The multi-award winning Stendhal Festival is back for its thirteenth instalment this July 6th to 8th and the organisers are guaranteeing the public that they will have a ‘Wail’ of as time as they revealed the first wave of musical acts set to perform at Ballymully Cottage Farm, Limavady, this summer.
Topping this years’ bill are a plethora of unique and exceptional musical talents including; The Wailers, Bell X1, Newton Faulkner, The Scratch, Cara Dillon, Turin Brakes and Yazz Ahmed.
Stendhal will of course continue its commitment to showcasing the very best and emerging Northern Irish talent and this year Ballymully Cottage Farm will play host to some unmissable home-grown acts.
Joshua Burnside, Roe, Sasha Samara, Fya Fox, Winnie Ama, No Oil Paintings, Red Eye Pariah and loads more will be taking to the Stendhal stages.
Stendhal will also showcase some of the best emerging and new acts from The Republic of Ireland and this year Sprints, ModernLove, Crow Black Chicken, Overhead, the Albatross and more, join headliners Bell X1 and the Scratch in making the journey over the border.
Stendhal debuts this year include; Manukahunney, Pinkslips, Claire Sands, Invaderband, Boy M5, Search Party, Tramp, Marion Hawkes, Cora Kelly, Emily McCormick, Polar Bolero, Edgy C and GG Carma and Baroda, so there will be ample opportunity to find your new favourite act at the festival this summer.
Dance and DJs are also on the agenda at the event with DJ sets from critically acclaimed ex-Portishead DJ Andy Smith and BBC 6 Music DJ the Fun Lovin’ Criminal himself, Huey Morgan.
Festival Director Ross Parkhill says he is thrilled with how the line-up is taking shape.
“As usual we have a fantastic mix of genres, we have legends like The Wailers and Bell X1, some of the hottest up and coming acts from all throughout Ireland, Ivor Novello Award winners, NI Music Prize winners and there is still plenty more to come,” he said.
“The Wailers are without question our most requested act to return ever following their sensational performance at the Karma Valley Stage five years ago and we can’t wait to see them again.
“We are delighted to finally be welcoming a couple of acts who we have wanted to play here for years in Bell X1 and Cara Dillon. Bell X1 will be performing an exclusive all electric show for us this summer having spent quite a while touring acoustically with a string quartet so that is really exciting and of course then having the Roe Valley’s very own songbird in Cara Dillon, finally playing her home festival, will be something special indeed.
He added: “We are also so pleased to be welcoming back Turin Brakes for the first time since they headlined the event 13 years ago and we can’t wait to show them the progress that the festival has made over the years, in part thanks to them.
“Throw in the Brilliant Newton Faulkner, The Scratch and Yazz Ahmed and our headline acts so far are a great mix of styles and have the broad appeal which we hope will see us have another successful year as we continue to recover.”
Ross concluded by taking the time to say a few words of thanks: “To everyone who has bought their ticket already, thank you so much for your continued faith in us, it means the world to us.
He added: “We’d also like to thank Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council, The Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Help Musicians NI for their continued support and for the first time this year we’d like to thank a brand new partner, Alchemy Technology Services from Derry/Londonderry. We greatly appreciate the support provided and wish you a warm welcome to our Stendhal tribe.”
Much more programming is still to be announced with more music, the comedy, poetry, family line-ups and more being revealed in the coming weeks.
For tickets and more information visit stendhalfestival.com