MARBLE CITY SESSIONS
Kilkenny Arts Festival has once again called on Martin Hayes to shape its non-classical musical output in the form of the Marble City Sessions, which will be keeping the bars, venues and corners of Kilkenny packed with music over the next two weeks.
On Tuesday, Hayes is teaming up with viola player Jordi Savall and others for a concert in St Canice’s Cathedral that will explore the lost connections between the “courtly elegance of early music and the old melodies of the Irish tradition”.
On Wednesday, Hayes and uilleann piper David Power will be lighting up the Smithwicks courtyard in the early evening.
Amjad Ali Khan – one of India’s most famous musical stars – will be presenting a family affair with his sons Amaan and Ayaan (with Amjad, above) at the Set Theatre. Khan is one of the most celebrated exponents of the Sarod, the fretless Indian lute, and this could be one of the most virtuoso performances you see in quite some time.
In St Canice’s Cathedral that night, the Cork Gamelan Ensemble will be bringing its Javanese instrument to bear on the cathedral’s impressive acoustics. Among those lending help on the night will be Hayes, Julie Feeney, Duke Special, Colin Dunne, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Kate Ellis, Nick Roth and the West Cork Ukulele Orchestra.
The sessions will also close out the festival. Elsewhere, KAF is building its musical output almost exclusively around the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. See kilkennyarts.ie or our classical listings overleaf for more details.
AVANT STRINGS
Balanescu Quartet
St Luke's Church, Summerhill North, Cork 7.30pm €25 uticket.ie
Avant-garde string-driven unit – expect terrific original music as well as samples of collaborative work (having done so with the likes of Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, John Lurie, Ornette Coleman, David Byrne, Pet Shop Boys, Spiritualized, Kate Bush and Kraftwerk). Special guest is Talos. Also, live visuals by Feel Good Lost. As part of Live at St Luke’s series of concerts.
ALBUM LAUNCH
Oliver Cole
Whelan's, Dublin 8pm €16.50 whelanslive.com
One of the most criminally overlooked Irish albums of the past five years has been We Albatri, Oliver Cole's (above) 2010 solo debut. Please God, the same fate isn't in store for his recent follow-up, Year of the Bird, which is just as good. Tonight is the official album launch, and special guests are expected. Don't say you weren't told!
TRAD
Andy Lamy and Friends
The Cobblestone, Dublin 7.30pm Adm free 01-8727199 Also Sun, Sligo; Mon, Galway; Tues, Clare, Wed, Galway
What's a classically trained clarinettist from New York doing hanging out with traditional musicians? Shaking it up, that's what. Amy Lamy's new CD, The New Blackthorn Stick, puts the clarinet up front and centre, with sublime results. Tonight's session is the first of a series in which Lamy reunites with his tradster friends – and quite a schmozzle it promises to be. Later in the week he teams up with Dermot Byrne and Floriane Blancke, but tonight, he's with Tom Mulligan and Mike Stewart. Something special is on the cards.
WAXADELICA
Nightmares on Wax
Pygmalion, Dublin 10pm €10 nightmaresonwax.com
George Evelyn has seen a lot of clubs and festival stages during his 25-year run as Nightmares on Wax. As last year's N.O.W. Is the Time round-up of his releases showed, the Leeds producer's sound has developed: from the bleepy electro adventures of his early days to the hazy, smokey funk and soul favoured in later years. Support from Arveene.
TECHNO
Kolsch
Button Factory, Dublin 11pm €15 soundcloud.com/kolsch
Rune Reilly is a producer with Irish, Danish and German roots, so innovative techno has served him very well. Be it releases for Michael Meyer's Kompakt or the well-regarded Tattoorecs label (which he set up with his brother), Reilly has gained quite a rep with his tracks (Calabria) and albums(1977).
ART
Overture 2015
Damer House Gallery, Roscrea, Co Tipperary Until Aug 16
Full credit to Damer House for paying attention to fine arts graduates. Each of them put a lot of work into grad shows that deserve wider exposure but usually don’t get it. Overture is the work of nine graduates from Galway’s Creative Arts School at GMIT, Limerick’s School of Art and Design, LIT, and Cork’s Crawford School of Art and Design, CIT. Also check out the fine Terryglass Arts Festival shows.
