Stars in the making play their hearts out to Dingle audiences

MAIN Street Dingle was lined with trucks, vans and taxis from early on Monday morning as the cast, crew and participants in Other Voices decamped from the town.

Music industry professionals as well as local hired hands stacked and dispatched the seemingly never ending tons of equipment that were hired in for the weekend. Music filled the town, pubs, hotels and restaurants hosted musicians with names most of the residents had never heard of, but as has happened in the past with acts such as Hozier they were here before they became household names.

Dingle businesses adapted and catered to the influx of mostly 20 to 40 year olds, restaurants moving onto the street as take-away food was most suited to the energetic youth, packing in as much of the music trail as they could. On Saturday evening the jam packed Fish box saw ‘The Prince’(Cú na Mara skipper Michael Flannery) in a rush to replenish the fish stocks. Judging by the bins on the side of the street the favourite daytime drink was coffee, with Bean in Dingle coffee shop reportedly taking orders for collection up to 20 minutes later.

With some exceptions the musicians played one- hour sets, stars in the making with a shared passion for making music and performing. The genres stretched from traditional music to house with a touch of blues in the mix.

Other Voices is a weekend fuelled and formed by the vision of Philip King and Nuala O’Connor, both have dedicated their lives to breathing new life into the presentation and role of Irish culture within the wider world. They have attracted influential people and international corporations to this view and they continue to gather a following for what they do.

At the Ireland’s Edge conference run as part of other Voices, the appointment of Philip King as Adjunct Professor by Dublin City University’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences was warmly received, echoing the respect in which he is held.

On Monday morning, his daughters Molly and Juno stood outside Benner’s saying goodbye to the stars and the crews, the next generation of the King-O’Connor family ready to pick up the reins.

Photos by Declan Malone Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne Transition Year students Ava Williams, Sarah Guithín, Aimee Rose Casanove, and Leah Getkate in An Díseart where they were helping out as roadies at an Other Voices concert on Saturday. LEFT: Brendan and Nancy Falvey from Annascaul outside Benner’s Hotel after attending the Other Voices concerts in St James’s Church on Saturday night with tickets they won in a Kerryman competition. Silva Bates with a cuttlefish that was soon to be dissected at the Clean Coasts workshop held in Mara Beo while Ava Sheehy (right) was making Christmas lanterns from jam jars and marine litter

Dr Billy MagFhloinn getting a mini ‘pagan rave’ started in the Skellig Hotel during the Ireland’s Edge Conference that was held as part of Other Voices.

Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich with German Ambassador to Ireland Deike Potzel at the Ireland’s Edge Conference.