Programme of the 18th Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival

The 18th Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival 27 April – 7 May 2017

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Contents

Comedy Words & Ideas Theatre Family Shows Music Sound & Vision Visual Art Special Events At a Glance This edition of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival pulls up to the front door with all the bravado and naïve swagger of a typical 18 year-old.

While global chaos whirls all about, CQAF (brashly, you might even say) keeps on keeping on. And if our own local brand of political dysfunction has meant more funding cuts this year, our rollcall of great artists’ remains we hope - undimmed.

So, for our 18th bash, we’re “well stoked” to welcome artists as sublime as Booker T. Jones, Robert Cray, Bridget Christie, Kevin Rowland, Cara Dillon, Linton Kwesi Johson, Eimear McBride, The Divine Comedy and Rich Hall and a supporting cast of thousands.

3 14 22 32 35 78 84 91 96 But it’s not all about us: at the time of writing, the cranes and diggers are lining up all around the city centre. Some of our oldest streets are being torn down to meet an apparent need for new retail units or ever more student housing.

Momentum is also growing daily for development which is sympathetic, respects existing retailers and arts organisations and retains something of the unique character of the area. We invite you to join the conversation at #SaveCQ …

Right now though, we’ve got an 18th birthday to plan, we’d love to see you there.

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General Enquiries General GeneralEnquiries Enquiries For anygeneral general enquiriesrelating relating For Forany any generalenquiries enquiries relating to the Cathedral Quarter Arts to tothe theCathedral CathedralQuarter QuarterArts Arts Festival orthe the Outto to Lunch Festival Festivalor or theOut Out toLunch Lunch Festival,please pleasecontact contactSean Sean Festival, Festival, please contact Sean Kelly, CQAF, Unit 8, Northern Kelly, Kelly,CQAF, CQAF,Unit Unit8, 8,Northern Northern Whig House,33Bridge Bridge St.,Belfast, Belfast, Whig WhigHouse, House, 3 BridgeSt., St., Belfast, BT1 1LU.Tel: Tel: 0289023 90232403 E. BT1 BT11LU. 1LU. Tel:028 028 90232403 2403 sean@cqaf.com E. E.sean@cqaf.com sean@cqaf.com Festival FestivalTeam Team Festival Team Director: Director:Sean SeanKelly Kelly Director: Sean Kelly Young Administrator: Administrator:Kathy Kathy Young Operations Manager: Nawaz Kathy Young Press/Marketing: Press/Marketing:Joe Joe Nawaz Press/Marketing: Joe Nawaz Production: Production:Louise LouiseMcElvanna, McElvanna, Production: Louise McElvanna, Barry BarryHollywood, Hollywood,Connie ConnieBree Bree Barry Hollywood Programme ProgrammeDesign: Design:Tonic TonicDesign Design Programme Design: Tonic Design Website: Website:Pauric PauricMcAnespy McAnespy Website: Pauric McAnespy Management ManagementCommittee: Committee: Management Committee: Chris ChrisMcCreery McCreery(Chair), (Chair),Noyona Noyona Chris McCreery (Chair), Noyona Chundur, Chundur,Caroline CarolineWilson, Wilson,Ciara Ciara Chundur, Caroline Wilson, Ciara Hickey, Hickey,Adam AdamTurkington Turkington Hickey

Sofie Hagen

Sunflower Public House Friday 28 April & Saturday 29 April 8.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

In association with Infinite Jest.

Tackling deeply personal and taboo subjects with charm, razor-sharp timing and a hugely likeable personality, multi award-winning Danish comedian Sofie Hagen is revered in her home country and across the UK. As well as hosting two hugely popular podcasts, The Guilty Feminist and Made of Human, Sofie regularly appears on BBC3, Radio 4, Comedy Central and Channel 4. Exclusive to the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Sofie previews a brand new show of stories and stand-up for 2017.

Not suitable for misogynists, anti-feminists, bigots or bozos. ‘.. eyecatchingly odd and disarmingly honest...’ – THE INDEPENDENT

6 COMEDY

7 FOOTER

Tony Law

The Black Box Sunday 30 April 8.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Multi award-winning comedian, Tony Law comes to CQAF with a brand new show of the inimitable surreal comedy-art that has made him one of the most celebrated live performers in the UK. In A Law Undo His-elf What Welcome, Tony Law is closer than ever to nonsense nirvana. Behold the comedy event horizon. Without a hint of a joke, this powerful show has achieved a sort of comedy which aims at making no sense at all and yet, and yet, and yet it means everything.

Three-time Chortle Award winner, Amused Moose Best Show winner and Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee. ‘inspired nonsense’ ★★★★ – THE SCOTSMAN ‘A wonder to behold’ – MAIL ON SUNDAY

8 COMEDY

Marcel Lucont’s Whine List

McHugh’s Tuesday 2 May 8.00pm

Tickets £8 www.cqaf.com

France’s finest flâneur brings a new interactive show to the baying masses. A kind of self-help group where everyone potentially leaves more depressed. Expect louche musings, deadpan wit and Gallic superiority.

As seen on BBC1’s The John Bishop Show and Sky Atlantic’s Set List.

‘Who can resist Marcel Lucont?… pulling clever punchlines out of every interaction with his audience... Sometimes, arrogance is bliss’ ★★★★ – SCOTSMAN. ‘Fresh, accessible and hilarious’ – THE GUARDIAN

‘Gag after consistent gag – the quality doesn’t dip once… As effortless and smooth as a fine silky brie’★★★★ – THE LIST

9 COMEDY

Jeremy Hardy

The Black Box Tuesday 2 May 8.00pm

Tickets £14/£5* *concession for unwaged www.cqaf.com

Jeremy Hardy is in his 4th decade as a stand-up this year. That’s a more dramatic way of saying he started 32 years ago and, without a lottery win, probably has at least another 32 years to go.

Jeremy’s television credits include Mock The Week (BBC2), Grumpy Old Men (BBC1) and Not Tonight with John Sergeant (BBC2).

He is also on the road all year round and has never stopped doing live shows since 1984. After briefly hibernating in the winter, he’s back out on the road in 2017!

‘In an ideal world, Jeremy Hardy would be extremely famous, but an ideal world would leave him without most of his best material’ – THE GUARDIAN

10 COMEDY

Kieran Hodgson ‘Maestro’

The Black Box Thursday 4 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10/£8 www.cqaf.com

In association with Fireworks & Mash.

Kieran Hodgson’s smash hit comedy Maestro comes to Belfast after triumphant Edinburgh and London runs.

The highly anticipated follow up to his 2015 Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominated show Lance saw Kieran earn his second nomination for best comedy show.

In 2003 Kieran Hodgson heard the music of Gustav Mahler and decided to write a symphony. 13 years later he returns to the Black Box with a story about falling in love and attempting something far beyond your abilities. Plus a violin.

In his most personal and ambitious show to date, Kieran creates a story about trying to find love when you’re the kind of loser who writes classical music instead of playing football.

11 COMEDY

Rich Hall

Festival Marquee Friday 5 May 8.00pm

Tickets £17 www.cqaf.com

Rich Hall’s critically acclaimed grouchy, deadpan style has established him as a master of absurdist irony and the king of rapid-fire wit.

The award-winning Montana native renowned for his expertly crafted tirades and quick fire banter with audiences and delightful musical sequences saddles up and hitches his wagon to tour the British Isles once again.

This is a comedian whose plain spoken growling indignation and acerbic observations have an unerring talent for hitting his targets with precision every time, leaving his audience hanging on every word and winning him fans all over the globe.

