will be live soundtracking FW Murnau’s iconic Nosferatu at St Patrick’s Parish Church. Presented by Live Free Tourbooking.

Jozef Van Wissem is possibly the best know lute player in the western world. To get into his world is to surrender to the inevitability – and timelessness – of a strange music created at its own pace, in a manner wholly of its creator’s making.

He sets the listener into a private world, looking out through a glass darkly, such is the intense quality of the music. Brevity, simplicity, directness is the key.

Van Wissem moved to New York in 1993 and studied lute with Pat O’Brien. In 2013 he won the Cannes Soundtrack Award for best score at the Cannes Film Festival for Only Lovers Left Alive. He also composed the soundtrack for the Sims Medieval video game.

Moreover, Van Wissem has released three records with the film director Jim Jarmusch (whose filmography includes Gimme Danger, Only Lovers Left Alive, Down By Law, Night On Earth and many documentaries).

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating 

Supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from National
Lottery.

The Tangerine Readings

‘I peel and portion / A tangerine and spit the pips and feel / The drunkenness of things being various…’

Join The Tangerine for an evening of prose and poetry from contributors past and present! The Tangerine is a Belfast-based magazine of new writing, published in print three times a year and featuring fiction, non-fiction, poetry, photography and illustration.

The magazine was started in 2016, with the mission of publishing some of the best new writing from Belfast and beyond, and in the years since has given a platform to hundreds of writers. Come along to this event as part of Cathedral Quarter Art to hear readings from contributors, introduced by the Tangerine team.

Aja – The Music of Steely Dan

Rescheduled from OTL ’22

Aja, taken from the classic and iconic Dan album, is an 8 piece musical powerhouse of a band whose members have over 40 years experience in the business.

They replicate in incredible detail the original recordings of the legendary Steely Dan.  Aja have been performing these classic songs for over 13 years and have grown accustomed to packed houses of music lovers of all ages and genres.  

Original guitar, brass, keyboard solos and vocal harmonies are as true as can be to the original album recordings.  Their 2-hour set generally consists of the entire Aja album in the first half and is a sight and sound to behold.

Aja are Gerard Farrelly – Keyboards, Alan Cunningham – Drums and Percussion, Colm Lindsey – Guitars, Mark Wilde – Saxes, Serge Stavilla – Saxes, Tommy Moore – Base and Vocals, Sinead Stone – Vocals, John Graham – Lead Vocals.

Doors 1.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Hollie McNish: Slug Tour

Rescheduled from OTL ’22

Ted Hughes Award winner Hollie McNish is a poet whose live readings are not to be missed. Expect strong language and adult content ribbon wrapped in poetry and chat as Hollie reads from her new collection: Slug…and other things I’ve been told to hate.

Hollie is a writer based between Cambridge and Glasgow. She has published four poetry collections Papers, Cherry Pie, Plum, Slug, one play Offside and one poetic memoir Nobody Told Me, of which the Scotsman suggested “The world needs this book”. She was the first poet to record at Abbey Road Studios.

Her poems have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Polish and Japanese and she has performed them worldwide alongside the likes of Irvine Welsh, Kae Tempest, Jackie Kay, Helen Pankhurst and Young Fathers. Her new title – Slug: and other things I’ve been told to hate – is published in May 2021 with Fleet, Hachette, available now to pre-order.

As well as live readings, Hollie is a big fan of online accessibility – her poetry videos have attracted millions of viewings worldwide.

About Slug…

From Finnish mermaids and soppy otters to Kellogg’s anti-masturbation pants, Slug is a book that holds a mirror up to the world, past and present, through Hollie’s driving, funny and beautiful words. A blend of poetry, memoir and short story, Slug is an absolutely joyful read about the human condition: from birth to death and her attempt to manage the tangle in-between.

‘She writes with honesty, conviction, humour and love. She points out the absurdities we’ve grown too used to and lets us see the world with fresh eyes’
Kae Tempest

Doors 1.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Wattstax (Screening)

The legendary ‘black Woodstock’ finally gets its due when a newly restored and digitally remixed Wattstax,Mel Stuart’sdocumentary of the epochal 1972 concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, receives its first-ever cinema screening in Belfast.

