Africa Day will be celebrated in several Irish cities from today until May 30th.
The annual worldwide commemoration of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity, officially held on May 25th, has been observed in Ireland since 2007, and as always, there will be an eclectic series of events taking place in Dublin, Galway and Limerick over the next 10 days, including many musical highlights.
Tomorrow, there’ll be a family day at Dublin Zoo that will entail live music and dancing lessons, while drumming group Wassa Wassa will hold workshops at Dublin’s Button Factory throughout the day. A concert dubbed Pathways to Africa takes place at the same venue on Sunday, with performances by Guinean djembe master Nansady Keita, Niwel Tsumbu, Dub Investigation and more. There will also be musical events in Galway and Limerick, including a free concert in the latter on May 29th.
Spokesman Timi Martins said that music is an integral part of the Africa Day experience. “We would encourage as many people as possible to come along to these events to experience new rhythms and sounds,” he said. “It will be a great opportunity for people to hear new types of music, while at the same time immersing themselves in African culture.”
See the full programme at africaday.ie.
Arts collective Nighthawks will be temporarily relocating their show from their usual base of the Cobalt Cafe to the Guinness Storehouse next month. As part of the Liberties Festival, they will curate an evening of entertainment at the Gravity Bar on June 17th. Music comes from The Flaws, Vyvienne Long and Fiach, and there’ll also be comedy and poetry. Tickets €15 from entertainment.ie/ libertiesfestival.
The next generation of Irish sound engineers and technicians have come up with a novel way to celebrate their college’s 25th anniversary while putting newly learned skills into practice.
The final-year students of Dublin’s Sound Training Centre have a tradition of overseeing and releasing an annual compilation through their own label Sound Training Records. In the past, Irish acts such as The Thrills, Lisa Hannigan and Republic of Loose have participated in the project, but this year’s album, Silver Lining, will feature the likes of James Vincent McMorrow, R.S.A.G. and the Dublin Gospel Choir, as well as Paul Noonan of Bell X1 and Niall Breslin of The Blizzards.
In keeping with the anniversary and the title, the songs on the album are all cover versions of hits from 1986, including tracks from Peter Gabriel, The Smiths and Bon Jovi. There will be in-store performances tomorrow from Heathers at Tower Records at 6pm and from R.S.A.G. at X Music in Dublin 22 at 3pm.
All profits from the album go to Headstrong, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health.
Domino Records will launch a radio station next month. The London-based label, home to Arctic Monkeys, Wild Beasts and Animal Collective, will broadcast for one week only, from June 6th to 12th. Programmes will be presented by artists on the Domino roster, music bloggers. Anyone interested in having their own show is invited to submit their hour-long programme. If it’s good enough, it will go on air. dominorad.io
Knock knock: The Hot Sprockets, The Cujo Family and others will play the (free) launch of Knockanstockan Festival at Dublin’s Grand Social on Tuesday at 6pm. knockanstockan.ie
Bright idea: The next Future Bright gig sees Dublin band Friend? play Crawdaddy on May 26th. (€5 on door).
Valuable Jools: Husky-voiced troubadour James Vincent McMorrow will appear on Later . . . with Jools Holland on BBC2 at 10pm on Tuesday and 11.50pm on Friday.
Sharp: Tomorrow in a Year, the opera scored by The Knife, will receive its Irish premiere at Cork’s Midsummer Festival on June 24th and 25th.
I usually come in second to [Bob] Dylan, and I don’t like coming in second
It’s okay, Paul Simon, there’s room for everyone
