HWCH 2018 – The Line Up

The annual showcase and schmooze that is Hard Working Class Heroes returns to Dublin town with a shiny new line up and a cast of conference delegates that will have its Chocolate Factory audience in their savvy thrall.

HWCH returns to the capital, once again taking up its regular parking spot over the last three ‘working’ days of September – Thurs 27th to Sat 29th incl. Its gargantuan appetite will consume the best part of central Dublin, when it takes up residence in five main city centre venues as well as the Chocolate Factory situated in nearby Kilmainham, wherein its conference will take place.

Fifty acts have been announced for HWCH 2018, ROE, AE MAK, THE WOOD BURNING SAVAGES & LAOISE among them. Selected by an independent panel of national and international industry professionals, these are artists deemed to be ‘export ready’. In fact, some like ROE, TWBS and AE Mak have already played international showcase festivals such as Eurosonic and The Great Escape.

The fifty were boiled down from an overall total of 600 applicants who submitted their music through First Music Contact’s ‘Breaking Tunes’ platform. Of the lucky fifty, over two thirds have not previously been showcased.

The Wood Burning Savages

Lives happen on the Friday and Saturday across five venues – Doyle’s, The Grand Social, Tengu, Tramline and The Workman’s.

Festival goers can expect fireworks from the likes of TWBS, Pillow Queens and New Pagans, while at the other end of the spectrum Galwegian Laoise and four-piece Wild Youth will bring their respective brands of alt-electro & RnB/Funk pop to the mix.

Other artists being featured over the two days include serial collaborator 1000 Beasts, eir Other Voices Open Call winner Maria Kelly, Sony-signed Dublin popper Tim Chadwick, bluesy bluegrass aficionado Leila Jane, ambient electro-experimenter Feather Beds and fast rising R&B/Hip Hop artist Damola.

Damola

The festival line up also features semi-seasoned pros such as ROE and AK Mak, both of whom have been raking up the airplays, streams and reviews both at home and across the sea, especially in the UK, as well as thought-provoking lyricist and pared-back instrumentalist Rosa Nutty.

In addition, it ushers in veritable newbies such as Cork three-piece True Tides fresh from a stint at home-county Indiependence and supporting DervSwerve fave Fenne Lilly, BBC Radio fave Kitt Philippa (whose received support from our very own Tom Robinson), and Jeff Buckley vocal-doppelganger, 22 year-old Sam Wickens.

The festival opening night is dedicated to some serious schmooze, with an artist/delegate networking event scheduled to take place in the Chocolate Factory. Skint musicians take note – free gig to all with a Breaking Tunes profile.

Ireland’s largest gathering of music industry professionals, the panel of delegates (announced at time of going to print) includes Molly O’Brien of Beggars Music, Almudena Heredero of Primavera Pro/Sound, Paul Jones of Rough Trade Records, Oskar Strajn of ESNS, Sarah Casey of UTA and Daniel Horitz of Lex Records. The conference will include workshops and panels focussing on key topics at the heart of cracking the tough nut that is the music industry.

For more information on Hard Working Class Heroes, log onto the website at http://hwch.net/ – details of tickets below.

To get to know some of the artists lined up to play this annual extravaganza, tune into our HWCH 2018 playlist here. Don’t forget to give us a follow on Twitter and/or Facebook! 🙂

Tickets via Eventbrite are priced as follows (excluding charges):

Delegate Ticket (Thursday, Friday & Saturday) €55  /  Live Ticket (Friday & Saturday) €35

Conference Ticket (Thursday, Friday & Saturday) €25 / Live Ticket (Friday/Saturday) €25

Single Venue Ticket €12.50 (only available on the door at live music venues)

HWCH18 Venues | The Workman’s Club, Tramline, Tengu, Doyles and  The Grand Social

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/hard-working-class-heroes-2018-tickets-48066392875

22 Irish Acts Will Be Showcased At International Festivals Inc TGE & Primavera

Music From Ireland Announces Names of Irish Acts Being Showcased at Both TGE18 and Primavera Pro. 22 Irish Music Artists Will Line Out for Two of the Biggest Summer Festivals On The Euro Circuit

Music from Ireland has announced the names of those emerging Irish music artists selected to play two of this Summer’s biggest showcase festivals. Of the 22 up and coming acts, 19 have been lined up for Brighton-based The Great Escape while a further three will pitch up for Primavera Pro, the ‘pro-am’ leg of renowned Spanish summerfest, Primavera Sound. Two of the total acts, Le Boom and Fontaines DC will be showcased at both festivals.