Featuring incendiary performances byIsaac Hayes, Albert King, Rufus and Carla Thomas, the Staple Singers, the Emotions, the Bar-Kays, and other greats of soul, R&B, and gospel – plus biting humour from a then little-knownRichard Pryor— Wattstax is more than just a concert film.

It also captures a heady moment in mid-1970s, “black-is-beautiful” African-American culture, when Los Angeles’s black community came together just seven years after the Watts riots to celebrate its survival and a renewed hope in its future.

Doors 2.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Tré Burt

Sacramento songwriter Tré Burt’s sophomore album, You, Yeah, You, is a narrated collection of songs featuring a cast of invented characters; heroes, villains, those destitute of salvation and those seeking it.

This is Burt’s second release on Oh Boy Records, the label founded by the late John Prine who signed the songwriter in the fall of 2019. On You, Yeah, You, Burt teamed up with Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee, Nathaniel Rateliff) to create the album that reads like twelve rounds in a ring, summoning the will to fight the unknown rather than surrender to fear and fatigue. 

You, Yeah, You is a cohesive body of work that clearly illustrates the ever expanding space in which Tré Burt’s voice belongs.

‘Offers a masterclass in storytelling- based songwriting’ – NO DEPRESSION

‘You, Yeah, You, casts a knowing eye on the often jagged shards of human brokenness and looks askance at the ways we too often skate along the thin veneer of caring that masks our lack of regard for others’ – FOLK ALLEY 

‘Burt is a voice unlike any other you’ve heard’ – LYRIC MAGAZINE

‘Tre Burt blazes his own troubadour path; a powerful and moving debut from a singer poised to become a folk festival mainstay for years to come’ – ROLLING STONE 

Doors 2.30pm | Unreserved seating 

Bonnie Greer In Conversation

Bonnie Greer will talk to Kim Lenaghan about her work in the arts, her literary career and read an excerpt from her new book, a work in progress.

Bonnie Greer, OBE, is an American-British playwright, novelist and critic. She grew up on the South Side of Chicago, the eldest of seven children born to Ben – a Mississippi sharecropper, Chicago factory worker and D-Day veteran – and Willie Mae, who went to work at fifteen to support her family. Although she began writing plays at the age of nine, Bonnie initially set out on a legal career, the career of choice for a black girl coming of age in the Civil Rights movement. She decided to return to writing instead of pursuing the law and went on to study playwriting in Chicago under David Mamet and at the Actors Studio in New York with Elia Kazan.

Bonnie Greer has penned numerous books and novels including a biography of writer and social activist Langston Hughes, and explorations of the lives of influential people in the arts, such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Marilyn Monroe and Ella Fitzgerald. She is a columnist for The New European newspaper. Her latest piece on how the writings of Giovanni Boccaccio can help us survive this pandemic is published in The Independent.

Bonnie has been a regular contributor to BBC2’s ‘Newsnight Review’ and ‘Question Time’. She was a panel member on the show that also featured Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party. Commenting after the recording she called it ‘probably the weirdest and most creepy experience of my life’. The encounter formed the basis for her libretto for Errollyn Wallen’s opera, Yes (2011), commissioned by the Royal Opera House, Linbury Theatre. Her plays have been produced on BBC Radio 3 & 4; BBC 2; and in the West End.

She has won the Verity Bargate Award for best New Play and has been shortlisted for the John Whiting Award.

In 2010 Bonnie was named by the Observer as one of the 300 Public Intellectuals in the UK – the only female playwright – and was also awarded an OBE or services to the Arts.  She has been on the Board of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Deputy Chair of the British Museum where she is currently in partnership with the Director, Hartwig Fischer in a project called “The Era Of Reclamation”.  She has served on the boards of RADA, London Film School and Theatre Royal, Stratford East.  She will read an excerpt  from her novel-in-progress: “The Acrobat’s Assistant- A Tale Of The Middle Passage.”

Doors 7.15pm | Unreserved Seating

Roy Walker with Phil Walker – Say What You See

An evening filled with comedy and life stories. The King of Deadpan and longtime supporter of CQAF, Roy Walker joins his jovial son Phil Walker for an evening filled with comedy and life stories.

Roy Walker, well known to TV viewers through the ITV game show, CATCHPHRASE, has emerged as one of the driest comedians in Britain today.