‘Rich Hall is a comedy phenomenon’

– THE SUN

‘Creeps up on you and ambushes your funny bone like no one else’ – THE SCOTSMAN ‘Top drawer stuff from a comedian who just seems to get better and better’ – STV

12 COMEDY

13 FOOTER

Richard Herring

The MAC Downstairs Saturday 6 May 7.45pm

Tickets £14 www.cqaf.com www.themaclive.com

Richard Herring, King of the Edinburgh Fringe, Metro columnist and the UK’s Podfather (RHLSTP, AIOTM) returns to the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, picking his favourite routines from his 12 one-man shows and crams them into 90 minutes for your delectation.

From his deconstruction of the genealogy of Christ to him proving that racists are less racist than liberals, via some of the best knob jokes in the business. Will your favourite routine make the cut?

A great introduction to this influential cult comedian for the newcomer and a welcome greatest hits for long term fans. ‘a gloriously infantile delight in mischief, provocation and inspired rudeness’ – THE GUARDIAN

14 COMEDY

Bridget Christie

The MAC Downstairs Sunday 7 May 7.45pm

Tickets £15/£13 www.cqaf.com www.themaclive.com

Multi-award winning Bridget Christie brings her critically acclaimed, sell-out show to CQAF for the first time.

The people of the UK have voted to leave the EU, even though no-one had a plan for what would happen if it did. If you didn’t want to leave the EU, or you did, but now don’t, because you haven’t got any of the things you were promised, then this is absolutely the show for you.

Voted number 1 in The Guardian’s Top 10 Comedy of 2016.

‘The most electrifying comedy I’ve yet seen on the Fringe’ – THE GUARDIAN

15 COMEDY

D RO W S I & D A E S

Eimear McBride

The Black Box Thursday 27 April 8.00pm

Tickets £5 www.cqaf.com

Eimear McBride grew up in the west of Ireland and studied acting at Drama Centre London. Her debut novel A Girl is a Half-formed Thing took nine years to publish and subsequently received the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, the Goldsmiths Prize, Desmond Elliot Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize.

Her short fiction has appeared in Dubliners 100, The Long Gaze Back and on Radio 4. She occasionally reviews for the Guardian, TLS, New Statesman and New York Times Book Review.

‘My writing is about finding ways to make language best express the life of the body and the life of the mind simultaneously. I’m particularly interested in sex, sexuality, women’s struggle for self-determination and modernism’s potential for pushing the conversation about these subjects forward.’

17 WORDS & IDEAS

Woody Woodmansey

The Black Box Saturday 29 April 6.00pm

Tickets £4 www.cqaf.com

In January 2016, the unexpected death of David Bowie rocked the globe. For millions of people, he was an icon celebrated for his music, his film and theatrical roles, and his trendsetting influence on fashion and gender norms.

Drummer Woody Woodmansey is the last surviving member of Bowie’s band The Spiders from Mars which helped launch his Ziggy Stardust persona and made David Bowie a sensation.

In this acclaimed memoir, Spider from Mars reveals what it was like to be at the white-hot centre of a star’s selfcreation and recalls the wild tours, eccentric characters, and rock ‘n’ roll excess that eventually drove the band apart.

18 WORDS & IDEAS

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Festival Marquee Monday 1 May 7.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ6 www.cqaf.com

Linton Kwesi Johnson exploded onto the scene with the powerful, angry Dread Beat and Blood, heavily influencing the punk and reggae movements of that era and political thinking in the decades to follow.

Born in Chapelton, Jamaica, Linton moved to London in 1963 and joined civil rights movement the Black Panthers while still at school. His first poems were published in 1974, followed by his first LP in 1978. In 2002 he became the first black poet to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series.

Photo: Š John Baucher

19 WORDS & IDEAS

Linton continues to tour the world, with his recordings among the top-selling reggae albums worldwide.

Amy Liptrot

The Green Room (Black Box) Monday 1 May 7.30pm

Tickets £6 www.cqaf.com

Multi-award winning memoir The Outrun is about homecoming to Orkney, about addiction and recovery, and about the arrival of a crystal-clear new voice in nature writing.

When Amy came back home from a dangerous life in London to the sheep farm where she grew up, she swam in the sea, tracked the seabirds - the Arctic terns flying so close they brushed her with their wings - and searched the night sky for The Merry Dancers.

She had found a way back. The Outrun is a beautiful study of life on the edge in all senses, about the pull between the islands and the city, about recovery and renewal.

20 WORDS & IDEAS

21 WORDS & IDEAS

Roger McGough

Festival Marquee Saturday 6 May 2.00pm

Tickets £14 www.cqaf.com

2017 marks more McGough milestones than the average year. There’s the 50th anniversary of the iconic & topselling Penguin Modern Poets No.10 - The Mersey Sound

by Roger McGough, Brian Patten and the much missed Adrian Henri.

Then the summer of ’67 epic poem of love & lust, Summer With Monika, being republished with illustrations by Chris Riddell.

Roger also has a significant birthday in November when his New and Selected Poems is published by Penguin.

Today, the beat goes on, with a selection of vintage, tough & surprising poems.

‘The patron saint of poetry’

– CAROL ANN DUFFY

‘Liverpool’s own Poet Laureate’ – DAILY POST

22 WORDS & IDEAS

23 FOOTER

The Man from Moogaga

The Green Room (Black Box) Sunday 30 April 6.00pm

Tickets £7 www.cqaf.com

Award winning music/comedy/storytelling show about football, mayhem and magic!

Throughout the performance, Aindrias de Staic uses his exquisite fiddle playing to adorn and embellish the narrative.

The Man From Moogaga is an hilarious, fantastical tale of growing up in remote small town Ireland in the 1980’s, while playing with friends on the local GAA team.

As the years pass, he and his teammates take to the road, becoming part of the Irish diaspora. This rights of passage tale is full of twists and turns with a cast of strong, peculiar characters.

‘He has taken an ancient form of storytelling and updated it with his own distinctive style. It’s an absolute pleasure to witness something so intrinsically Irish, something that is both modern and ancient at the same time.’ – IRISH TIMES

25 THEATRE

Young Stephen

Sunflower Public House Monday 1 May, 1.00pm & 8.00pm

Tickets £5 www.cqaf.com

Splodar Theatre presents Young Stephen, an adaption of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Adapted and directed by Prin Duignan and performed by Patrick McEneaney.

Young Stephen examines the early life of Stephen Dedalus from Joyce’s semiautobiographical novel.

Stephen’s young and idyllic life is turned around as he spends his first term at boarding school. We follow Stephen from isolation and loneliness to a new sense of freedom.

On his return home he finds a household torn down the middle due to the political turmoil caused by the fallout from the revelation of Charles Stewart Parnell’s affair with Kitty O’Shea.

McEneaney’s highly energetic performance expertly weaves through the characters and stories of young Stephen’s formative years.

26 THEATRE

Anton: Saviour of Belfast

The Green Room (Black Box) Wednesday 3 May 8.00pm

Tickets £5 www.cqaf.com

Notorious performance artist Anton flies into Belfast to deliver his sermon; to save the city from itself. Sacred cows will be slaughtered, nerves twinged and stances altered. Expect music, storytelling, and a bit with a teddy - the musings of a great mind of our time.

‘Often riotous laughter at this scampering stick of chalk. Thank you Anton. Truth accepted. I have been saved.’ – John Patrick Higgins

27 THEATRE

#filtered / Conscientia

The Barracks Wednesday 3 & Thursday 4 May 7.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Presented by Tinderbox Take Away Theatre. #filtered by Sarah Lyle Choose life. Choose a career and a f******g big television.

Choose a baby. Choose runny nappies, teething rings, sleep-suits, dribble-bibs and a 3wheeler pram on hire purchase. Choose life.

Conscientia: complicity, conscience, remorse by Abby Oliviera Eavan is a writer with an imminent deadline. Elusive memories keep blocking her efforts; She must face them, or her own artistic downfall.

