Belfast is set to come alive with the sound of all kinds of music from 21-27 March, when the Moving on Music festival returns to the city for its fourth year. Across seven action-packed days, in a wide range of venues, the 2011 installment of this annual festival will showcase everything from folk, to funk, to film, with lots more in between!
Since its establishment in 1995, Moving on Music has grown to become one of the leading promoters of electronic, jazz, folk, traditional, classical and world music in Northern Ireland. The organisation is dedicated to ideals of innovation and originality and is committed to championing new developments in music. Through its annual festival, Moving on Music gives a stage to some of the best local and international artists making music today and provides unique opportunities for audiences from Belfast and beyond, to experience music that they may not often get the chance to hear.
Events on offer at this year’s festival range from film screenings at QFT (21-24th March) to community arts (New Songs From Sandy Row – 22nd March) to folk (Alasdair Roberts with support from Barry Kerr – 23rd March / Ross Ainslie + Jarlath Henderson Trio – 25th and 26th March / Spiers & Boden – 27th March) to experimental (SARC Composers – 24th March) to blues (Skip McDonald – 24th March) to bossa nova (Joyce – 26th March) to classical (Fidelio Trio – 24th March) to club (Hype Williams + Not Squares + Third Man Theme – 26th March).
For full details about the 2011 Moving on Music Festival, visit www.movingonmusic.co.uk
Mon 21st March / Tues 22nd March
‘Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould’
QFT, Belfast
Time: 6.30pm
Tickets: Various prices from www.queensfilmtheatre.com and 028 9097 1097
A fascinating portrait of renowned pianist Glenn Gould
Tues 22nd March
New Songs From Sandy Row
Sandy Row Community Centre, Belfast
Time: 7.30pm
Admission: Free
Young people from the Sandy Row are of Belfast will perform new songs and pieces of music that they have created
Wed 23rd March
Pianomania
QFT, Belfast
Time: 6.30pm
Tickets: Various prices from www.queensfilmtheatre.com and 028 9097 1097
Award winning documentary following Steinway and Sons’ Master Tuner in Vienna
Wed 23rd March
Alasdair Roberts with support from Barry Kerr
Black Box, Belfast
Doors: 8pm
Tickets: £10 from www.movingonmusic.co.uk and Belfast Welcome Centre (028 9024 6609)
Alasdair Roberts is a singer, guitarist, and interpreter of traditional songs and writer of new songs. He has worked with a wide variety of collaborators from many different musical and artistic backgrounds. Multi-instrumentalist and song-writer Barry Kerr is a well known face on Belfast’s traditional music scene.
Thurs 24th March
SARC Composers
Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast
Time: 1.10pm (please arrive early to secure seat)
Admission: Free
A showcase of works by current PhD composers at QUB’s School of Music and Sonic Arts. The event will feature new works written especially for and with saxophonist Franziska Schroeder, who is a member of staff at the School.
Tom Zé: Liberated Astronaut
QFT, Belfast
Time: 6.30pm
Tickets: Various prices from www.queensfilmtheatre.com and 028 9097 1097
An insight into the life and music of Tom Zé
Thurs 24th March
Fidelio Trio
Harty Room, Belfast
Time: 8pm
Tickets: £12/£10 from www.movingonmusic.co.uk and Belfast Welcome Centre (028 9024 6609)
Classical music act Fidelio Trio brings together the virtuoso talents of Belfast-born violinist Darragh Morgan, Cork-born pianist Mary Dullea and cellist Robin Michael.
Thurs 24th March
Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald feat Alan Glen with support from Isobel Anderson
Black Box, Belfast
Doors: 8pm
Tickets: £10 from www.movingonmusic.co.uk and Belfast Welcome Centre (028 9024 6609)
Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald has worked with musicians as diverse as Grandmaster Flash, Robert Plant and Megadeath. He made his name as an integral part of the Sugar Hill house band, playing on many influential early rap classics and as a member of Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound crew he has been some of the most adventurous music of the twentieth century. ‘Little Axe’ is Skip’s return to the blues he grew up with. The sound is raw, stripped down and intense. Skip will be accompanied by virtuoso blues harmonica player Alan Glen, who has performed with The Yardbirds. Support comes from Belfast-based musician Isobel Anderson – a musician, composer and visual artist studying for a PhD at SARC in Queen’s University Belfast.
Fri 25th March
Joyce
Black Box, Belfast
Doors: 8pm
Tickets: £15/£10 from www.movingonmusic.co.uk and Belfast Welcome Centre (028 9024 6609)
Singer, composer and guitarist Joyce is one of the great musical treasures of Brazil. Her sound combines Brazilian rhythms, jazz harmonies and intelligent lyrics through a wonderfully expressive voice. Since recording her debut album in 1968 Joyce has gone on to issue more than twenty solo albums and hear more than 300 recordings of her songs by many of Brazil’s most respected singers. She has toured the world many times over and in 1996 she shared the stage with Liza Minelli, Tony Bennett, James Brown and numerous other legends at ‘The Songwriters Hall of Fame’ cermonies in New York.
Fri 25th March
Ross Ainslie/Jarlath Henderson Trio
Spectrum Centre, Belfast
Doors: 7.30pm
Tickets: £8 from www.movingonmusic.co.uk and Spectrum Centre (028 9050 4555)
Dubbed the new stars of celtic music, Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson first started playing together at the William Kennedy Piping Festival in Armagh and have since joined forces to create a pipe sound that pushes the boundaries of what both Scottish and Irish instruments can achieve together.
Sat 26th March
Ross Ainslie/Jarlath Henderson Trio
An Droichead, Belfast
Doors: 7.30pm
Tickets: £10 from www.androichead.com and 028 9028 8818
Dubbed the new stars of celtic music, Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson first started playing together at the William Kennedy Piping Festival in Armagh and have since joined forces to create a pipe sound that pushes the boundaries of what both Scottish and Irish instruments can achieve together.
Sat 26th March
Hype Williams/Not Squares/Third Man Theme
Black Box, Belfast
Doors: 9.30pm
Tickets: £10 from www.movingonmusic.co.uk and Belfast Welcome Centre (028 9024 6609)
The enigmatic world of Hype Williams is one that’s submerged in vintage drum machines, detuned synth washes, disembodied vocal samples and rolling sub-bass. The Berlin-based duo’s live shows are a mysterious proposition, blurring the lines between music, media installation and art happening.
Not Squares formed in 2008 off the back of a drunken conversation held in a dark alleyway about how Belfast needed a party-band. Debut album ‘Yeah OK’ was released in November 2010 on the Dublin-based label Richter Collective.
Third Man Theme make music that blends together a range of musical interests, including Talking Heads, Can Neu!, The Beach Boys, The Modern Lovers, Spiritualized and Lizzy Mercier Descloux. The result is sometimes (post-) punky, sometimes drony, sometimes edgy, sometimes sweet, sometimes all at once.
Sun 27th March
Spiers & Boden
Black Box, Belfast
Doors: 8.00pm
Tickets: £12/£10 (conc) from www.movingonmusic.co.uk and Belfast Welcome Centre (028 9024 6609)
One of the most popular duos on the vibrant English folk scene, John Spiers (melodeon, concertina) and 2010 BBC Radio Two ‘Folk Singer of the Year’ Jon Boden (vocals, fiddle, guitar, stomp-box) promise to get everyone up dancing with their unique blend of high-octane dance tunes and traditional songs – with a contemporary twist.