TGE18, which will run from 17th to 19th May, will play host to nineteen Irish acts out of a staggering total line up of 450 emerging music artists set to light up the southern seaside town across the three days of the festival. The Irish team lining out for TGE18 is, in alpha order,

Æ MAK | ÁINE CAHILL |   JOSHUA BURNSIDE  | THE ESKIES | 

FONTAINES D.C.  |JEALOUS OF THE BIRDS |  DAVID KEENAN | DERMOT KENNEDY  |

LE BOOM  |  CATHERINE McGRATH | MONCRIEFF  | PILLOW QUEENS  |

REWS | RUTHANNE | TIM CHADWICK | TOUTS  |

LILLA VARGEN |WHENYOUNG  | WYVERN LINGO 

Roe Photo: Hotpress

Music from Ireland will host two Irish music showcase events at TGE on Thursday 17th May – details here:

10.30 – 11.30am Thursday, Networking Brunch (as part of Culture Ireland’s GB18 programme of events).

12.00 – 5.00pm Thursday, Series of Lives The Prince Albert venue, line up as follows:-

12.00 Tim Chadwick

13.00 Pillow Queens

14.00 Fontaines D.C.

15.00 RuthAnne

16.00 Æ Mak

In addition to the 19 artists giggin’ and rockin’ out at The Great Escape, two of those plus a further three are being given the chance to peddle their wares at the Primavera Pro spin-off of the illustrious Primavera Sound. The two lucky double dippers are Fontaines DC and Le Boom, who’ll be joined at PP by singer/songwriters Ailbhe Reddy, Roe and Paddy Hanna.

This is the first year that up and coming Irish music artists have been invited to showcase at the event which is a magnet for (Spanish & South American) industry insiders, tipsters and professionals. We have no doubt that all five acts will do themselves proud and then some. The Irish PP showcase is scheduled for Friday, 1st June at the Day Pro Stage.

All credit to Culture Ireland and Music from Ireland for working together to ensure the funding was put in place to support the promotion of Irish music through expansion into new global territories.

Listen to sounds by all 22 acts on out Music from Ireland – TGE & Primavera Playlist here.

It’s An All-Irish Go-Live for Forbidden Fruit

With a line up that features The War on Drugs, Kieran Hebden’s Four Tet, Warpaint, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Superorganism, the RHK-based Bulmer’s Forbidden Fruit Festival looks set to be one of the highlights of #summerfest2018. Scheduled to run across the full June Bank Holiday weekend, #FFF18 is a renowned hot-bed for both established and emerging ‘left-field’ music acts. Now, to add fuel to its already scorching fire, the Dublin-based music festival has just announced the return of its All-Irish Bulmers Live Stage featuring twenty Irish acts playing across the three day festival programme.

Rising stars such as Ailbhe Reddy, Lilla Vargen, Erica Cody, AE Mak, the Fontaines and Sylk will join the already stellar cast lined up to entertain the hordes set to take over the grounds of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham from 2nd to 4th June next. To celebrate all things emerging and Irish, we’ve whipped up a short Bulmers Live Stage Playlist to help you get both in the know and more importantly, in the mood for the first big Irish festival of Summer 2018. Listen to it below,

In what is has become an annual feature at FFF, the Bulmer’s Live Stage – 100% Irish Music Artists – is platform that plays host to a selection of emerging artists over the three days, promoting the best in new Irish music

Forbidden Fruit will play host to an array of innovative and off-mainstream acts during its three day festorama over the June bank holiday. With acts as diverse as Four Tet, The War on Drugs, Glass Animals, and Bonobo set to light up its many stages, #FFF18 once again looks set to be the ‘hard-shoulder’ of the Irish festival circuit. Amen to that!