Since winning City Life Comedian Of the Year, Phil Walker’s career has taken him to some weird and wonderful places: from a scout hut on the Shetland Isles to a porta-cabin on Mount Alice in the Falklands.

In this very special night Roy and Phil join forces for memories, stories and lots of laughs.

Doors Open: 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Roddy Woomble

Rescheduled from ‘OTL 22

Roddy Woomble is widely regarded as one of Scotland’s finest songwriters. Known for his enigmatic lyrics, warm baritone voice and consummate gift for a tune, Roddy has released five solo albums to date and his first poetry collection Instrumentals was released in 2016.

For the past two decades Roddy has also been the frontman of much-loved Scottish alternative rock band Idlewild, releasing eight studio albums, and touring worldwide as a headline act, but also in support to R.E.M., Pearl Jam and U2 amongst others.

During lockdown, Roddy wrote and recorded a new solo album Lo! Soul to be released on May 21st.

Roddy explains: “I’m a collaborative songwriter, used to working in a room with one or more people, or a band, and I think my songs benefit from that human connection and response. With lockdown last year my initial reaction was not to work on songs. It offered a pause for us all, and like many others I found myself alone and reflecting. Concentrating on reading and writing. Considering maybe working on a book of poems instead. But eventually musical ideas started forming, and six months later ‘Lo! Soul’ was finished – recorded entirely remotely between my home, and the homes of my collaborators Andrew Mitchell and Danny Grant. It’s the most unusual sounding record I’ve made, and made in the most unusual circumstances’

Join us for this intimate, special show by one of our favourite songwriters on January 20.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Dr John Cooper Clarke – The I Wanna Be Yours Tour

John Cooper Clarke shot to prominence in the 1970s as the original ‘people’s poet’.

His unique poetry writing and rapidfire delivery style was recorded and put to music by legendary producerMartin Hannett and a band of Mancunian superstars, such as Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley and The Durutti Column’s Vinnie Reilly.

Seminal tracks such as Beasley Stand Evidently Chickentown featured on the acclaimed Snap Crackle and Bop, one of 4 original album releases on Sony Records in the late 70s and early 80s. They established John as one of the most prolific artistes of the Punk years.

His poetry collection 10 Years in An Open Necked Shirt came out in the early 80s on Penguin, featuring the lyrics to his albums and more original material. It is one of the biggest selling poetry books in the UK.

Since then his career has spanned cultures, audiences, art forms and continents. These days he performs purely as a stand up solo poet. His unique poetry show has been running in theatres worldwide for over 12 years.

John’s latest poetry collection The Luckiest Guy Alive was released worldwide in 2018 via Picador/Macmillan. Featuring over 30 poems, it includes many of his adoring public’s favourites such as; I’ve Fallen In Love With My WifeBeasley Boulevard and Get Back on Drugs you Fat F*ck.

Today, JCC is as relevant and vibrant as ever and his influence just as visible on today’s pop culture. Aside from his trademark ‘look’ continuing to resonate with fashionistas young and old, his poetry is included on national curriculum syllabus and his effect on modern music is huge.

His influence can be heard within the keen social observations of the Arctic Monkeys and Plan B amongst many others. John has been involved in two recent global number one albums. The Arctic Monkeys putting one of John’s best loved poems, I Wanna Be Yours, to music on their best selling album A:M. JCC’s collaboration with Plan BIll Manors spawned a best-selling soundtrack album and a hard hitting movie.

His latest live show, is a mix of classic verse, extraordinary new material, hilarious ponderings on modern life, good honest gags, riffs and chat – a chance to witness a living legend at the top of this game.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Charlie Parr

Charlie Parr is an incorruptible outsider who writes novelistic, multi-layered stories that shine a kaleidoscopic light on defiant, unseen characters thriving in the shadows all around us. He hasn’t moved to LA or Nashville; he’s stayed in the cold grey north of Minnesota, because that’s his home.

Over the course of a prolific career spanning 13 full-length albums, the Duluth virtuoso has earned a passionate following for his strikingly candid songwriting and raw stage presence.

Born and raised in Austin, Minnesota, Charlie Parr first grabbed a guitar at age 8. To date, he has never had a formal lesson, but wows crowds with his incredible fingerpicking on his 12 string baritone resonator, guitar and banjo.

