Trad music will be sound of the city as Belfast TradFest adds more events to biggest ever festival programme

Belfast TradFest, Northern Ireland’s premier traditional music, song and dance festival, is back for its sixth year with an exhilarating week of concerts, masterclasses, sessions and summer school events from July 21 - 28. It will bring together some of the finest talents in the world of traditional arts.

70 free sessions in 17 pubs

The Dunville’s Irish Whiskey Session Trail features over 70 sessions in 17 of Belfast’s oldest and best-loved pubs, including Madden’s Bar, The Garrick, Kelly’s Cellars, The Deer’s Head, The John Hewitt, The Sunflower, The Duke of York, and Hatfield House and many more.

All sessions are free admission, run for two hours and are ‘Céilí House’ style Listening Sessions. For the first hour of each session, the master musicians set the scene before inviting the ‘room’ to join in.

This style of session reflects the céilí house traditions of the previous century, where aspiring musicians and listeners would gather at the home of a local master musician for an evening of entertainment.

Belfast TradFest is delighted to partner with Dunville’s Irish Whiskey to produce a bespoke bottling of only 300 bottles of Special Dunville’s 1808 Belfast TradFest 2024 Series Irish Whiskey at 46%, with a customised Belfast TradFest 2024 label and a ‘Bourbon & Virgin American Oak Cask Finish’. It is on sale online from July 21 at www.echlinville.com, available to sample at Session Trail bars and buy in person at Madden’s Bar, The Garrick Bar & Friend At Hand Irish Whiskey Shop, Hill Street, Belfast.

Full Festival Club line-up

For those looking to extend their festival experience into the night, the Festival Club at the The John Hewitt Bar & The Deer’s Head offers the perfect setting. Each evening, these vibrant spaces will host entertainment where festival-goers and artists can mingle and dance the night away.

The lively atmosphere of the Festival Club embodies the spirit of camaraderie and spontaneity that is central to traditional music and will feature acts such as SuperCéilí, Huartan, Piaras Ó Lorcáin, Alan Burke, Poka, Jack Warnock, Úna McGlinchey, Ruairí Howell, Oisín Bradley & Rory McEvoy, Jordan Lively Band, McGarrity – MacPherson, Luke Savage band and The Big Mad Horn Céilí Band.

Afternoon events

The packed programme also includes 54 afternoon events such as the CD launch with Conor Caldwell and Ryan Molloy, the Paddy Tunney book launch with the Tunney Family, talks with Tara Howley, Martin Dowling, Mark Wilson, George McAdam, Joanie Madden, Eilís Lavelle, as well as lectures and dance workshops with Diane Cannon and Mary McGuiggan. Film screening is with Zoë Conway, while a reed-making workshop is with Aaron O’Hagan.

Free family event for festival opening

As part of the festival opening weekend, everyone is invited to take part in the free Titanic Céilí outdoor event for all the family on Sunday 21st July, from 1-5pm. It will celebrate traditional music, song and dance at the Titanic Slipways on Belfast’s Maritime Mile.

Last year’s event attracted 6,000 revellers and the music stage will feature All-Ireland champions The Blackwater Céilí Band, Rosie Stewart, Jack Warnock, Belfast Wren Boys Cleamairí Feirste, Ards CCÉ, Major Sinclair Memorial Pipe Band and Glengormley School of Traditional Music.

The event, in association with Maritime Belfast, includes an outdoor Céilí, with sets such as The Waves of Tory and Siege of Ennis, called by dance master Ronán Eastwood for all ages to experience. The fun doesn’t stop there, with Bodhrán circles, children’s maritime art workshops, face painters and a live four-hour traditional music session on the deck of the SS Nomadic.