Workshop: Small Talk The Barracks Wednesday 3 & Thursday 4 May, 10.00am - 4.00pm, £20 A practical two day workshop for theatre makers on developing small, tour-able work.

For more information and how to apply for the workshop go to www.tinderbox.org.uk

28 THEATRE

Scorch

The MAC Upstairs Tuesday 2 - Saturday 6 May, 8.00pm Sunday 7 May, 3.00pm

Tickets £12.50 www.cqaf.com www.themaclive.com

Presented by Prime Cut Productions, Scorch is the awardwinning production that astounded audiences in 2015 and 16 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

For those who don’t feel like they’re in the right life, the web is a place to be yourself.

Out in the real world though, things can be very different.

A story of first love through the eyes of a gender-curious teen, Scorch examines how the human story often gets lost amidst the headlines.

Written by Stacey Gregg and directed by Emma Jordan.

‘Stacey Gregg’s Scorch is a delicate, intelligent piece exploring the complexities of gender identity.’ – THE STAGE ‘...a thoughtful play that constantly questions who we are, and how we represent ourselves to the world and to each other.’ – THE GUARDIAN

29 THEATRE

Divided, Radical And Gorgeous (D.R.A.G.)

The Barracks Friday 5 - Sunday 7 May 8.00pm

Tickets £8 www.cqaf.com

Presented by TheatreofplucK. Back by popular demand, Northern Ireland’s first publicly funded gay theatre company returns with their delectable genderbending production.

Divided, Radical And Gorgeous is a one man/woman show created in collaboration with Belfast drag performance artist, Trudy Scrumptious. A semi-naked man bares his soul in stories of hard-assed paramilitaries and even harder drinking psychic relatives, all the while transforming himself into a torch-song singing temptress before your eyes.

Funny and poignant, D.R.A.G. is a tale that could only have been born in Belfast. Book your seat early for a crossdressing adventure through a very queer conflict story.

Directed and designed by Niall Rea. Starring Gordon Crawford.

‘Flamboyant, naughty, colourful and provocative’ – CULTURE NI

30 THEATRE

31 FOOTER

Both Sides

The Dark Horse Sunday 7 May 3.00pm & 7.30pm

Tickets £8 www.cqaf.com

Two interlocking monologues: Me Here, Me & Before Before by Jane Coyle

Last year, the reading of the Beckett-inspired monologue Me Here, Me sold out at the festival. This year, it’s back, fully fledged and accompanied by a new companion piece, Before Before, to form an intriguing double-header.

In the first, a young woman sits alone in a Paris cafe, watching the life of the street unfold. Everyone seems to have a story. Is hers about to be revealed?

In the second, a middle-aged woman views the world from a bar in Nice, looking back on a turbulent life and a loss too painful to bear.

Performed by Hannah Coyle & Libby Smyth. Directed by Rhiann Jeffrey. Music: Mark Prescott & Annette Collins Sponsored by John J Rice & Co Solicitors and Lighthouse Communications.

32 THEATRE

Mule

Waterfront Studio Sunday 7 May 7.30pm

Tickets £10/£8 www.cqaf.com

Omnibus presents their critically acclaimed production Mule.

How does the seemingly innocent adventure of a summer spent in the party capital of the world spiral out of control and end locked up in a notoriously hard core South American prison?

Inspired by the real events of the Peru Two, Awardwinning Writer-Director Kat Woods explores the complex roles of victimhood, media spin and personal tragedy in a flawless two-hander.

Delving into a dingy world of fake smiles and real tears, the web of characters involved grow and shrink in a mess of details, lies and carefully guarded truths.

‘Utterly convincing throughout, Poor and Lennon skilfully hold down their central characters while flipping in and out of a supporting cast of journalists, prisoners, clubbers and guards.’ – THE STAGE

33 THEATRE

My Father’s Chair

The MAC Friday 5 May, 7.00pm Saturday 6 May & Sunday 7 May 2.00pm & 6.00pm

Tickets £9/£6 (child under 16) www.cqaf.com www.themaclive.com

A performance for young audiences and their families about the nature of fatherhood.

What is it like to have a Dad? What’s it like to be a Dad? What makes the relationship between Dads and children unique and special?

A funny and heart-warming show for young audiences.

Age guidance: 6 years +

35 FAMILY SHOWS

Kíla for Kids

The Black Box Monday 1 May 2.00pm

Tickets £5 Under 4’s free www.cqaf.com

Outstanding Irish band Kíla play a gig especially for families as they bring their hip-shaking, smile-making, groovy brand of trad to the Black Box. With their roots in traditional Irish music, expect gorgeous melodies and some seriously fun rhythms! Kíla have created their own distinctive style of world music, which has won over audiences of all ages around the world through their nine recordings to date and their spectacular live performances.

In these special family gigs, the band will play some of their best-loved tunes as well as music they wrote for Cartoon Saloon’s award winning animated films Song of the Sea and The Secret of Kells.

‘A gig from Kíla is always a hugely popular treat for any audience. Don’t miss their wonderfully interactive and eclectic music which is brimming with energy and vitality.’ – Irish Post

36 FAMILY SHOWS

Robert Cray

Festival Marquee Thursday 27 April 8.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ25 www.cqaf.com

In association with the Belfast City Blues Festival.

Considered one of the greatest guitarists of his generation, Cray’s soulful and creative guitar work has been a dominant force in blues for over 40 years, widely recognised and acknowledged by peers and audiences alike.

A five-time Grammy winner, Cray has written or performed with everyone from Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, to John Lee Hooker, becoming one of the most popular artists in Blues & Soul music in his own right, and helping steer and shape its course along the way.

A rare opportunity is in store to witness this genre defining artist again test his talent, fuse it together with that dazzling voice, and perform some of the most powerful material in his four-decade long back catalogue.

38 MUSIC

39 FOOTER

Chip Taylor

RAOB Club, Church Street Thursday 27 April 8.00pm

Tickets £12 www.cqaf.com

In association with The Real Music Club.

Songwriters Hall of Fame 2016 inductee Chip Taylor has been writing and performing for over 50 years and shows no sign of slowing down.

The New York Times says it best, “If you only know him as the as the guy who wrote Wild Thing and Angel of the Morning — you don’t know him! Chip Taylor is making some of the most distinctive acoustic music around today.”

With the release of Little Brothers, a charming and intimate collection of new songs, he continues to engage and delight music fans everywhere.

40 MUSIC

K-X-P

Voodoo, Fountain Street Thursday 27 April 8.00pm

Tickets £8 www.cqaf.com

In association with Strange Victory K-X-P hail from Helsinki, Finland. They mix electronics, kraut, noise, rock and even techno into a hypnotic and minimalistic groove which references bands like Spacemen 3, Vangelis, Mr. Fingers, This Heat, 23 Skidoo, Suicide and Neu! K-X-P have been described as ‘a perfect synthesis of disco glitterball and skull drinking.’ (Q magazine) and their grooves‘paranoid dark disco and motorik- deep.’

(Pitchfork) The band is known for loud, shamanistic, transcendent, partly improvised live shows with repetitive drumming that have almost metal intensity. Highly recommended.

Support from Skymas.

41 MUSIC

‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ Revisited.

Oh Yeah Music Centre Thursday 27 April 8.30pm

Tickets £7 www.cqaf.com

Presented by Oh Yeah!

The Revisited series, which proved popular in the early days of Oh Yeah, returns for a special event as part of the 10-year celebrations of the Centre.

Self released in 2007 and later through indie label Jagjaguwar, the critically acclaimed debut album from Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago, inspired and impacted on a whole generation of songwriters.

To celebrate the legacy of such a startling and beautiful record Oh Yeah will reimagine the album with local artists including Joshua Burnside, Rosie Carney and Owen Denvir.

