{"id":23022,"date":"2024-07-16T14:36:16","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T13:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=23022"},"modified":"2024-07-16T14:36:16","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T13:36:16","slug":"soma-fest-2024-brings-a-celebration-of-irish-folk-music-to-county-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2024\/07\/soma-fest-2024-brings-a-celebration-of-irish-folk-music-to-county-down\/","title":{"rendered":"SOMA FEST 2024 Brings A Celebration of Irish Folk Music To County Down"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Eoghan-Photo-1-credit-Ri\u0301ona-Ni\u0301-Ri\u0301aga\u0301in-1-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-23023\" src=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Eoghan-Photo-1-credit-Ri\u0301ona-Ni\u0301-Ri\u0301aga\u0301in-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">SOMA Festival will return to Castlewellan, County Down this month for three days of excellent musical performances from artists right across the whole of Ireland. This year\u2019s festival celebrates the rich heritage of Irish folk music and the vibrant local culture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Spanning from July 19-21, some of the biggest names in folk music will headline the 2024 instalment of the ever-popular festival.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kicking off the weekend, Eoghan \u00d3 Ceannabh\u00e1in will play the King\u2019s Inn on Friday 19 July (doors 7.30pm), supported by the Ciara McCrickard Trio. This event is in partnership with Gl\u00f3r Uachtar T\u00edre.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Dublin-native is one of the best known vocalists and multi-instrumentalists from the Irish capital, performing in both English and Gaeilge and taking inspiration from the sean-n\u00f3s tradition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Also playing to audiences on July 19 is Belfast-based tradtronica group Huartan, consisting of Stiof\u00e1n \u00d3 Luachr\u00e1in, Catriona N\u00ed Ghrib\u00edn and M\u00fal\u00fa.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Taking to St Malachy&#8217;s GAC stage, with doors at 9pm, the award-winning trio promise an evening of electronic beats combined with traditional Irish music that is unlike anything heard before.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Supported by DJ Dalba, this high-adrenaline event will have everyone jumping and dancing the whole night.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Headlining SOMA Festival 2024 is Saturday\u2019s musical feat John Spillane, who returns to Castlewellan from his native Cork for another captivating concert.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Well-known for his iconic tunes such as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">All The Ways You Wander<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Dunnes Store Girl<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the mesmerising show will see John switch between his love of music and poetry as well as some Irish humour thrown in there for good merit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Joined on stage by the exceptionally talented Soma House Band, John will be supported on stage by Graham Henderson (keys), John McSherry (pipes\/low whistle), Emma King (percussion\/drums), Se\u00e1n \u00d3 Meara (guitar), and Tola Custy (fiddle).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ending on a bang, King\u2019s Inn is set to play host to both Grooveline and Lonesome George as well as support act Le Ch\u00e9ile from 8pm on Sunday 21 July.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Six-piece funk group Grooveline boast a unique sound, mixing jazz, hip-hop, trad and more together in one cohesive arrangement that is infectiously energetic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lonesome George will also take to the stage, with songwriting duo Joe Campbell-McArdle and Myles McCormack being joined by Finatan Mulholland, Dermot Moynagh and Catriona N\u00ed Ghrib\u00edn on a variety of instruments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Delving into a range of hard-hitting lyrics sung in both English and Irish, the interwoven genres remain rooted in Irish tradition and are sure to provide an ambient event for all in attendance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There will also be a session trail over the weekend that is open to musicians of all abilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Speaking of the line-up, SOMA Festival Director, T\u00edona McSherry, said: \u201cOur team has come up with another stellar programme for festival goers to enjoy this year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe\u2019re so excited for the incredible acts we have coming to perform. We hope Castlewellan is as buzzing for it as we are.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">With funding from Newry, Mourne &amp; Down District Council, Foras na Gaeilge, and sponsors and partners Whitewater Brewing Co., Gl\u00f3r Uachtar T\u00edre, Excalibur Press, Dolmes Climate Action Network, and Cumann Phobail Garbhdhoire, SOMA Festival 2024 tickets are already available and can be purchased for individual events or as a weekend access pass to all concerts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The SOMA Festival runs between 19th-21st July and full details including tickets can be found at <\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/www.linktr.ee\/thesomafestival\"><b>www.linktr.ee\/thesomafestival<\/b><\/a><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SOMA Festival will return to Castlewellan, County Down this month for three days of excellent musical performances from artists right across the whole of Ireland. This year\u2019s festival celebrates the rich heritage of Irish folk music and the vibrant local culture. Spanning from July 19-21, some of the biggest names in folk music will headline &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2024\/07\/soma-fest-2024-brings-a-celebration-of-irish-folk-music-to-county-down\/\">Continued<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23022"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23022"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23024,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23022\/revisions\/23024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}