Tickets for Bulmer’s Forbidden Fruit Vary in Package/Price

Monday Day (4th) €64.50

Two Day Weekend (Sat 2nd & Sun 3rd) – €119.00

Three Day (Sat 2nd, Sun 3rd, Mon 4th) – €162.50

All tickets available via Ticketmaster.ie

Listen to the DervSwerve #FFF18 Bulmers Live Stage Playlist here,

Biggin’ It Up – BBC Music’s Festival Quartet Is On Its May

The Biggest Weekend, BBC Music’s four-fold festival weekend is on its way back this May Bank Holiday (UK) weekend. Ahead of this bumper four-in-one festivale, we took a look at the who, the what and the when …

Date for the Diary

BBC Music’s ‘The Biggest Weekend’ takes place across four days, kicking off on 25th May and closing out on 28th. The where might take some negotiation, not to mind a Tardis, as the four x four festival relay takes in Belfast (N.Irl), Coventry (Eng), Perth (Scot) and Swansea (Wal).

Catering for BBC Music fans across the entire British Isles, the festival organisers have excelled themselves with their choice of venues:

• Belfast – Titantic Slipway
• Coventry – War Memorial Park
• Perth – Scone Palace
• Swansea – Singleton Park

Tickets

Over 175,000 tickets will go on sale – but be warned, the bulk of these will be available only to residents in the immediate locale, with the balance being offered to the wider public. For details on how to get your CLICK HERE.

Who’s Doing What & Where?

Naturally, all the ‘talk talk’ is about Princess TayTay. Fan’s of lil’ Miss Swift will need to hit Swansea on Sunday 27th if they wish to get a sight of this bird! And if that wasn’t enough for one Welsh city, Taylor’s BAE Ed Sheeran will be looping the loop on stage at Singleton Park the evening before, Saturday 26th.

“So excited to be part of The Biggest Weekend this summer! I’ve always loved performing at Big Weekend with Radio 1 and this year it’s going to be even bigger. Bring it on Swansea!” – Ed Sheeran

BBC Music’s The Biggest Weekend line up boasts some of the biggest names in music; from Beck and Noel Gallagher with his flock of High Flying Birds, to Snow Patrol and Courtney Barnett. At present, the big Welsh name playing the festival, The Manic Street Preachers, are pitching up at the Belfast docks rather than Swansea harbour. However, former uber-group of the 80s, Simple Minds, will be flying the home flag when they take to the stage in Perth.

It’s Not All Guitars!

Not all of the music acts playing across the four-day festival are from the world of rock & pop. Contemporary violinist Nigel Kennedy will pitch up for not just one but two festival slots, as he’s set to play an opening night performance with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on Friday 25th in Perth, followed up with date with the BBC Concert Orchestra on the closing night in Cov.

Speaking of the festival, the icon of new-wave classical commented: “I’m inspired by all kinds of music from across the world. I’m also inspired by people and by passion. Music should not be pigeon-holed and I have always believed that. So it’s great to be involved in an event which celebrates diversity across live musical genres with artists new and old. In Perth, I’ll be performing Bach and Gershwin with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and in Coventry, Highlights of the New Four Seasons and Hendrix with the BBC Concert Orchestra.”

And There’s More 

There are more names still to be added to this ridiculously good line up, including a plethora of emerging artists from the ranks of BBC Introducing. Elsewhere, the BBC Big Four – BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3 and 6 Music will be on curation duties.  They’ll be providing extensive coverage of the festival over the four day period. Further coverage will be provided by 1Xtra and Asian Network.

Finally,

Ticket for BBC Music ‘The Big Weekend’ will go on sale Monday 12th February, 2018. The demand will be massive so make you get in on the action early doors. For those of us unlucky enough not to be in a position to attend any of the four days/locations, there will also be extensive TV coverage on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four. The festival will be available to watch via BBC iPlayer, mobile and online.

For more details follow BBC Music on Twitter,

DervSwerve

PS Before we go, we’ve whipped up a wee #TBW18 playlist for you. We’ll add to it as additional acts are announced.