42 MUSIC

Trevor Gordon Hall with David Browne Murray

The American Bar, Dock St Thursday 27 April 8.00pm

Tickets £8 www.cqaf.com

In association with Old Flat Top. Rated one of the top 30 guitarists in the world under 30 years of age by Acoustic Guitar magazine, Trevor Gordon Hall is an instrumentalist from Philadelphia whose compositions range in style from edgy driving rhythms to soft melodic phrases.

Trevor sets himself apart by leaving no physical aspect of the guitar untouched and weaving together different textures into grand yet intimate and lyrical compositions.

His blend of sounds never overcomplicates but focuses on utilizing the instrument’s fullest creative and compositional potential guiding listeners through an igniting experience of music that isn’t just heard but felt.

43 MUSIC

Christine Bovill: Piaf

Áras Mhic Reachtain 283-289 Antrim Road Friday 28 April 8.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Christine Bovill, Scotland’s Little Sparrow and multi award-winning songwriter and performer comes to the festival with her triumphant show Piaf.

Bovill is the world’s best Piaf performer!

No pretence. No gimmicks. Simply a voice. Pure and majestic. Singing of life’s triumphs and tragedies, resisting the temptation of retelling her life story, Piaf focuses instead on the music.

‘Bovill is a great storyteller and she brings the songs to life with terrific panache and dramatic flair.’ – THE SCOTSMAN ‘That moment when you realise you are hearing something that will stay with you for the rest of your life.’ – SUNDAY TIMES

Support from Eve Belle.

44 MUSIC

William McCarthy

The Black Box Friday 28 April 8.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Music for the People Tour. William McCarthy, charismatic frontman of Brooklyn’s recently dissolved Augustines, has been touring around the world over the past six years. His band were revered for their high energy, intensely visceral live performances.

McCarthy’s life story is to be covered in the upcoming documentary Rise (Todd Howe/Big Vulture) and in this solo tour he’ll be doing what he does best – telling stories, singing songs he’s written over the past decade and a half and reading from his art journals.

These exclusive shows promise to be intimate and unique, and offer fans the chance to get up close and personal with McCarthy, who will perform his brutally honest songs in a bare, stripped back setting. A life story, in one night through song.

45 MUSIC

The Handsome Family

St Anne’s Cathedral Friday 28 April 8.00pm

Tickets £14 www.cqaf.com

Husband and wife duo The Handsome Family released their 10th studio album Unseen in September, their first release since their unexpected worldwide fame when their song Far From Any Road was picked as the True Detective Season 1 theme song.

With its unique mix of country instrumentation and intriguing surrealist lyricism, the album explores the unseen stories, people, and places of the American West, where Brett and Rennie Sparks live and shines a light on the obscure and forgotten.

The album was recorded in the Sparks’ home studio at night ‘with only hawk moths listening’ and features a rich tapestry of instrumentation which conjures images of the magical landscape of the Sparks’ New Mexico surroundings.

Support by Arborist.

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47 FOOTER

Breathe: The Pink Floyd Experience

Festival Marquee Friday 28 April 8.00pm

Tickets £14/£12 www.cqaf.com

Breathe: The Pink Floyd Experience features the cream of Ireland’s session musicians who emulate and recreate the sound and soundscape of Pink Floyd’s legendary live shows.

This acclaimed show is a career spanning celebration of Pink Floyd’s entire back catalogue, featuring songs from 1967Piper at the Gates of Dawn right up to 1994 -The Division Bell, including; Arnold Layne, One of these Days, Hey You, Another Brick In The Wall pt2, Have A Cigar, Wish You Were Here, Time, Learning to Fly, High Hopes, The Great Gig In The Sky, Money, Comfortably Numb and Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

Including the iconic 15ft circular ‘Pink Floyd’ screen, a stunning light show and LIVE Floydian style visuals, Welcome to the Machine is a real Pink Floyd Experience, a psychedelic rock trip not to be missed…

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Wreckless Eric

The Black Box Saturday 29 April 2.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Wreckless Eric is Eric Goulden. He was given the name to hide behind. After a while he realised he was stuck with it.

Onstage he hides behind nothing, he tells the truth with big open chords, squalls of feedback, lilting enchantment, bizarre stories and backchat.

His new album amERICa out now on Fire Records is enjoying universal acclaim from critics and public alike.

Nothing Eric has to say sounds like it was said by someone else first. Some people can’t take it. Thirty seven years of touring have left him in good shape. He’s coming to town.

‘One of the greatest songwriters ever to come out of Great Britain’ – Marc Riley, BBC 6 MUSIC

‘Wreckless Eric anatomizes his surroundings with the wide-eyed thrill of discovery. His American flyover reveals simmering cultural disturbances and essential beauty alike.’ – Pitchfork 49 MUSIC

Kevin Rowland (Dexys) DJ Set

The Black Box Saturday 29 April 9.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Leader of the iconic Dexys Midnight Runners, now Dexys after their successful comeback in 2012, Kevin Rowland’s musical genius has made him a highly respected and in-demand DJ. Playing for adoring audiences at clubs and festivals across the UK throughout the years, the legendary frontman and artistic visionary has developed a different class of DJ set, expressing a deep love of classic anthems and an uncanny ability for uncovering neglected pop gold.

Bringing to the club his unmistakable no-holds-barred emotional attitude which makes Dexy’s live performances so special, Kevin’s dj sets are unique.

Rowland is a true artist who keeps his revolution in total forward motion; what was, was –what is, is – and what will be, will be, when he decides it to be.

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Cara Dillon

Festival Marquee Saturday 29 April 8.00pm

Tickets £18 www.cqaf.com

A Thousand Hearts, Cara Dillon’s fifth solo album, is another small masterpiece of song and emotion, ethereal and radiant, beautifully honed and perfectly true.

The extraordinary Dungiven born singer makes music that transcends genres and crosses barriers. She has won every folk award going, but confesses to being no purist, making music that reaches beyond the constraints and limitations of tradition.

‘To me, you can go anywhere with every song. The melody and message is at the forefront of everything I do. I don’t really care where the song came from, how old it is, and who did it first. It’s whether it strikes a note in my heart, does it haunt me, do I need to sing it?’

A very special evening of music is promised.

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Heidi Talbot

The Black Box Sunday 30 April 2.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Heidi Talbot was born in Ireland, became a folk star in the USA as a member of Cherish the Ladies, and now lives in Scotland with her husband the celebrated fiddler and multi-instrumentalist John McCusker.

Subtlety is Talbot’s magic ingredient. From her gossamer voice to the delicate reworking of traditional and contemporary material that have earned her rave reviews for her recordings and live performances. .

Slipping effortlessly between musical worlds but retaining an aesthetic rooted in traditional folk, Heidi makes a very welcome visit to Belfast having just recorded her highly acclaimed new album Here We Go 1,2,3.

‘Simply vocal heaven’ – THE SUNDAY TIMES ‘A voice that’s both awestruck and tender’ – THE NEW YORK TIMES

52 MUSIC

Booker T. Jones

Festival Marquee Sunday 30 April 8.00pm

Tickets £20 www.cqaf.com

After an Out To Lunch Festival show that has achieved legendary status, when we heard Booker T was passing through Ireland again, we couldn’t not book him.

On classic Stax hits like Green Onions, Hang ‘Em High, Time Is Tight, and Melting Pot the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and winner of four Grammy Awards pushed the music’s boundaries, refined it to its essence and then injected it into the nation’s bloodstream.

Booker’s acclaimed current album Sound The Alarm features collaborations with some of the finest talents in modern soul and R&B including Mayer Hawthorne, Vintage Trouble, Gary Clark, Jr. and more.

‘Booker T. Jones is one of the legends of soul music.’ – THE NEW YORKER Support from Freedom 55s.

