The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Weekend packed with musical delights at Other Voices in Dingle
WITH 66 bands performing 132 gigs on a music trail that crisscrossed Dingle and extended into the West, Other Voices this year became the music festival it was never intended to be.
It wasn’t intended because 15 years ago Other Voices started out simply as a music TV series, recording rising stars in the intimate setting of St James’s Church. But tickets for the gigs in the church were (and are) extremely limited so, in order not to see people going home disappointed, Other Voices founder Philip King and his co-conspirators organised what was then cutting edge technology to have the church sessions streamed live to a selection of local pubs. To provide a platform for emerging musicians who didn’t make the cut for the Other Voices recordings in St James’s, they also introduced the ‘Other Room’ recordings that were filmed in pubs, around firesides and in people’s living rooms in Dingle and across the peninsula.
Still there was a demand and an appetite for more, so over the years more gigs were added in whatever venues could be pressed into service. This year the growth of what was originally a sideline to the central business of Other Voices blossomed into a festival in its own right and locals, along with the 5,000 or so music lovers who travelled to Dingle for the weekend, were hugely impressed.
And well they might – over the three days of the music trail, organised by Martin Byrne, the biggest problem was packing in as many musical experiences as time allowed and getting a toe inside the door before the familiar ‘gig full’ signs went up.
All of this came at a cost of precisely nothing to the gig-going public. It didn’t cost a cent to attend the music trail gigs, a fact which surprised many and, quite frankly, astounded those who paused to consider the massive logistics of putting the entire show on the road.
Aside from the music trail, the great attraction of the weekend was the opportunity to see a first cut of the sessions in St James’s, which were streamed live to 10 local pubs. The involvement this year of eir as festival sponsors saw the video streaming technology reach a new high and those enjoying the sessions with the comfort of a pint in hand had all the atmosphere of the real thing. As always Benner’s Hotel was the prime location and the scene of the double cheer phenomenon – a kind of echo that occurs on Main Street around the time of Other Voices. It happens when musicians leave the stage to great applause in St James’s and cross to street to Benner’s where they are greeted with another round of cheering and back-slapping as they squeeze through the crowded bar.
Meanwhile, the IMRO Other Room recordings were ‘shining a light on fresh, exciting music’, in An Chonair bar. Again, it was free – all you had to do was get there before the house was full.
Other Voices made time for talk as well – at the Banter Sessions in Foxy John’s pub on Saturday and Sunday afternoons where guests waxed lyrical topics ranging from business and politics to food and fashion. And there was ‘Waxing Lyrical’ of another kind at an exhibition of artworks celebrating the era of vinyl records.
Running alongside all that there was the Ireland’s Edge Conference held in the Skellig Hotel on Friday and Saturday. A fully-fledged event in its own right, the conference explores the potential for artists and the arts to inject vital creativity into the science, technology, maths and engineering sector, giving Ireland a competitive edge in the global market.
Speakers and listeners at the conference included representatives of the foreign direct investment sector, government departments, senior civil servants, artists and representatives of the broad area of arts and culture. Together they engaged in what Philip King described as an ‘integrated conversation’ about what could be possible if we work together.
Closing the conference and summing up much of its purpose, Philip said: “We have a great resource of imagination in this country. It informs the resource we call culture. If we invest in culture in a strategic way we can create a better future for Ireland.”