Trondheim Calling Set to Showcase Its Most Exciting Line-Up Yet

Trondheim Calling, Norway’s annual mid-Winter conference and new music showcase festival, will return at the beginning of February with what is probably its most exciting line up yet.

Trondheim Calling, Norway’s large music conference and second largest music showcase festival is getting ready for its 8th mid-Winter outing. The festival, which runs from 1st to 3rd February, hopes to improve on its staggering 2018 statistics. Last year, saw the festival draw an overall audience of 8,000, of which 1,300 attended its conference and, more importantly, on the live-music side, it enabled 100+ music artists to showcase their sounds to a mixed bag of fans, industry pros and media.

In addition to the Clarion Congress, multiple venues across Trondheim will open their doors to festival goers over the three-day period. Each year, as the festival grows in size, more and more of the local bars and music venues involve themselves in the ‘confest’ which has become the pride of Trondheim.

The conference, or business end of TC, takes place across multiple rooms in the local Clarion Congress, whose facilities are second to none, and which, having housed the conference for several years, has become almost a home from home for attending delegates. The laid back atmosphere and smooth clockwork-like running of all things TC related, is a testament to the seamless planning and organisational skills of both hotel management and festival organisers.

This year’s conference programme includes talks on topics such as setting up a PR team, how radio can work for music artists, and music rights and agreements, as well as interactive songwriting and studio engineering/production workshops. The programme will also see the return of last year’s inaugural Norway Calling.

This element of the programme gives five ‘export-ready’ artists the chance to pitch both themselves and their music to a forum that includes media delegates. Constructive feedback is provided by a carefully selected panel of international music professionals including media and management; this year’s panel includes Elspeth Merry from Island Records and Angelina Muth of 4 Music Berlin.

From a musical perspective, with venues set to bursting, and the most diverse line-up yet on offer, the festival should prove to be even more successful than its jam-packed, hyper-energised 2017 predecessor. “Our main purpose is to celebrate new Norwegian music, showcase artists who are on their way to a breakthrough and raise the level of competence in Norwegian music industry,” says festival chief Thomas Ryjord. And, looking at the artist line-up for this year’s festival, the organisers have well and truly excelled in bringing together the most exciting and diverse ‘mixum gatherum’ of homegrown talent to hit TC yet.

2018 will mark the return of fun lovin’ quasi-punkers Slotface, whose debut album Try Not To Freak Out and live performances shredded the 2017 international scene. It also heralds the return of the warrioresque Farao, whose latest album is set to drop this year. Other acts to note, are dark electro-pop band Ponette, shimmering Indie free-spirit Sol Heilo, experimental art-pop band Whales and this Lake, guitar-rockers Killer Kid Mozart and electronic act Atella, whose new EP features the wonder that is Aurora.

Shout outs also to Gundelach, whose recent collaboration with Ary, Games, was absolutely gorgeous, and also to Natalie Sandtorv, Daniele Reyes and Hanne Mjoen. All very different but equally wonderful artists.

Party Animals need look no further than Rick Ashtray. Hugely popular, this off-kilter quasi-grunge cum new wave outfit will leave no cobwebs un-blown. Get there early.

Check out our TC inspired playlist below. If you’re already booked to go to the festival it’ll help get you hyped, if not, well, it might just inspire you to book that ticket and hop on that train or plane. Whatevz, enjoy!

For full details on Trondheim Calling, both conference and festival, and information about how to get tickets/packages, please go to the official festival website, https://trondheimcalling.no/

To keep up to date with news, views and music reviews, follow DervSwerve on Facebook and Twitter.

Call Still Open for Music Artists Wishing to Play TGE18

Artist Registration still open for TGE18. All musical shapes ‘n sizes eligible to apply. TGE18 in partnership with Liverpool-based music publisher Sentric Music.

Hear ye, hear ye. It’s official. Artist Registration for The Great Escape 2018 is officially open. Well, actually it’s been open since mid-Winter; think of this as just a gentle nudge. Back at the end of November, organisers of the annual Brighton bash announced the first 50 acts to be included in the 2018 line-up together with the promise that a further 400 acts would be added to the mix in the New Year.

Well here we are, and 400 prime live lots at TGE18 are going begging! Registration, which will close on 12th February, 2018, is open to all music artists from DJs through singer-songwriters to collectives.