53 MUSIC

The Americans

Voodoo, Fountain Street Sunday 30 April 8.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ8 www.cqaf.com

The Americans perform original rock & roll rooted in traditional American music.

Formed in Los Angeles in 2010, The Americans have toured all over the United States, twice accompanying Grammy- and Oscar-winner Ryan Bingham.

In 2013 The Americans performed on the Late Show with David Letterman.

The Americans are featured throughout American Epic, a PBS/BBC documentary produced by Robert Redford, T Bone Burnett, and Jack White.

The Americans’ music is featured in the Michael Mann-produced film Texas Killing Fields, and the soundtrack includes two original compositions by the band, Kiss Your Eyes and When The Blaze Is Blue.

Support from The HardChargers.

54 MUSIC

Joan Shelley

McHugh’s Sunday 30 April 8.00pm

Tickets £8 www.cqaf.com

Joan Shelley quickly followed her acclaimed 2014 album Electric Ursa with Over and Even, a quieter, more contemplative set recorded in her home state of Kentucky.

It was an album of the year at NPR Music and in the Los Angeles Times, and was given 4 stars in Rolling Stone, who called it “a masterfully turned set of folk reflections.”

Shelley made the record with guitarist Nathan Salsburg, recording the bulk of the tracks over just two days. She has since toured the US and Europe, and will release a new album in 2017. Her latest release is the 2 song 7” single Cost of the Cold b/w Here and Whole.

55 MUSIC

Joshua Burnside

The Duke of York Sunday 30 April 8.00pm

Tickets £8 www.cqaf.com

‘Northern Irish singer-songwriter Joshua Burnside launches his debut album Ephrata. Written in a burst of a few weeks whilst living in northern Colombia, the songs dwell on questions about time, love and death in the modern age.

Balanced with a diverse palette of sounds, Burnside deftly blends alt-folk and elements of the Irish folk song tradition with South American rhythms and Eastern European influences, whilst introducing synths loops and crunching beats to create a world that shifts and swirls perspective like a lingering lucid dream.

With support on the night from the wonderful Alana Henderson (featured on the album), don’t miss this opportunity to witness two of the finest local talents working in contemporary music in Ireland.

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OACC

with Donal Scullion & The Spider Collective

First Presbyterian Church, Rosemary Street Sunday 30 April 7.30pm

Tickets £10/£8 www.cqaf.com

The Spider Collective is a 10-piece ensemble, which performs the beautiful, epic arrangements of Donal Scullion’s songs using everything from strings to glockenspiels.

Open Arts Community Choir (OACC) is an inclusive choir that has received critical acclaim, locally and nationally. It is a core part of Open Arts, arts & disability organisation, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary www.openartsni.org.

This will be a theatrical musical experience and ambitious performance with both groups joining forces for the event.

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Kíla

The Black Box Monday 1 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12/£10 www.cqaf.com

Hailed as one of Ireland’s most innovative and exciting bands. The eight members of Kíla come from different musical backgrounds and share a passion to create great music with an ability to absorb influences from across the globe.

Kíla’s sound is defined by strong percussive-like singing and gorgeous melodies driven by a serious rhythmical undercurrent. Theirs is a distinctive style of world music, which has won over audiences around the world through their nine recordings to date and their spectacular live performances.

Kíla are widely renowned for their stunning sets and surprise guest performers which might include trapeze artists, fire jugglers and belly dancers.

Their live energetic live performances have seen them continue to wow and attract new audiences over the years.

58 MUSIC

Duke Special & Ulaid with The Henry Girls

Festival Marquee Tuesday 2 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12/£10 www.cqaf.com

Drawing on their influences from the traditional music world and pre-rock and roll songwriting, Ulaid and Duke Special combine forces to create an original work called ‘Belfast Suite.’

Exploring the collection of noted historian and antiquary Francis J Bigger, they have written new compositions inspired by obscure treasures found among the Bigger collection and by the incredible story of the City of Belfast.

Playing to their strengths, the collaboration allows the stunning musicianship of Ulaid and Duke Special’s curiosity in story to shine, which delivers a unique and compelling new sound.

Opening the evening will be a set by special guests, Donegal’s magnificent The Henry Girls.

59 MUSIC

The Divine Comedy

Festival Marquee Wednesday 3 May 8.00pm

Tickets £20 www.cqaf.com

The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival very proudly presents The Divine Comedy for one night only. Since The Divine Comedy’s inception in 1989, Neil Hannon has time and again proved to be one of the UK’s best and most original songwriters.

Most recent album Foreverland exemplifies this, with references to everything from Catherine The Great to the French Foreign Legion.

Foreverland is the eleventh studio album from The Divine Comedy, and is already receiving rave reviews, with Mojo commenting ‘Funny, learned and poignant by turns, Foreverland is a masterfully-arranged, partchamber-pop record’ and Q concluding their 4* review by declaring ‘Foreverland truly excels’.

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61 FOOTER

Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker

Sunflower Public House Wednesday 3 May 8.00pm

Tickets £8 www.cqaf.com

Four-time BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominees Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker infuse ageless stories of love and loss with their exquisite command of many instruments.

Whether interpreting words centuries old or singing her own authentic lyrics, Josienne’s jewel-like voice finds the nuance in the simplest phrase and sends it, effortlessly, straight to your heart.

Ben’s musical tact and flair for arrangement provide the perfect setting, allowing the song centre-stage. They met in July 2009 and together they have resolutely forged their own path through traditional music.

Josienne and Ben’s new album Nothing Can Bring Back the Hour was one of the most anticipated releases of 2014 and reviews have been outstanding. It is nominated in the Best Album category at this year’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards along with yet another nomination for Best Duo. 62 MUSIC

The Comet is Coming

The Black Box Wednesday 3 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12 www.cqaf.com

In association with Moving on Music.

The Comet is Coming is the soundtrack to an imagined apocalypse. In the aftermath of widespread sonic destruction what sounds remain? Who will lead the survivors to new sound worlds? Who will chart the new frontier?

In a warehouse somewhere in London 2013 a meeting would take place between three musical cosmonauts.

They would pool their energies to build a vessel powerful enough to transport any party into outer space. Shabaka Hutchings (Sons of Kemet, Melt Yourself Down), Danalogue and Betamax (Soccer96).

Together they chart a path based on the encoded language of Sun Ra, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix and the BBC Radiophonic Workshops from which the band’s name emerged. It is after the end of the world, the stage is a spacecraft, the mic is an accelerator. Brace yourself for The Comet is Coming.

‘Powered by Arkestral cosmic forces, The Comet Is Coming. Brace for impact’ – The Guardian

63 MUSIC

Tir na nOg

The Duke of York Thursday 4 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12 www.cqaf.com

Tir na nOg have been described as Alt Folk, Psych Folk, and even Space Folk. What is not disputed is that Sonny Condell and Leo O’Kelly are two of the most influential writers and musicians ever to have come from Ireland.

The duo came together in 1970 and made three classic albums which were strongly championed by John Peel. As well as headlining their own shows, they toured the world with Jethro Tull, Cat Stevens, and Procol Harum.

Their latest studio album, The Dark Dance, is their first in 42 years, and it has already been cited as Classic Rock Magazine’s No.3 Prog Album of 2016. Tir na nOg are renowned for their vibrant and magical live performances.

‘Otherworldly and indubitably wise’ – UNCUT ‘They blew me away, that combination of Irishness, folk and Led Zeppelin!’ – MOJO

64 MUSIC

The Parrots

Voodoo, Fountain Street Thursday 4 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10/£8 www.cqaf.com

In association with Strange Victory.

Diego García, Alex de Lucas (bass) and Larry Balboa (drums) met at university in Madrid, began playing music together, and noisily packed out clubs in the city for their primordial, loose-hipped rock’n’roll.

