Pick of the week
The 24 Hour Plays
If practice makes perfect then the modest mass of people who convene yearly to write, rehearse and stage a series of short performances in less than a day ought to be pretty good at it by now.
But let’s hope not. This exercise in insta-theatre, conducted by New York’s 24 Hour Play Company to fundraise for Dublin Youth Theatre, depends on the nervous exhilaration and camaraderie that rise to meet impossible challenges, more commonly known as “theatre”.
Returning for a fifth straight year, the project recruits a buoyant and very game assembly for an accelerated version of process. The writers (including Emmet Kirwan, Tara Flynn, Lee Coffee, Rosaleen McDonagh and – for the first time – co-writers Jacinta Sheerin and Tracy Martin) are assigned a theme and choose a cast, then write through the night.
Next morning, the directors (including Selina Cartmell, Aoife Spillane Hinks, Conor Hanratty, David Horan and Madeline Boughton) select their plays, then rehearse and tech through the daylight hours. The performers (including Marc Elliott, Joanne McNally, Eleanor Tiernan, Kate Brennan, Denis Conway, Nuala Hayes and Donna Dent) memorise their lines early and flawlessly. And the stage managers, as radiant as ever, do all the hard stuff.
Nail-biting tension and an audience in on the joke is always part of the fun, distilling theatre’s energy, small miracles and various clichés into concentrated form, served neat. Things go wrong, the night can run long, but the show will go on.
Friday
Moving Hearts
Olympia theatre, Dublin 8pm €45.50
Alongside Horslips, Moving Hearts are the original pioneers of that fusion of Irish traditional music with rock. The prime distinguishing feature of the band, however, is the addition of jazz to proceedings. The results have to be heard to be believed, and as the band rarely reforms, this is a must-see gig.
Temple Bar Tradfest
templebartrad.com
This year's programme may stretch the definition of trad, but it's a welcome challenge with Teddy Thompson, The Stunning and Duke Special joining a spiffing selection of musicians including Martin Hayes, Aoife O'Donovan, Julie Fowlis, The Whileaways and Heidi Talbot. There's a packed family programme too, and sessions in most hostelries along the way. Running until Sunday.
Melodic
Sugar Club 9pm €15
facebook.com/thisismelodic
Melodic pull out all the stops for their fourth birthday bash on Leeson Street. Aside from a screening of Berlin Calling, the flick that made Paul Kalkbrenner a star, there’s also appearances from Guy J and Neil Flynn. Guy J is the Lost & Found producer behind recent album The Trees, the Sea and the Sun, while Flynn is the Berlin-based producer who works with the Lossless label. Support from Body and Soul’s Shane Mannion, Dave Morrissey and the Melodic regulars.
Sim Simma
Wigwam, Dublin 8pm €10
facebook.com/simsimmadublin
London grime duo Jammz and AJ Tracey are the main draws in the Middle Abbey Street basement tonight. Jammz worked his way up over the past decade through collabs with Plastician, P Money and others as well as sets on 1Xtra, Rinse and NTS. Tracey's recent Alex Moran EP showed his dexterity when it came to wordplay, especially on Bare Girls with Jammz. As always, there's reggae yoga to start the night and bend your body from 8pm.
Out to Lunch
Bar Tengu, Dublin 10pm €8.50
yamamori.ie
Joe Seaton is Call Super, the London dude responsible for a host of fine fizzy electronica releases over the past few years. The Berlin-based producer's Suzi Ecto album for Houndstooth, for instance, showed off Seaton's prowess when it came to designing and executing beautifully detailed textures and soundscapes. Support at this Out to Lunch hop is from Apartment Records' Kenny Hanlon.
Illa J
Urban Jungle, Cork 8pm €10 (also Button Factory Dublin Sun 7.30pm €10)
soundcloud.com/realillaj
February marks the 10th anniversary of groundbreaking hip-hop producer J Dilla's untimely death and his younger brother, Illa J, will be visiting Ireland for two dates on the Never Left tour. Born John Yancey, he first appeared on the radar on Yancey Boys, the 2008 album featuring instrumentals produced by Dilla. Like his brother, Illa J was also in Slum Village for a spell and has worked with Robert Glasper, Kaytranada, Tom Misch and many others. Support in Cork is from Colm K and the Cuttin' Heads Collective, while Papa Lou and This Greedy Pig do the necessary in Dublin.
Matthew Jacobson Duos
dlr LexIcon, Dún Laoghaire, 8pm (also Saturday)
matthewjacobsonmusic.com
Drummer Matthew Jacobson – founder of palindromic groovers RedivideR and new music record label Diatribe – is the inaugural artist-in-residence at the plush new Lexicon theatre in Dún Laoghaire. Over two nights, the fearless percussionist presents four different duo performances: on Friday with bassist Derek Whyte and then singer Jenna Harris; and on Saturday with bass saxophonist Sam Comerford and then composer/vocalist Linda Buckley. Expect envelope pushing all round.
1916 and the Arts
UCC Also Sat
ucc.ie 021-4902783
Gabriel Doherty of the UCC School of History is organising a two-day conference that asks if the 1916 was a rising of poet and playwrights. Contributors will include Prof of Music Micheál Ó Suilleabháin, poet Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, artist Robert Ballagh and Kevin Rockett form TCD's Film Studies department.
Saturday
Marc Ribot
DeBarra's, Clonakilty, Co Cork 8pm €20
debarra.ie
Say hello to one of America's most innovative guitarists. A highly regarded collaborator (with the likes of Tom Waits. John Zorn and Elvis Costello), Ribot makes a rare solo appearance in Ireland as part of the Clonakilty International Guitar Festival.
The Wainwright Sisters
The White Horse, Ballincollig 8.30pm €25
whitehorse.ie
Ballincollig's Winter Music Festival is a thing of beauty this year, with some inspired programming ensuring great live music is available to music lovers who live outside of the main metropolises. Tonight, Lucy and Martha, daughters of Loudon, bring what promises to be a heady mix of American and Québecois-influenced songs to Ballincollig. With special guest Jack O'Rourke.
The Magician
District 8 Dublin 11pm €18/€15
The Magician doesn't miss a trick. Since leaving Aeroplane in 2010, Belgian producer Stephan Fasano has seen his star rise and rise. There have been cracking remixes (see Lykke Li's I Follow Rivers and Clean Bandit's Rather Be), great Potion label nights out and, of course, smashing hits such as Sunlight. Support from Jax Jones, the UK producer who has worked closely with Duke Dumont on releases for the Blasé Boys' Club label.
Sunday
A Day with Lieb
New Yorker Dave Liebman – Lieb to his fellow musicians – is one of the most influential saxophonists of the post-Coltrane era, a unique performer and a riveting speaker who, through his frequent visits to Newpark Music Centre, might be regarded as the Godfather of the contemporary Dublin scene. In this day-long Lieb-fest, he talks about his life (including his time with Miles Davis), gives a public masterclass at the NCH and later plays in trio with bassist Ronan Guilfoyle and US drummer Gerry Hemingway at Whelans.
