The summer solstice has traditionally been marked by singing, Maypole dancing, feasting and fireworks. Body & Soul Festival, taking place in Ballinlough Castle, Co Westmeath for its seventh year, will feature much musical celebration, and music booker Jenny Wren is hoping that imaginations will be sparked across the weekend by the festival’s acts.
Wren, along with co-booker Declan Forde, is responsible for the artists making their way to Westmeath this weekend. They include the eclectic US singer Santigold, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Mbongwana Star, contemporary trad supergroup The Gloaming, the jazz-leaning house producer Floating Points and cinematic alt-rockers Mercury Rev – to name five of dozens.
Wren says that while there isn’t an obvious common thread to the bookings, they do encapsulate “an essence of something” that the festival looks for.
“We look for artists who are about exploration, about taking a chance, who go with a gut feeling. We look for something different. The live performance has to have something more than just the songs. Our bookings have to come from our heart.”
The acts who encapsulate that idea, says Wren, include Canadian throat singer Tanya Tagaq (“ she’s an incredible performer”), The Gloaming (“it’s going to be a bigger experience than just catching a show”), Korean band Jambanai (“they are people who have stretched themselves”) and Dublin noise-rockers Girl Band (“amazing Irish band that I’m excited to put on our main stage.”)
An open-minded crowd
Wren has been booking Body&Soul (as a standalone festival, for once-off events and its area at Electric Picnic) since 2005, and the festival brand has grown in stature, and in turn attracted a discerning crowd, receptive to such a wild array of sounds. That open-mindedness is something Wren considers in booking, but she has someone else in mind when selecting acts.
“I think about me,” she laughs. “It comes from a very honest place because when I think of the wider audience, I think of the live experience. If I think 50 per cent of the audience won’t be into it, but they’ll get something from it – even sheer hatred is still a valid experience. When it comes to who I think about - it comes back to do I think this act is fantastic? You feel it in your gut and you feel they’re worthy of presenting.”
Each year, Wren and Forde make a wish-list of who they want to book. Some, like Santigold, have been on that list for years, but didn’t land due to availability. Others, like Floating Points, have just released their most acclaimed work and the timing is right.
Another factor is financial limitation. “We’re not about the massive headliners,” explains Wren. “We’re not going for Radiohead or LCD Soundsystem, it’s just not financially viable.
Once the line-up is set, attention turns to the timetabling, which Wren says they think about to the point of obsession.
“Body&Soul is the sum of its parts. The music sets the tone behind everyone’s weekend,” says Wren. “You might think, it’s Sunday they want to relax or they want to have an afternoon dance, or it’s Saturday night and they want to party. We try not to make it work in the traditional pyramid structure where the big act has to play last. We try to put people on when we think it will work.”
Festival tweaks
There are number of changes that affect the music presentation at the festival this year. The late-night rave has moved from the woods to its own Reckless In Love arena. It's been replaced by the Second Nature area with the new Woodlands stage, which will feature mellower music throughout the weekend.
“I’d like to feel what we’re offering is the same, but the nuts and bolts are tighter,” says Wren. “Every year we learn and try and streamline and make things flow more.”
There’s hopeful anticipation that festival-goers will get the nice weather that often falls on the solstice and enjoy their time, that the artists will have a good experience and “that the music comes alive”.
“Halfway through the year when you’re sick looking at Excel files, the festival feels like giving birth. When the festival is on, you forget the pain and you’re in love with the baby. You go back next year and have another child, it’s a little bit like that.”
- Body&Soul Festival takes place in Ballinlough Castle from June 17 - 19th