The Parrots are very much garage rock purists: the only real clue that this, their debut album, was recorded some time in the past 30 years is that one song is titled Windows 98.

Otherwise, their debut album Los Niños Sin Miedo feels very much in thrall to that period in the mid- to late-60’s when the 13th Floor Elevators and The Troggs briefly ruled the airwaves.

65 MUSIC

Dana Masters

Festival Marquee Thursday 4 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12 www.cqaf.com

Join us for a ‘Supper Club’ Experience in the Festival Marquee.

Originally from the Deep South in the United States, Dana grew up with sound of soul, rhythm and blues and gospel music all around her.

Moving to Northern Ireland in 2008, her live career began in 2012 with weekly jazz sessions in McHugh’s with some of the North’s finest musicians.

From live work with BBC Radio 4 and Proms in the Park to singing regularly with Van Morrison, Dana’s reputation as one of Ireland’s top vocalists continues to gain momentum.

Calling Northern Ireland home, Dana is passionate about music as a vehicle to make people and communities vibrant.

This will be something special.

66 MUSIC

Interskalactic

Oh Yeah Music Centre Friday 5 May 8.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ10 www.cqaf.com

Hailed as the future of ska in Ireland, Interskalactic have firmly marked their place as a truly unique act on the live music circuit. Adding their modern big band style to first-wave, old-school Jamaican ska, Interskalactic have brought this infectious music back to clubs and festivals throughout the country.

An upbeat set features not just their own original music but also covers from classic ska artists including Prince Buster and The Skatalites as well as their own ska-ified versions of popular hits from the last few decades.

With an incredible few years behind them and the recent release of their debut EP, Interskalactic are set to stay on a massive upward trajectory throughout the year and beyond.

67 MUSIC

William Basinski

The Black Box Friday 5 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12 www.cqaf.com

Musical pioneer, composer and all-round innovator William Basinski makes his Belfast debut at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in what is one of the most highly anticipated shows of the festival.

Employing obsolete technology and analogue tape loops, Basinski’s haunting and melancholy soundscapes explore the temporal nature of life and resound with the reverberations of memory and the mystery of time.

Since the seminal work The Disintegration Loops, he has constantly pushed boundaries of contemporary music.

Basinski’s new album A Shadow in Time was released to universal acclaim in January, widely regarded as one of his finest works yet, and his best for some years.

This performance will feature the Irish Premiere of Basinski’s appreciation of Bowie: a shadow in time - for david robert jones.

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69 FOOTER

Harrow Fair

The Duke of York Friday 5 May 7.30pm

Tickets £8 www.cqaf.com

Harrow Fair is Miranda Mulholland (Great Lake Swimmers, Belle Starr); Andrew Penner (Sunparlour Players).

One part stomping songs that echo early country rock n roll. The other gritty ballads that sounds sweet and haunted.

This duo’s evocative and rapidly expanding collection of songs are utterly foreign, oddly familiar and deeply gratifying.

This show, in association with Frontier Promotions, could be the show of the festival.

‘A heavenly excursion into soulful country.’ – Globe and Mail

70 MUSIC

John Murry

Sunflower Public House Saturday 6 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Presented by CultureHub Eclectic Media John Murry has been Stranded in Hibernia for the past few years, but it has been too long since he last made it up to this neck of the woods.

With Americana cut from the same cloth as Elliott Smith, Lou Reed, Jeff Tweedy and Nebraska -era Springsteen, he will be hitting Belfast armed with new material from the soon to be released A Short History of Decay, the brilliant and longawaited follow-up to his spectacular solo debut The Graceless Age. Body blows be damned, John’s still on his feet. It’s hard to knock him down for the count. Sorry world, but John’s not done with you. Not yet…

71 MUSIC

Emily Barker

The Black Box Saturday 6 May 2.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Emily Barker has always been aware that she stands on the shoulders of giants.

A female artist in a male-dominated industry, she makes use of space broken down by trailblazers of the past.

New album Sweet Kind Of Blue arrives on 19 May, and it’s a sweet and tender distillation of Americana influences. Blues meets country meets gospel, Emily’s songwriting seems to capture a world that belongs both in the past and the present.

New cut Sister Goodbye is a salute to one of her true heroes, a female artist who broke down barriers, Sister Rosetta Thorpe.

72 MUSIC

Brix and the Extricated

The Black Box Saturday 6 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Brix and the Extricated is the work of Brix Smith-Start, Steve Hanley, Paul Hanley, Steve Trafford and Jason Brown, four out of five of who are former members of The Fall.

Their debut album, described by Brix as ‘a cross between PiL’s Metal Box and Blondie’, is due later this year. Their live show continues to evolve into something bigger every time they play – gargantuan bass riffs, powerhouse drumming and SmithStart’s magnetic power as frontwoman combine to form a heady mix.

Brix gave a great talk at the festival last year to a packed audience about her wonderful memoir The Rise, the Fall and the Rise, so we’re excited to have her back to play for us.

73 MUSIC

Sugarhill Gang The Godfathers of Hip Hop

Festival Marquee Saturday 6 May 8.00pm

Tickets £15 www.cqaf.com

The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival is honoured to unveil an act so steeped in hip-hop heritage that the word ‘legends’ hardly seems enough. But then, they were the first.

In 1979, as disco was in its final death throes, a new sound was emerging from the city streets across America, and in particular the block parties of urban New York, its name was hip-hop and The Sugarhill Gang were at its forefront.

Rappers Delight, officially the first rap record of all time, sampled Chic’s disco classic Good Times and was an instant worldwide phenomenon. In an instant, The Sugarhill Gang had gone from a group of unknown underground MCs to International stars.

Join us for a special night of celebration of the most important musical movement of the last century.

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75 FOOTER

Madison Violet

The Black Box Sunday 7 May 2.00pm

Tickets £10/£8 www.cqaf.com

Canadian roots duo Madison Violet have racked up an impressive array of credits over the last decade including Canadian Folk Awards, Independent Music Awards, and becoming the only Canadian act to win the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.

Having chosen a musical path that channels their parents’ vintage record collection, that comprised the likes of Neil Young and Dolly Parton, their distinct take on iconic Americana-inspired up-tempo melodies beautifully contrasts with their breathtakingly sweeping and personal lyrics.

This hallmark fusion has seen the duo sell out their own tours across North America and Europe, have the prestigious distinction of touring with contemporaries such as Ron Sexsmith and The Indigo Girls.

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Madison Violet’s is a lush, inviting sound, intimate yet country-infused and toetapping, and one which has seen them firmly labelled as amongst Canada’s finest singer/songwriters.

Ryan McMullan Rosie Carney & Owen Denvir

Festival Marquee Sunday 7 May 2.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ8 www.cqaf.com

For our final Marquee concert, we focus on some great emerging local music.

Ryan McMullan has already earned a reputation for his scintillating live shows.

Combining infectious, blues infused melodies with bold sweeping choruses, things are moving fast for the Portaferry man who comes to the Festival having just supported Ed Sheeran on a worldwide tour and before a major tour with Foy Vance.

Owen Denvir has been steadily gaining a reputation as an exceptional songwriter and a fine stage performer. Rosie Carney, this year’s Artist in Residence is a remarkable new talent and a star in the ascendant.

77 MUSIC

Keith James The Songs of Leonard Cohen 1934 - 2016

First Presbyterian Church, Rosemary Street Sunday 7 May 7.30pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Leonard Cohen was an unflinching artist, with an exact sense of prose, a wry humour and courage to wrestle with the unspoken, forgiving human frailty with the brush of each line.

Acclaimed interpreter Keith James gives you a concert of Cohen’s amazing material in the most intimate and sensitive way imaginable, exposing the solitary inner strength of his greatest songs in their original perfect form.

