RTE1 Live Radio Broadcast from the Church of St James

Irish music from Dingle Kerry

Last night, on the 18th March, we were lucky enough to attend the Church of Saint James in Dingle for a special 2 hour live broadcast of RTE1’s Irish music program ‘South Wind Blows’ hosted by Phillip King. The line up was wonderful with the very talented singers Ailbhe Reddy, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and Éilís Ní Chinnéide with Gerry O Beirne on guitar (at least 3 of them!), Cormac Begley on concertina (3 of them too!) and Eoin Duigan on flute. The new face of Stephen Gormley from Moon Looks On gave an impressive performance as did the exciting new band Saint Sister whose blend of 60’s folk and electronic pop with wonderful vocal harmonies and a cool electro-acoustic harp were the stand out act for us.

The atmosphere of the Church of St James in Dingle is truly special. It is really tiny, seating just about 80. Phillip King was a great host even handing out boxes of Roses chocolates for the audience! It was an intimate evening. Mr. King painted a romantic and attractive image of the rich musical and cultural richness of this part of west Kerry. We were really aware that the musical energy was reaching out from this tiny church to those listening in from all corners of the globe,  ‘collapsing distance’ as he described it.

You can listen to the podcast of the radio program broadcast all the way from Dingle on the edge of Europe.

Here is the link, enjoy!

http://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=b9_10698620_0__

Dingle’s Other Voices Music Festival

There are so many things to do in Dingle in southwest Kerry but if you are looking for Irish music you will not be disappointed. The place is teeming with venues offering great live music from new Irish music to traditional and folk to blues. So many talented Irish musicians have made their home in Dingle and west Kerry, many coming to visit for a while never to leave.

Dingle is the home of the famous unique music event Other Voices which has had past performances by Ellie Goulding, Amy Winehouse, Damien Rice, Snowpatrol, Ryan Adams and many others. Hozier rose to fame after performing at the Other Voices arts festival in Dingle in 2013.

The Other Voices festival is held in December each year. We will be posting details as we hear them.

There are of course many other festivals in the area including Dingle Film Festival and Feile Na Bealtaine, stay tuned!