Ballads, beers and Brexit on the bill as Other Voices returns to Dingle after Covid hiatus

Standing on a barrel in the yard behind Dick Mack’s pub in Dingle, Ruadhán Ó Deasmhúnaigh sang Fisherman’s Blues with gusto. The young teacher from Cork had nothing but his charm and his brown guitar, but soon the crowd joined in.

“With light in my head, you in my arms,” they sang.

After the years of pandemic woe, the Other Voices music festival returned to the Co Kerry town for its first fully-fledged run since 2019. Thousands came, with the evidence in the queues for gigs, coffee, pints and fish-and-chips.

Twenty-one years have passed since Philip King – a musician, broadcaster, filmmaker and producer – first brought bands to St James’ Church. The chapel, built in 1807 on a medieval holy site, serves still as a place of prayer. But now it is best known for hosting a series of televised concerts.

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“We’re in the feelings business,” said King, citing the late collector Frank Harte who chronicled the “song life” of the country.

“Frank always maintained that if you wanted to know the facts you consulted the historians, the history books. If you wanted to know what it felt like, you asked the singer.”

On the bill in the church were Scottish singer-songwriter Paulo Nutini, east London hip hop artist Loyle Carner, Irish singers Sorcha Richardson, Gemma Dunleavy, John Francis Flynn and Pauline Scanlon from Dingle itself. In bars around town there were scores of gigs – and fiddlers and box players in the snugs.

Amid all the music, the Ireland’s Edge conference took stock of the state of the world and country. King conducted a sofa interview with Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe.

It’s been a very rocky year, with Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine bringing full-scale war back to Europe and adding to the inflation shock. Yet, Donohoe still saw some reasons for cheer, even as King brought the talk around repeatedly to the question of a basic income for artists.

We did have a big night in Dublin last night. Imagine what we’re going to look like tomorrow after a big night in Kerry

“If I look at 2022, the centre has had a better year than it has had for many years,” Mr Donohue said, citing Emmanuel Macron’s victory in France, US midterm elections in which republicans failed to win a landslide and the defeat of far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.

With the UK on its third prime minister since the summer, Donohoe said the UK was fortunate to have Rishi Sunak as premier, saying he knew from his time as chancellor that he is a “very honest man”.

The Minister accepted the new prime minister was a “very strong Brexiteer” but said Dublin’s crucial relationship with London has thawed recently after a period of friction.

“It’s anything but cold now, it’s certainly getting warmer – and I hope the warmth and the change in tone is a precursor to something that’s a lot more substantive,” Donohoe said.

For all the youthful jollity on the streets of Dingle, the conference room heard of hard reality of war in Ukraine as winter looms and the country struggles against the invader.

[ What Ireland listened to on Spotify in 2022 – and why it’s bad news for Irish music ]

Olesya Zdorovetska, a Kyiv-born composer and musician who has lived in Dublin for more than a decade, told interviewer Muireann Kelliher there was no easing in Putin’s “neocolonial” assault on her country.

“Reconciliation talk for us at this stage is very hard, it’s actually dangerous ... It’s very arrogant when people try to reconcile us right now,” she said. “The starting point for any reconciliation with Russia, I think, is far in the future, when they fully withdraw from Ukraine – from Crimea and Donbass – and when an international tribunal holds Russia accountable, because I believe in collective responsibility.”

Uptown the music played on. First up on the stage at St James’ was a sonic blast from indie band Inhaler, fronted by Elijah Hewson, the leather-clad silver-ringed son of Bono.

“We did have a big night in Dublin last night. Imagine what we’re going to look like tomorrow after a big night in Kerry,” he said.