Amongst a concert of such songs as; Famous Blue Raincoat, Sisters of Mercy, Suzanne and Hallelujah along with songs from You want it Darker released only 10 days before his death.

‘Some of the most atmospheric and emotive music you will ever hear’ – THE INDEPENDENT

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Bang!

The Green Room (Black Box) Tuesday 2 May 7.30pm

Tickets ÂŁ4 www.cqaf.com

Music meets the Mob in this biographical documentary, narrated by Steven Van Zandt, about the life and career of Bert Berns, the most important songwriter and record producer from the sixties that you never heard of.

His hits include Twist and Shout, Hang On Sloopy, Here Comes The Night and Piece Of My Heart. He helped launch the careers of Van Morrison and Neil Diamond and produced some of the greatest soul music ever made.

Filmmaker Brett Berns brings his late father’s story to the screen with interviews with those who knew him best and rare performance footage. Included in the film are interviews with Ronald Isley, Ben E. King, Solomon Burke, Van Morrison and Paul McCartney.

81 SOUND & VISION

Morphine: Journey of Dreams

The Green Room (Black Box) Sunday 7 May 2.00pm

Tickets £4 www.cqaf.com

On July 3, 1999, at the age of 46, Morphine frontman Mark Sandman collapsed on stage in Rome and was pronounced dead of a heart attack shortly after.

Morphine didn’t, and still don’t, sound like any other band. Part of it was their unusual lineup, consisting of Dana Colley’s baritone saxophone, Billy Conway’s drums, and Sandman’s homemade twostring slide bass, creating what Sandman dubbed “low rock.”

Journey of Dreams is the definitive tale of a thrilling musical journey cut tragically short, featuring interviews with surviving Morphine members and many of the musicians inspired by the Morphine legacy today.

‘Morphine is one of those bands you keep in your arsenal because young people should really hear that’ – HENRY ROLLINS

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Lost in France

The Green Room (Black Box) Sunday 7 May 4.00pm

Tickets £4 www.cqaf.com

The acclaimed documentary by Irish director Niall McCann, Lost In France explores the startling rise of Scotland’s independent music scene in the 1990s, led by cult label Chemikal Underground.

Featuring The Delgados, Bis, Mogwai, Arab Strap, Franz Ferdinand and other seminal acts, this is an intimate film exploring friendship, creativity and music.

On the journey, the viewer revisits a defining, chaotic trip early in the musicians’ careers, dramatically culminating re-staging a concert in Brittany that connects the characters in life (and on stage) for the first time in many years.

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Singalonga Wickerman

The Black Box Sunday 7 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Dust down your best Scottish accent, dress up as your favourite character and come join in with the singing, buttock-slapping and dialogue of this horror classic.

Your hosts, Dr. Bramwell and Eliza Skelton, will get things warmed up with a little live music, lead you through the actions and lyrics for the songs then, at the Witching Hour, you’ll be given a pagan hymn book and goody bag full of surprises, we’ll roll the original film and may god have mercy on your soul.

‘Frankly Genius!’ – Guardian ‘Terrific fun’ – Director, Robin Hardy

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85 FOOTER

V U

Internal Celestial Samuel Kennedy

Arts and Disability Forum 13 April – 5 May Opening hours: Tue - Fri 11am - 3pm

Artist Talk: Thursday 27 April, 1pm www.adf.ie

Belfast artist Samuel Kennedy obtained his Masters degree from St. Andrews University, specialising in the History of Art and now works as an artist in Belfast, outside the mainstream.

Heavily influenced by the Fauvist and Symbolist movements of the early 20th century, his work is vibrant and colourful, highly stylised and incorporates symbols from many artistic traditions.

An exploration of the visionary experience provides Samuel’s main theme in these works, with particular reference to the internal interpretation of the symbols that surround us. This inner world that we all experience is termed, by Samuel, as the Internal Celestial.

87 VISUAL ART

And Europe Will Be Stunned Yael Bartana

Golden Thread Gallery 23 March - 13 May Tue - Fri 11am - 5pm Sat 11am - 4pm

www.goldenthreadgallery. com

Yael Bartana’s deeply stirring and contentious film trilogy And Europe Will Be Stunned is both of its time and ahead of it. Bypassing cliché, this bold and subversive project explores propaganda, longing and migration through an uneasy fusion of fiction and reality that is hard to untangle.

Experiencing all three films in a gallery environment gives us a space to contemplate and question the human dilemmas that shape the world we inhabit.

‘Sombre, provocative and superbly well done, with a strangely perfect, perfectly disturbing, yet ineffably wry confusion of ideology, geography, propaganda and history.’ – Roberta Smith, New York Times This exhibition is in association with Artangel, London.

The trilogy And Europe Will Be Stunned is part of the Artangel collection. More information can be found at www.artangel.org.uk

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89 FOOTER

Snake Clare Strand

Belfast Exposed 28 April to 17 June Tue - Sat 11am - 5pm

Public Preview: Thursday 27 April, 7-9pm Artist Talk: Friday 28 April, 1pm www.belfastexposed.org

Snake by Clare Strand is a new body of work exploring a selection of images sourced from the artist’s extensive personal archive. Being realised as an exhibition for the first time, and following on from the publication Girl Plays with Snake recently published by MACK Books, Snake is a multidimensional presentation of photography, text and technology colluding in the gallery space.

Women and girls are pictured holding, playing with and gazing fondly at the snakes, juxtaposed alongside automatic generated texts that touch on the absurd, the intimate and the uncanny.

Referencing the snake as the well-known subject of allegory and metaphor, the exhibition is also a continuation of Strand’s ongoing engagement with the scrapbooks, magazines, photographs and research that she has been obsessively collecting since her mid-teens.

90 VISUAL ART

Pax Aisling McCoy

Belfast Exposed 28 April - 27 May Tue - Sat 11am - 5pm

Public Preview: Thursday 27 April, 7-9pm www.belfastexposed.org

Belfast Exposed Futures presents PAX, the first chapter of a longer-term project

by Aisling McCoy, exploring the former Templehof airport in Berlin. McCoy’s primary focus is upon the relationships between photography and architecture in how we construct meaning, and the overlap between image making and place making.

PAX uses photography as a medium to engage with an architectural site that carries a diversely loaded and poignant history; originally built by the Nazi Air Ministry as the ‘Gateway to Europe’, before falling under US control following WWII, the site now functions as both a public park, and an emergency refugee shelter currently housing approximately 800 asylum seekers as they wait to be granted refugee status.

91 VISUAL ART

School of Thought Jane Butler

The Green Room (Black Box) 27 April - 28 May

www.janebutler.com www.blackboxbelfast.com

Butler attempts to recreate elusive encounters through ephemeral installations, architectural interventions, and drawings. Constantly experimenting with the ungraspable and imperceptible, Butler likes to give things attention that would usually go unnoticed.

Often containing references to the self and consciousness, the work also investigates a passing of time, and Butler seeks to challenge this in the materials she chooses, drawing on their unique qualities.

School of Thought is a body of work focusing on an increasing interiority within the artist’s practice and an attempt to create a site of momentarily stillness and contemplation in this busy public space.

Butler (b. Belfast 1986) studied Fine and Applied Art at University of Ulster, Belfast specializing in sculpture and installation.

92 VISUAL ART

Belfast Bred

Departs Sawers Deli, Fountain St. Saturday 29 April, 10.30am, Saturday 6 May, 10.30am

Tickets £22 www.cqaf.com

Kabosh present Belfast Bred is a unique tour which fuses theatre, history, a walking tour and the food offering of Belfast today.

With your guide Barney, a chef from the RMS Titanic who has spent the last 104 years frozen in an iceberg, you will discover Belfast’s rich heritage and get a first-hand fascinating and hilarious insight into the food that Belfast was built on!

