SOUND OF BELFAST 2018 Programme Announced – Belfast’s festival dedicated to local music, November 8-15

SOUND OF BELFAST 2018 Programme Announced - Belfast’s festival dedicated to local music, November 8-15

The Oh Yeah Music Centre is pleased to announce the Sound of Belfast programme for 2018. The weeklong series of events takes place 8th – 15th November and aims to embrace, promote and celebrate the sounds and the efforts of the musicians of the city and provide audiences with a snapshot of what is on offer all year round.

The festival includes a mix of live gigs and talks, awards, conferences and music industry panels and workshops, as well youth, family, community and collaborative events. There are over 70locally based acts in the programme and events take place across nine venues including Limelight 2, The Empire, The Sunflower Bar, Voodoo, Black Box, Accidental Theatre, Ulster Hall, and 39 Gordon Street.

The week begins with an evening at Oh Yeah to honour the late Jazz and Blues musician Jackie Flavelle. The evening is curated by his daughter Lisa and will include a posthumous Oh Yeah Legend Award presentation led by Stuart Bailie. There will be music and performances from top artists including Ciaran Lavery, Matt McGinn, Ronnie Greer and John McCollough, Linley Hamilton, Lewis Smith, Suzanne Savage, John Wilson, Sam Davidson (Taste), Billy Boy Miskimmon, Reverend Doc, Chris Taplin and Jackie’s grandson Ben Flavelle-Cobain. Proceeds will go to Help Musicians NI, the charity that supported Jackie before he sadly passed away in September 2017.

Other events across the week include Rude Health, a fundraiser for mental health charity AWARENI. The event will feature performances from some of our finest acts from across a variety of genres including Catalan, Hot Cops, Malojian, Susie Blue and many more. There will be a Belfast tribute to the late Scott Hutchinson of Frightened Rabbit, with proceeds towards funding the delivery of the AWARENI Mental Health First Aid training programme. The Native Music Mart returns, Outburst Queer Arts Festival will host a special youth takeover at the Black Box and Shizznigh Promotions will host events at 39 Gordon Street and The Empire including a special GIFTED album launch with The Crawling. There is a special event with Billy Harrison of Them and the Oh Yeah youth project Volume Control, Clash of The New Breeds will showcase the future sounds of the city. The NI Music Prize will take place at the Ulster Hall and features performances from Hannah Peel, Ciaran Lavery, ROE, Ryan Vail, The Wood Burning Savages and Brand New Friend. There is also the annual Music Cities discussion and Brexit is still very much on the agenda along with panels and workshops with leading music industry experts.

Charlotte Dryden, of Oh Yeah, says, “There is a lot of great work being done in Belfast across the year by musicians, creators, venues, promoters, and dedicated music fans. The sound of Belfast is about celebrating that. The programme is packed full of great events, and this year we felt it was important to try and highlight and support the work that is being done for mental health and wellbeing, an issue that affects many musicians. There will be events to support the work of AWARENI and Help Musicians NI and it is with thanks to our dedicated and committed music community that we are able to do this. We are also honoured to be able to pay tribute to and add Jackie Flavelle to the Oh Yeah Legend series this year. Overall the Sound of Belfast festival is a celebration of all that is great about our music community. We strongly encourage people to come out and support these events, and beyond the festival and across the year.”

For more info and the full programme, details go to www.soundofbelfast.com

Supporters, partners and funders include Belfast City Council, The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, British Council, Invest NI, Belfast Harbour, PPL, PRS for Music, PRS Foundation, Help Musicians NI, UK Music, Musicians’ Union, Shizznigh Promotions and The Thin Air.

www.soundofbelfast.com

All tickets from Oh Yeah Eventbrite.

 

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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