MUSIC IN THE AIR
Why this annual festival will be raising the rooftops
IT’S an annual event that we’re now very much used to enjoying round Dublin’s various venues. But like everything else, this year’s Music Town festival won’t be allowing us to meander through Dublin’s various streets and unusual venues with tunes ringing in our ears.
The diversity on offer from the Music Town calendar makes it something quite special and, as you might expect from such a creative and collaborative event, the pandemic has not killed the passion to bring audiences some wonderful aural treats.
This year Music Town is going fully online to celebrate community, durability, and adaptability, with performers being asked to present their work in imaginative ways to engage audiences, beating that Zoom doom.
And the result is ten days of interesting and exciting programming running from April 15 to 25 via musictown.ie.
Festival Director Leagues O’Toole says the creativity from artists involved has been inspiring.
‘Across this programme we see artists performing in historic buildings, libraries, churches, galleries but also performances on rooftops, virtually projected onto buildings, or from their own homes, and some cases collaborating online from great distance. Their versatility and determination to keep performing is an inspiration.’
From an intimate performance from Cathy Davey - her first since 2019 - in the Pepper Cannister Church to a filmic collaboration between David Kitt, author Kevin Barry and video artist Claireban Coffey set in a fictional town in the west of Ireland, a musical experience from Brian Irvine, John McIlduff and members of the Totally Made-Up Orchestra via their Big Mistake music video installation, projected at multiple sites across the city, while you listen to accompanying audio online and much more, there is something for lovers of all music to enjoy. The majority of the events are free as well.
One of those performing is Faye O’Rourke, formerly of Little Green Cars and now of Soda Blonde who will be part of the Rooftop Lullabies series.
On April 25 at 8pm she’ll be among those singing a lullaby to the city of Dublin and her people before, during and after dusk. Reworked and reimagined versions of known and loved Irish classic songs, delivered from the rooftops of Dublin City will be performed by Faye, Brigid Mae Power and Monjola.
Well, sort of. For the tune Faye will be lulling us to dreamland with is actually one written by an Englishman - Ewan McColl’s Dirty Old Town to be precise. It’s fair to say Ireland has adopted it and it will be very interesting to see how Faye tackles it.
‘The nature of the gig is that it’s a very intimate reworking of classic Irish songs and the idea is a subdued theme of Dublin City at dusk and a lullaby seems fitting for one person to be singing,’ she says of her solo outing.
I’M actually singing a song written by an Englishman — Dirty Old Town. But I suppose it’s songs that we would have grown up with that you would know from the generation above.
‘And I have a bit of an affiliation with the Dubliners because I am apparently related to Luke Kelly. He is my granny’s cousin of some sort. I need to check that but she is always saying that to me and I don’t know if she’s making it up.’
Luke or not, there is no doubt the very talented Faye will put her own stamp on a song that’s been done by everyone from her distant cousin and the Dubliners to The Pogues.
‘It just seemed like something that was so far from a thing that I would normally do,’ she admits.
‘I wanted to do something completely different. We have been going down the alternative pop route lately so it was nice to do something that seemed like returning to your roots.’
Working on Soda Blonde’s debut
album which is due on July 9 has been a good distraction from all that’s going on in the outside world and the band have just released a new single Small Talk as a precursor to what will undoubtedly be an interesting and inventive long player.
The online performances for Music Town will be a little bit different as, like many artists, Faye also understands how bored people are getting of live streams.
‘For us, it has been about making something that is visually stimulating as without the audience it’s not really the same thing, so you want to give the audience a different experience.’
So it has been a challenging but still a creatively stimulating time.
‘It has been a time for harnessing certain skills to make the best of the limitations,’ Faye agrees. ‘I can’t remember the last time I performed in front of people so I think when that day comes it will be a big shock to the system.’
Until that time we can content ourselves with online performances and Faye’s unique voice will no doubt do something special for Music Town to help us through these next few months.
‘What’s beautiful about this project is that it is embracing the time we are in, the empty streets, the dusk, the storm before the dawn and it will be a poignant thing to look back on in a couple of years, artists performing above an empty city,’ Faye says.
For details on all the events see musictown.ie