Along your way you will sample the culinary delights on offer from Sawers Deli, Mourne Seafood, The John Hewitt, McHugh’s Bar and ends at the world famous St Georges Market.

‘A revelation - a wonderful tour that will transform your perception of Belfast’ – Radio 4 Tours last approximately 2 1/2 hours. Please be advised that Belfast Bred is a walking tour so dress appropriately.

To get a feel for the tour you can download the Belfast Bred App – available for free on the Apple App Store – just search Belfast Bred!

94 SPECIAL EVENTS

Joel Mawhinney

McHugh’s Saturday 29 April 3.00pm

Tickets £8 www.cqaf.com

In association with Seedhead Arts.

Joel Mawhinney is not like other teenagers. Forsaking higher education like most of his peers, Joel has chosen the way of the mentalist. What good is higher education to someone who can predict newspaper headlines, who can deduce over six hundred personal bank PIN codes in a year, who basically can read your mind. You can’t get a degree in that.

In this all new show, Joel will attempt to break inside your mindset, and alter the way you see your biggest fears. Expected the unexpected, the bizarre and the miraculous, in this twisted, yet hilarious experience. What are you afraid of?

95 SPECIAL EVENTS

Mary Ann McCracken Walking Tour

Meet front gates of City Hall Sunday 30 April 11.00am

Tickets £10 www.cqaf.com

Mary Ann McCracken (1770-1866) lived in the heart of what is now Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter and, throughout her long life, campaigned tirelessly against injustice and poverty. Born into a mercantile Presbyterian family, she not only witnessed, but was a player in some of the most dramatic events to unfold in the city.

Local folk-singers, Jane Cassidy and Maurice Leyden lead a walking tour around ‘old’ Belfast to the places associated with Mary Ann. Interweaving local folk-song, historical narrative and extracts from her letters, Maurice and Jane bring to life a city when revolution was in the air and the dawn of the 19th Century promised a new, more enlightened age.

The walk will take 1 hr 15 mins and will finish at Clifton Street Cemetery.

96 SPECIAL EVENTS

Artist in Residence Rosie Carney At just 20, Donegal-based Rosie Carney has already experienced more of the tumult of life than most her age.

A struggle with depression and anorexia has left her determined to help others by being vocal about her own experiences through her music and her blog.

Through her raw poetical talent, her lived experience is channelled into her beautiful music and singing which, at times, recalls the vivid and imaginative folk ambience of Joni Mitchell.

It is no doubt that Carney is a beacon of hope to young people everywhere, and tracks like the recent Awake Me positions her as a phenomenal talent still just in her formative years.

97 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

At a Glance

Thursday 27 April Robert Cray 8.00pm Festival Marquee pg 36

Chip Taylor 8.00pm RAOB Club pg 38

Trevor Gordon Hall 8.00pm The American Bar pg 41

Eimear McBride 8.00pm The Black Box pg 15

K-X-P 8.00pm Voodoo pg 39

For Emma, Forever Ago 8.30pm Oh Yeah pg 40

William McCarthy 8.00pm The Black Box pg 43

Christine Bovill 8.00pm Áras Mhic Reachtain pg 42

Sofie Hagen 8.00pm Sunflower pg 4

Breathe: Pink Floyd Exp 8.00pm Festival Marquee pg 46

The Handsome Family 8.00pm St Anne’s Cathedral pg 44

Friday 28 April

Saturday 29 April Belfast Bred 10.30am Meet Sawers Deli pg 92

Joel Mawhinney 3.00pm McHugh’s pg 93

Cara Dillon 8.00pm Festival Marquee pg 49

Wreckless Eric 2.00pm The Black Box pg 47

Woody Woodmansey 6.00pm The Black Box pg 16

Sofie Hagen 8.00pm Sunflower pg 4

Kevin Rowland (DJ set) 9.00pm The Black Box pg 48

Sunday 30 April McCracken Walking Tour 11.00am Front of City Hall pg 94

Open Arts Choir 7.30pm Rosemary St Ch. pg 55

Joshua Burnside 8.00pm Duke of York pg 54

Heidi Talbot 2.00pm The Black Box pg 50

Booker T. Jones 8.00pm Festival Marquee pg 51

Joan Shelley 8.00pm McHughs pg 53

Man from Moogaga 6.00pm The Green Room pg 23

Tony Law 8.00pm The Black Box pg 6

The Americans 8.00pm Voodoo pg 52

Young Stephen 1.00pm & 8.00pm Sunflower pg 24

Linton Kwesi Johnson 7.00pm Festival Marquee pg 17

Kíla 8.00pm The Black Box pg 56

Kila for Kids 2.00pm The Black Box pg 34

Amy Liptrot 7.30pm Green Room pg 18

Monday 1 May

Tuesday 2 May Film: Bang!

7.30pm The Green Room pg 79

D.Special/Ulaid /Henry Girls 8.00pm Festival Marquee pg 57

Jeremy Hardy 8.00pm The Black Box pg 8

Marcel Lucont 8.00pm McHugh’s pg 7

Scorch 8.00pm The MAC pg 27

Wednesday 3 May Workshop: Small Talk The Barracks 10am – 4pm pg 26

The Divine Comedy 8.00pm Festival Marquee pg 58

Scorch 8.00pm The MAC pg 27

#filtered/Conscientia 7.00pm The Barracks pg 26

The Comet is Coming 8.00pm The Black Box pg 61

Josienne Clarke/Ben Walker 8.00pm Sunflower pg 60

#filtered/Conscientia 7.00pm The Barracks pg 26

Kieran Hodgson 8.00pm The Black Box pg 9

Tir na Nog 8.00pm Duke of York pg 62

Dana Masters 8.00pm Festival Marquee pg 64

Scorch 8.00pm The MAC pg 27

The Parrots 8.00pm Voodoo pg 63

Thursday 4 May

Anton: Saviour of Belfast 8.00pm The Green Room pg 25

Friday 5 May My Father’s Chair 7.00pm The MAC pg 33

D.R.A.G 8.00pm The Barracks pg 28

William Basinski 8.00pm The Black Box pg 66

Harrow Fair 7.30pm Duke of York pg 68

Rich Hall 8.00pm Festival Marquee pg 10

Scorch 8.00pm The MAC pg 27

Belfast Bred 10.30am Meet Sawers Deli pg 92

Roger McGough 2.00pm Festival Marquee pg 20

Brix and the Extricated 8.00pm The Black Box pg 71

My Father’s Chair 2.00pm & 6.00pm The MAC pg 33

Richard Herring The MAC 7.45pm pg 12

Sugarhill Gang 8.00pm Festival Marquee pg 72

Emily Barker 2.00pm The Black Box pg 70

D.R.A.G 8.00pm The Barracks pg 28

Scorch The MAC 8.00pm pg 27

Interskalactic 8.00pm Oh Yeah pg 65

Saturday 6 May John Murry 8.00pm Sunflower pg 69

Sunday 7 May Madison Violet 2.00pm The Black Box pg 74

Mule 7.30pm Waterfront Studio pg 31

Film: Morphine 2.00pm The Green Room pg 80

Songs of Leonard Cohen 7.30pm 1st Presbyterian Church pg 76

My Father’s Chair 2.00pm& 6.00pm The MAC pg 33

Bridget Christie The Mac 7.45pm pg 13

Ryan McMullan 2.00pm Festival Marquee pg 75

D.R.A.G 8.00pm The Barracks pg 28

Scorch 3.00pm The MAC pg 27

SingalongaWickerman 8.00pm The Black Box pg 82

Both Sides 3.00pm & 7.30pm The Dark Horse pg 30 Film: Lost in France 4.00pm The Green Room pg 81

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