Gruff Rhys, The Breath, Brìghde Chaimbeul, Mount Alaska, and Dublin Gospel Choir & Guests events all added to the jam-packed five-day St. Patrick’s Festival 2020 calendar.
St. Patrick’s Festival Dublin 2020 has announced another score of live music events from leading Irish and international contemporary and traditional artists and performers. The St. Patrick’s Festival 2020 program will offer hundreds of events throughout Dublin from March 13-17.
Added to the Festival program is Welsh music titan and Super Furry Animals’ frontman Gruff Rhys and a very special Irish guest yet to be announced, who will perform at Christchurch Cathedral on Friday, March 13.
The following night, Saturday, March 14, BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners, Northern Irish-English alt-folk duo, The Breath, bring their unique and compelling sound to the Pepper Canister Church, along with Scottish piper and Guardian Folk Album of the Month winner Brìghde Chaimbeul with fiddle player Aidan O’Rourke.
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These two concerts form SEODA - A Celtic Collaboration: Ireland, Wales, and Scotland and are presented in partnership with the Welsh and Scottish Governments in Ireland. SEODA highlights and strengthens the deep-rooted Celtic traditions that Ireland shares with its closest neighbors.
Dublin duo Stephen Shannon and Cillian Mc Donnell, aka Mount Alaska, bring their euphoric, electronic sounds to the Pepper Canister Church on Sunday, March 15, while the ever-impressive Dublin Gospel Choir will raise the rafters at the Pepper Canister on Monday, March 16 and Tuesday, March 17, with very special guests to be announced for both evenings.
In December gigs from Annie Mac, Kojaque, Soulé, Lisa Hannigan, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Jessy Lanza, and This Is How We Fly with Iarla Ó Lionáird were among first acts announced for the St. Patrick’s Festival 2020. You can read more about those gigs here.
A host of festival events and collaborations will be announced over the next three months, with details of the St Patrick’s Festival Parade coming later this month. Special Parade Grandstand Seating and Lunch Packages offering tiered seating along the Parade route and post Parade lunch at The Westin Hotel, Dublin are on sale now at the St. Patrick’s Festival website, with many Grandstands already sold out. A full program announcement is due in February and will include the return of the Festival Village and the World Food Village at Merrion Square.
For tickets and information see www.stpatricksfestival.ie and follow #SPF2020 #StPatricksFestival, and #LoveDublin for more.
Here are more details on the latest shows announced:
SEODA – A Celtic Collaboration: Ireland, Wales and Scotland
Gruff Rhys & Special Guest
Friday 13 March, Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, €21 from stpatricksfestival.ie
Welsh musical giant Gruff Rhys, and a yet to be announced special guest, will explore the musical lands of Ireland and Wales among the stunning medieval surroundings of Christchurch Cathedral, celebrating the strong cultural links that bind our Celtic nations.
Gruff Rhys is best known as the frontman for Welsh psych-pop legends Super Furry Animals, a multifaceted songwriter with an ambitious and often eccentric approach to pop music. Over the course of his decades-long career, the Welsh musician revolutionized British indie music while incorporating his native language into contemporary music like no one else managed to.
His solo work includes an album inspired by his collection of miniature toiletries (2011’s Hotel Shampoo) and a multimedia project incorporating an album, book, film, and app about the life of Welsh explorer (and distant relative) John Evans. He has successfully strayed into electropop with side project Neon Neon and his solo record, 2018’s Babelsberg, a lush 1970s MOR-style affair that featured the National Orchestra of Wales. His latest album PANG! (2019) is a Welsh language album produced by South African artist Muzi.
In partnership with the Welsh Government in Ireland.
The Breath and Brìghde Chaimbeul
Saturday 14 March, Pepper Canister Church, Dublin, €18.50 from stpatricksfestival.ie
The beautiful surroundings of the Pepper Canister Church will play host to a special evening of contemporary folk and traditional music with our Scottish cousins as we celebrate the strong cultural links that bind our Celtic nations.
The Breath is Mancunian guitarist Stuart McCallum and Armagh born singer/flutist Ríoghnach Connolly. Their unique take on alt-folk journeys from lush, stirring ditties to uplifting, punch-the-air anthems. At its heart lies Ríoghnach’s utterly engaging, stop-you-in-your-tracks voice and extraordinary storytelling alongside Stuart’s understated brilliance and their exquisitely crafted, personal songs.
The Breath have released three albums to date on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label.
Accolades have been pouring in thick and fast for Scotland’s Brìghde Chaimbeul, the 20-year-old piper from Skye. Her debut album ‘The Reeling’ has elicited an extraordinary response and was named Folk Album of the Month by The Guardian who described it as ‘simultaneously ancient and modern, profound and direct’.
The native Gaelic speaker’s style is rooted in her indigenous language and culture but also draws inspiration from a variety of piping traditions from Ireland to Eastern Europe. Working closely with award-winning contemporary Scottish fiddle player Aidan O’Rourke, Brìghde has devised a completely new way of arranging for pipe music that emphasizes the rich textural drones of the small pipes; the constancy of sound that creates a trance-like quality in the tunes.
In partnership with the Scottish Government in Ireland.
Mount Alaska
Sunday 15 March, Pepper Canister Church, Dublin, €15 plus booking fee, from stpatricksfestival.ie
Mount Alaska is a music project from Dublin production duo Stephen Shannon and Cillian Mc Donnell. Seasoned stalwarts of the Irish music industry, the pair have released a string of critically acclaimed releases on their own independent label Language Recordings. They have performed at a number of festivals including All Together Now, Another Love Story, Metropolis and Forbidden Fruit. The pair then signed with 251 records to release their debut album in November 2019, Wave Atlas: Season One. The concept for Wave Atlas: Season One came from a desire to create a soundtrack for a TV show that doesn’t actually exist.
In association with Selective Memory.
Dublin Gospel Choir & Guests
Monday 16 & Tuesday 17 March 2020, Pepper Canister Church, Dublin, €20 plus booking fee from stpatricksfestival.ie
Dublin Gospel Choir will be joined by some very special guests to share their love of music and spread joy. Their versatile, passionate and vibrant performances uplift and energize with powerful voices and rich harmonies as a full 40-piece choir.
DGC have performed across Ireland and Europe, including music festivals – notably their now legendary annual performance at Electric Picnic. They have shared the stage with music industry heavyweights such as Rod Stewart, John Legend, Outkast, Take That, Damien Rice and Ennio Morricone to name but a few.
In association with Selective Memory.
For tickets and information see www.stpatricksfestival.ie and follow #SPF2020 #StPatricksFestival, and #LoveDublin for more.
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