Included in the first tranche of TGE’ers for 2018 were:

Aine Cahill, Dream State, Jerry Williams, KOPS, Lewis Capaldi, M.I.L.K., Pale Waves, Sam Fender, Stereo Honey and Valeras. You can check them out on our TGE18 First Taste Playlist below.

If you’re ‘in music’ and wish to participate in TGE18, apply to play HERE. Applications are free. Submissions will be reviewed by the TGE bookings team and the lucky artists contacted directly after applications close.

This year’s festival which will run from 17th to 19th May, 2018, will be hosted in partnership with independent music publisher, Sentric Music.

For more details on The Great Escape 2018 go to the official festival website – HERE. Check out our Spotify TGE – FirstTaste playlist here.

ESNS18 – The Skinny

ESNS18 or Eurosonic Noorderslag 2018 is set to kick off in the Dutch city of Gronigen in just under two weeks. Bigger than its Norwegian counterpart by:Larm, and fast closing in on the UK’s TGE, we ask just what is this European Music Conference and Showcase Festival all about?

Eurosonic Noorderslag is a Dutch based annual music showcase festival and conference in the mould of by:Larm and The Great Escape, which runs over four days each January. The first three ‘Eurosonic’ days feature a lineup of artists from across the length and breadth of Europe, while the fourth and last ‘Noorderslag’ day focusses solely on Dutch acts.

Inaugurated in 1986, the four-day festival is renowned for breaking new music acts onto the international scene. Previous ‘ones to watch’ who played the annual music-fest include Hozier, Royal Blood, Dua Lipa, Aurora, Mø and Vök.

This year’s ESNS will showcase acts from 30+ countries over its four day duration. Just over 120 European acts, from Finland down to Portugal, and from Iceland across to the Ukraine, will display their musical wares in over 15 music venues across the Dutch city of Groningen. The final Nooderslag ‘Dutch day’ is based in De Oosterpoort.

Jade Bird on “Cathedral.”

This year’s lineup includes some of the best of emerging artists from not just the UK and Ireland, but the Nordics, as well as central and eastern Europe. UK&I music fans will be familiar with a lot of the confirmed names including Soule, Broen, Sigrid, Pale Honey, and IDER.

To view the full music festival timetable – CLICK HERE.

A delegate conference runs simultaneously with the music festival. Its four-day programme includes the EPIC (European Production Innovation Conference), Buma Music Meets Tech and the European Talent Exchange Program (ETEP), founded by and unique to ESNS.

While EPIC focuses on innovation at festivals and venues, Buma Music meets Tech is an innovation programme that aims to support and promote start-ups; this year the topic of Blockchain is taking centre stage. Elsewhere on the conference programme ETEP will host an Artist Exchange Meeting, A Festival Lounge and Marketing Meeting (*Please note that attendance at ETEP is by invitation only).

GREAT DANES

This year’s Eurosonic festival is celebrating music from Denmark. ESNS18 will showcase performances by Danish artists together with having the Danish music scene front and centre of its delegate conference.

A part of the Nordic music region oft overshadowed by its Norwegian and Swedish neighbours, the last few years have seen Denmark’s new music scene thrive with the emergence of artists such as Blaue Blume, Palace Winter, MØ, and Danish-Irish artist Lukas Graham.

This year’s Danish delegation includes the sublime August Rosenbaum, dreamy electro-popper Soleima and EBBA award-winning Copenhagen trio Off Bloom whose hook filled blend of electro-trip-pop is addictive.

We’ve pulled together a diverse Denmark Blooms playlist featuring sounds from all 22 Danish acts that will perform live in Groningen.

BUGGER BREXIT

This year’s UK contingent is super exciting, not least because it includes several artists supported by BBC Introducing including the utterly captivating Fenne Lily, unique, life-poet Isaac Gracie, country-‘fluenced clear-voiced Jade Bird, turbo-voiced Sound of 2018′er Sam Fender, kickass Mancunian left-fielders Pale Waves, and Bristol-boy Keir, whose electrifying voice and brooding sounds have sent shivers down the spines of many a seasoned music pro. Special mention must go to BBC Introducing Devon‘s sublime Wildwood Kin – a DervSwerve fave!