Traditional music summer school

The Belfast Summer School of Traditional Music, in partnership with Ulster University, is the hub the festival is built around. All ages are welcome to learn from sought-after traditional musicians from across the globe for a five-day programme of masterclasses, talks, workshops, demonstrations, instrument clinics and film screenings. This year’s tutors feature seven TG4 Gradam Ceoil Award winners and includes Ceoltóir na Bliaina Derek Hickey, Tyrone’s Ryan Molloy, Mary Bergin, Mick O’Brien, acclaimed Belfast composer Neil Martin, Co. Kerry’s Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, banjo maestro Cathal Hayden, Tara Breen of The Chieftains, Cross Border Orchestra Bagpiper Grahame Harris, Sean Nós dancing dynamo Mary McGuiggan and Belfast’s set dancing master Ronán Eastwood. Accommodation offers are available.

Ulster University Provost Professor Cathy Gormley-Heenan said: “Welcoming hundreds of TradFest participants each year into our university spaces reinforces the vital role that music and arts have in connecting and inspiring the wider community. We look forward to a summer filled with the sounds of traditional music and the creative exchange that Belfast TradFest brings to Ulster and to the city.”

Star-studded performance line-up

This year’s line-up features internationally-acclaimed musicians, singers and dancers, alongside emerging local artists:

• The festival’s opening concert features headliner, the legendary Clannad songstress Moya Brennan with her five-piece band. They will be joined in the iconic Empire Music Hall by the dynamic duo of worldwide acclaim, Zoe Conway and John McIntyre.

• American all-female group Cherish the Ladies has won the hearts of audiences around the world, with their rousing blend of traditional music, captivating vocals and step dancing. They have played from the White House to the Olympics, recorded 18 critically-acclaimed albums and Emmy award-winning PBS TV show ‘An Irish Homecoming’. They will play the Mandela Hall for their Belfast TradFest debut.

• Trans-Atlantic supergroup Lúnasa, described by MOJO as “The new gods of Irish music”, will play their biggest Belfast show to date, in the Empire Music Hall. Featuring Cillian Vallely of the famous Armagh uilleann piping dynasty, the group also features Cookstown bass player Trevor Hutchinson, who has played with The Waterboys and Sharon Shannon, alongside Kevin Crawford, Seán Smyth and Ed Boydof Flook.

• West Kerry songbirds Pauline Scanlon and Éilís Kennedy aka Lumiere return to Belfast with their brand of distinctly feminine sounds, where voice is the primary instrument and Ireland as motherland is re-imagined.

• Appearing for their debut performance at the festival are Cathal Hayden’s Bow Brothers, featuring some of the finest fiddlers on the planet, while also on the bill at The Empire Music Hall is the legendary triumvirate of musical maestros Mary Dillon, Neil Martin and Dónal O’Connor. Featuring the voice of Déanta and older sister to Cara Dillon, this new trio promises to breathe new life into timeless Ulster songs and tunes, marrying Mary’s evocative vocals with the expressive interplay of fiddle, cello, harmonium and uilleann pipes.

• Described as a musical genius, Seamie O’Dowd is rooted deeply in the traditional music of Sligo but has also played in many genres of acoustic and electric music. He plays the Sunflower Folk Club for what will be a rare solo show.

• County Tyrone singer Niall Hanna and Beoga’s Damian McKee are performing and releasing their upcoming solo albums for the first time at Belfast TradFest in the Black Box.

• With their debut album reaching #1 in the World Music Charts, Jiggy have gained a worldwide audience and are now in high demand at festivals across Europe. Mixing and melding Irish traditional music, world rhythms and cutting-edge dance grooves, they will bring an electrifying energy to Mandela Hall alongside the brilliant trio of Tara Breen, Pádraig Rynne and Jim Murray.

• Making their debut Irish performance, BIIRD are a brand new 11- piece, all-female, superstar collective made up of some of Ireland’s best traditional musicians and singers. Their members have won multiple All-Ireland titles, toured the world performing in Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, The Late Late Show and Electric Picnic. Also at the Mandela Hall will be West Kerry sensation Pólca 4, who will excite revellers to dance the night away at the festival’s closing concert.