Early in his career, Parr was employed by the Salvation Army as an outreach worker. He spent his days tracking the homeless in Minneapolis, providing blankets and resources. But they offered him something greater in return. The experience completely rewired him and left him with a newfound respect for human resilience. And along the way, he collected stories from the folks he would meet. These characters continue to show up in Parr’s songs even today.

Parr’s work digs deeply into his personal experiences with depression and the existential questions that weight it. “Parr is a master storyteller,” said PopMatters. “One can’t help but come back and marvel at his ability to make us believe that we know each of [his] characters or that, maybe, there’s some part of them in each of us.”

Charlie Parr’s new album, Last of The Better Days Ahead, is a collection of powerful songs about how one looks back on a life lived, as well as forward on what’s still to come.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

The Lifeboat Press and Bad Betty Press

Join The Lifeboat Press and Bad Betty Press for an evening of poetry, featuring Antonia Jade King, Susannah Dickey and Joel Auterson. 

The Lifeboat Press are a Belfast based independent publisher, run by Stephen Connolly and Manuela Moser. 

Bad Betty are an independent publisher of new poetry, born in 2017 and run by Amy Acre and Jake Wild Hall. We love writing that is bad (meaning good) and beautiful (‘a Betty’ in 90s slang). We love the strange, raw and risk-taking. We believe strongly in art’s capacity to challenge its own definition, to curve away from the norm, making space for more and varied voices. We’re proud to be supported by Arts Council England.

Antonia Jade King is one of the hosts of Boomerang Club, and a previous Hammer & Tongue finalist. She has featured at Poetry and Shaah and Heaux Noire and was part of Apples and Snakes Writing Room programme in 2018. She has performed at numerous events including Love Supreme festival and Rallying Cry at Battersea Arts Centre. She is currently a Barbican Young Poet and her debut pamphlet ‘She Too Is a Sailor‘ is out with Bad Betty Press.

Susannah Dickey grew up in Derry and now lives in Belfast. She is the author of three poetry pamphlets, I had some very slight concerns (2017), genuine human values (2018) and bloodthirsty for marriage (2020). Her poetry has been published in AmbitThe White ReviewPoetry Ireland Review and Magma, amongst others. In 2017 she was the winner of the inaugural Verve Poetry Festival competition, and in 2018 she was shortlisted for The White Review short story prize. She is an Eric Gregory Award winner, a prize granted for a collection by poets under the age of 30.
Joel Auterson, author of Unremember (2017), is a Northern Irish poet and game developer, a former Barbican Young Poet and host of spoken word night, Boomerang.

Bbeyond – New Commission Artists 2021/22

Bbeyond’s New Commission Artists 2021/22 Niamh Seana Meehan and Nina Oltarzewska will be performing as part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival on Thursday the 5th of May at the Flax Art Studio building, High Street.

Niamh Seana Meehan – 9am – 5pm. and Nina Oltarzewska – 7pm

Nina Oltarzewska
Nina Oltarzewska is a French artist born in 1998 and based in Belfast. Oltarzewska works with sound, video and performance as well as sculpture and installation. She grew up in France and moved to Belfast in 2017 to start a Foundation year in Art and Design at the Belfast School of Art. In July 2021 Oltarzewska completed her BA(Hons) Fine Art at the Belfast School of Art. She has since received five graduate awards from the following institutions: Bbeyond, Platform Arts, Pollen, the University of Atypical and PS2. She will be commencing a Fine Art Masters at the Chelsea School of Art and Design (UAL) in September 2022.

Niamh Seana Meehan
Niamh Seana Meehan is a visual artist based in Northern Ireland.

‘I work in-between visual art, writing and performance. A central theme within my practice is the slippages involved within the translation of thought to text. Textual projects I create often want to jump off the page and form rhythms, movements, or patterns for repetition. These qualities become catalysts for discussion and by implementing performative methods it enables them to anticipate their narrative. Will they be a performance, an audio work, a sculpture or remain textual? On-going interests within my practice include ambiguity, nothingness, doubts, and failure.’

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The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and Out To Lunch are annual festivals of music, comedy, theatre, art and literature which take place in January and May in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

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Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival / Out To Lunch Arts Festival
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