Festival-goers are in for a real treat, as this year’s Brit line-up is weighed down with some serious talent. UK Tipsters won’t be surprised to see the inclusion of ‘ones to watch’ supergroup, Superorganism, in the ESNS frey!

https://open.spotify.com/user/11153381892/playlist/3RXH2A5QnZxNZQKWUlZ7tb

NOTFORGETTINGTHENORDICS

Denmark aside, the Nordics is fast gaining a solid rep for producing seriously unique, left-field and above all, memorable music artists. We’ve sampled a small selection of the Nordic wow-factor in our ESNS – Nordiculously Good playlist. Long-term fans of the blog will be more than familiar with some of the ‘includees’.

THE IRISH FACTOR

The Irish have a long history, dating back to the 90’s, of playing Eurosonic. To celebrate that fact, renowned Irish 2fm DJ and new music advocate Dan Hegarty, with the help of producer Ian Wilson, pulled together a radio documentary which you can listen to via the Soundcloud link below. The 60-minute radio retrospective features music from legends of the Irish scene like The Frames, The Golden Horde and Jacknife Lee, as well as sounds from current incumbents such as James Vincent Mc Morrow and Soak.

Several Irish acts are set to play ESNS 2018. This year’s green lineup includes emerging acts such as fiery grunge-rockers Bitch Falcon, uber-awesome Derry electro-popper Roe and enthralling lyrical poet Dermot Kennedy. The 2018 Irish cohort is representative of the diverse pool of superb talent that make up the current emerging music scene in Ireland. Check out our ‘Full-Irish’ playlist below to hear sounds from the entire green team.

For more details on Eurosonic Noorderslag 2018, go to the official website – https://www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl/en/

https://open.spotify.com/user/11153381892/playlist/57ZWwAMn1UvbxNBKYyAkzW

Bowie Festival Set to Turn Dublin into a Musical Labyrinth

Photo Gavin Evans Sothebys

Dublin Bowie Festival set to get ‘You Pretty Things’ ‘Dancing in the Street’. Bowie Birthday Bash & Homage will run over 7 days across venues citywide. The British music icon who was born on 8th January, died two years ago on 10th January.

The Dublin Bowie Festival will kick off a week long birthday celebration and homage to the artist fka the Thin White Duke on Thursday 4th January. The festival, featuring a week long programme of Bowie-themed events, will take place across myriad venues citywide, including the Light House Cinema, the Grand Social and NCAD. The festival’s run will take in the legendary music artist’s birthday, as well as marking the second anniversary of his passing.

Highlights of the festival include ‘My Life with Bowie’ – An Evening with Woody Woodmansey, Bowie’s long-standing drummer (The Sugar Club, 4th Jan), the Classic Album Night (Grand Social, 6th Jan), Transformer Master –  Gavin Friday in Conversation with Eoin Devereux (DC Music Club, 7th Jan), Bowie’s Birthday Bash : the London Boys w/Special Guests (Grand Social, 8th Jan), and An Audience with Jonathan Barnbrook (Blackstar artwork) (NCAD, 10th Jan).

The festival also includes several Bowie-themed Art Exhibitions (admission free) as well as a family friend Bowie Brunch in the Woollen Mills on 7th with Today FM’s Ed Smith manning the decks. Elsewhwre, a night of glitter and glam is promised with drag queen Veda Beaux Reves over at the George (5th Jan).

However, the main attraction will surely be the Bowie Ball, a glitter-spattered night of zowie Bowieness and space boots, set to an endless playlist of Bowie’s greatest hits. The ball will take place in the Sugar Club (10pm to 3am, Sat 6th January). Tickets €13.29.

For full details of the festival events and tickets, CLICK HERE.

 

Fate of eir Other Voices Final Four To Be Decided By Public Vote

Having been inundated with applications from emerging artists for the eir Other Voices performance slot at the festival’s IMRO Other Room recordings, an independent panel of music industry experts has produced a four artist shortlist.