• The Bunting Collection housed in Queen’s University Belfast, perhaps the most significant collection of ancient Irish airs extant, was collected at the Belfast Harpers festival on Donegall Street in 1792 by St. Anne’s Cathedral organist Edward Bunting. The annual TradFest ‘Belfast Harp Festival’ concert will celebrate Bunting with a special concert in the Crescent Arts Centre, featuring Monaghan harper Eilís Lavelle, Co. Clare’s Aisling Lyons, Tin Whistle legend Mary Bergin and RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Singer of the year Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh.

• A special show entitled ‘Ceol na nGael / Wild music of the Gael’ will showcase some of the most exciting performers of traditional music today in Áras Mhic Reachtain. Hosted by RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards nominee Diane Cannon, the concert will feature TG4 Gradam Ceoil Musician of the Year Derek Hickey and Composer of the Year Ryan Molloy, County Monaghan Banjo player and member of The Blackwater Céilí Band George McAdam, Lorraine Ní Bhriain with her Co. Clare concertina style and master uilleann piper Mick O’Brien from Dublin.

• Legendary Belfast virtuoso fiddler Seán Maguire will be celebrated in The MAC with an annual fiddle concert in association with the Seán Maguire Music Society. This promises to be a spectacle of virtuoso fiddling by Tyrone legend Cathal Hayden, of Four Men and a Dog fame, Dundalk’s Zoe Conway, current TG4 Gradam Ceoil Composer of the Year Ryan Molloy, Tara Breen of The Chieftains, Lúnasa fiddler Seán Smyth, Belfast’s Conor Caldwell, current Fiddler of London River McGann and Seán Maguire pupil Johnny Murphy, with some of his own fiddle students.

• In association with Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, ‘Na Máistrí / Masters of Traditional Music’ will feature the cream of traditional music talent, presented by Belfast composer and musician Neil Martin. Also on the bill will be Tyrone singer Dàibhidh Stìubhard, Co. Clare’s Tara Howley and Pádraig Rynne, Mirella Murray of Cherish the Ladies, world champion bodhrán player Aimée Farrell Courtney and Donegal guitarist John McIntyre, formerly of rock outfit The Revs.

• ‘With Pipe & Drum’ concert in the Titanic Hotel Drawing Rooms in East Belfast will feature Cherish the Ladies’ American-Irish traditional music legend  Joanie Madden. Friends of Campbell College Pipe Band will be led by Belfast Highland piper Grahame Harris. Also on the bill is Co. Down snare drummer and BBC presenter Mark Wilson, Mick McAuley of Irish-American ensemble Solas, Belfast’s Gary Hastings, tin whistle player Mary Bergin, World Champion Bodhrán player Aimée Farrell Courtney, Glengormley School of Traditional Music and Scottish Smallpipe legend Fin Moore. The concert will he hosted by Belfast TradFest vice-chairman, piper Andy McGregor.

• In partnership with Belfast Pride, the Black Box will host one of the annual highlights of the festival, Pride Céilí. This spectacle of dance, colour, excitement, fun and inclusivity must be seen to be believed and is one of the five Céilís taking place during the festival, hosted by world renowned Belfast Céilí dance caller Ronán Eastwood.

• As part of this programme the Belfast TradFest Invitational Solo Highland Piping Competition will take place in the Deer’s Head, Belfast on Sunday 23rd July at 4pm. Five of Ireland’s top pipers will compete to be crowned winner of the Belfast TradFest Solo Highland Piping Competition. Each piper will perform a six to eight-minute medley selection, showcasing their unique playing styles. Competitors include Alastair Donaghy, Alan MacPherson, Scott Wallace, Reece Doherty and Alan Glenholmes.

Buy your ticket now

For more information on Belfast TradFest 2024, including the full programme and ticket details, visit www.belfasttradfest.com