All Together Now have announced the addition of The Great Oven Disco Cantina to the festival in a few weeks time from 31st July – 3rd August in Waterford.
Described as a sensory feast with purpose, The Great Oven is an initiative to make and decorate community ovens for the purpose of installing them in refugee camps, conflict zones and informal settlements across Lebanon and South Africa.
This year, The Great Oven intends to expand to the West Bank and create a link between Ireland and Palestine through two ovens decorated at IMMA and unveiled at ATN this year.
The Ovens form the hearth of The Great Oven Disco Cantina where you can dance, dine and support the journey of a Great Oven to Palestine, with food from Middle Eastern food spot Tang.
Once a day, 100 diners will be given the opportunity to attend a DJ Banquet where special guests will perform a once-in-a-lifetime, intimate show at the cantina. The rest of the day Tang will be serving up a buzzy BBQ feast with freshly made Saj bread.
Bringing the disco is Palestinian radio station turned global cultural phenomenon, Radio Alhara. From day to night, DJs from Palestine and across the Middle East, along with renowned Irish and international acts, will spin a soundtrack of sonic solidarity.
The entire experience will be captured and amplified by Mixmag, the world’s largest and longest-running electronic music platform. The Disco Cantina’s dancefloor will host Ireland’s first-ever Mixmag Lab, which will be streamed globally.
When the festival lights go out, the voyage of these Great Ovens begins. One will make its way to Palestine, where it will be housed at the Wonder Cabinet, a creative hub in the West Bank.
The other will find its home at Dalymount Park, Bohemian Football Club’s historic ground. These twin ovens will nourish communities, honour shared struggle and will create a cultural bridge between Ireland and Palestine where recipes, art, music and solidarity will be shared for generations to come.
The Great Oven is a grassroots peace and prosperity building organisation that forges giant, beautifully decorated community ovens and installs them in refugee camps, conflict zones and informal settlements across Lebanon and South Africa. Providing sustainable food relief and creative community building by leveraging the power of cooking, art and music. Created for and by society’s most marginalised, the Great Oven champions local agency and ownership. Their work is shaped by the first-hand experiences of a diverse and talented team which includes refugee families, stateless youth and trafficked women.
The Great Oven sees a group gathering around an oven as an opportunity to address more than an immediate need for food. As hubs for cooking, teaching and sharing a meal, the ovens bring people together from disparate backgrounds who would otherwise not have the opportunity to meet. Beginning with cooking and moving beyond, they harness the power of art in its many forms from painting to music. Initiatives include the decoration of each great oven as well as the neighbourhoods they belong to, a process overseen by world-renowned artists who mentor local youth to help bring their vision to life.
Tang was opened in 2016 by siblings Stephen and Claire O’Dwyer. They now have three locations, all in Dublin city centre: Dawson Street, Abbey Street, and Cumberland Place, with a new restaurant, bakery and test kitchen opening this September on Windmill Lane in Dublin’s Docklands. Tang serves Middle Eastern inspired dishes with a focus on bold flavours and vibrant colours.
Tang is all about making people happy with food that doesn’t cost the earth. They are committed to continually improving and evolving the business to make it more exciting for their customers, supportive to their team and both local and global communities, all while working to minimise their impact on the planet.
Radio Alhara was founded by friends living in Bethlehem, Rammallah, and Amman and connects people across the world.
Launched in Palestine at the very beginning of worldwide lockdowns in March 2020, online radio station Radio Alhara provides a platform for discussion, listening, and community-building. The name, which translates to ‘the neighbourhood radio’, is reflective of the nature of the station itself: a close-knit community emerging from the margins, yet open and accessible to the world, bridging boundaries and geographic obstacles.
Mixmag is the world’s biggest, longest-running and most respected dance music media brand. At the forefront of every ground-breaking story, cultural movement or rising star’s trajectory, Mixmag is the electronic music authority for artists, fans and industry insiders across the globe.
The Lab is Mixmag’s flag-pole DJ streaming show. Starting life as an after-work party in the Mixmag London office, the world’s biggest DJs would come and play an exclusive set for the team and a select group of fans, streamed to millions of fans worldwide.
Since its launch over a decade ago, The Mixmag Lab has grown to operate in numerous global locations – including LA, NYC, Ibiza, Paris, Miami, Mumbai, Mapouto, Goa, Nairobi, Lagos, Cape Town, Detroit, Delhi, Sydney, Johannesburg, Atlanta and more. It is viewed as the world’s leading DJ streaming show for both superstar DJs and red-hot newcomers.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