The eir Other Voices Open Call has its four finalists. Having received 1,000+ submissions from across the whole island of Ireland, the festival looked to a panel of industry professionals to whittle the record breaking number down to a single digit shortlist.

In no particular order, the four eir Other Voices Open Call finalists are:-

• Noisome guitar-fuelled Dubliners, Fontaines
• Belfast-based Beck-alike psych-folker, Malojian
• With a voice that invokes the angels, Mayo-native & BIMMer, Maria Kelly
• Fiery lyrical poet & flame-haired Derry singer-songwriter, ROE

 

Not only will the poll-topping finalist bag a slot at the Other Voices festival, they will also win precious in-studio recording time, a music video, professional mentoring and guaranteed television airtime when their Other Voices performance airs as part of the 2018 RTE TV series of the same name. This rather juicy package which will make a dream gift for any of the four emerging artists is being sponsored by Irish telecoms company, eir.

And who wins is all down to you, the great MUSIC PUBLIC!

Can’t make up your mind? Tune into Tracy Clifford on 2FM to hear music from and interviews with all four finalists (you can also catch up on RTE radio player if you miss the ‘live in-show’).  Polls close on Friday 3rd November and the winner will be announce on RTE 2FM three days later on 6th.

eir Other Voices Festival will run in Dingle from 1st to 3rd December. In its 16th year, the festival is an extremely popular arena for new music artists to showcase their talent.

To vote in the eir Other Voices Open Call see https://2fm.rte.ie/opencall 

Voting which is now open, closes at midnight on Friday 3^rd November. The public’s chosen artist will be announced on Monday 6^th November on the Tracy Clifford Show on 2FM, eir.ie and OtherVoices.ie.

Listen to the four eir Other Voices Open Call shortlisters on our mini-Spotify playlist below. You can follow us at DervSwerve on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with more music news, views and reviews.

For more information on eir Other Voices Festival 2017 and to register for the opportunity to access more than 70 free live events on the Music Trail at eir Other Voices Festival see www.othervoices.ie

eir Other Voices Festival is supported by eir, RTÉ, Kerry County Council, Fáilte Ireland, IMRO, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Creative Ireland.

Other Voices – Final Call – Curtain Closing!!

Friday 22nd September is the final day for submissions to Other Voices Festival.

Shouting out to all unsigned artists who have an interest in performing at the festival which will be held in Dingle, Co. Kerry from 1st to 3rd December. Last year, nearly 1,000 artists applied for a single performance slot at the IMRO Other Room!!

eir Other Voices has extended an invitation to all unsigned artists across Ireland irrespective of genre to submit one track for consideration. Entries are open here until 6pm Friday 22nd September. The Other Voices Live open call will see the chosen artist receive full end to end support, from their journey to Kerry to funding for travel, recording and video production.

In addition to the filmed performance in the IMRO Other Room for broadcast on RTÉ the publicly selected artist will also be sponsored by eir for:

• Three days in a recording studio with a top engineer
• The production company and budget to create a music performance video
• Travel to & Accommodation in Dingle for the eir Other Voices weekend
• Practical music industry mentoring from the eir Other Voices team

The IMRO Other Room which is a dedicated platform for emerging artists has previously played host to Rusangano Family, Villagers and James Vicent Mc Morrow. Back in December 2015, IMRO Other Room was recorded live, the session featuring in an RTE special side by side with performances from Talos, Saint Sister and the then Open Call winner Saramai.

Key points & Timelines

• Only original bodies of work will be accepted. Entries are open to applicants from the Island of Ireland
• The winning applicant must be free to travel to Dingle for the duration of 1st to 3rd December, where they will play the IMRO Other Room in front of a live audience.
• Late applications will not be considered.
• Lobbying of judges will result in disqualification.
• Four shortlisted eir Other Voices Open Call acts will be announced on 19th October and made available for preferred public selection online.
• The public selection process will close on 26th October – An independent adjudicator will tally the public selections received
• On 1st November the eir Other Voices Listeners Choice will be announced.

Full details of all the terms and conditions but information on how to make your submissions on the Other Voices website.

Other Voices Live Open Call is sponsored by eir and supported by RTE 2FM. Best of Luck y’all!