West Cork Music’s new festival runs Friday October 23rd to Sunday October 25th across venues throughout Bantry town.
West Cork Music presents Aiteall, a new three-day festival celebrating original songwriting, running Friday October 23rd to Sunday October 25th in Bantry. The programme spans eight concerts alongside free pop-up performances, workshops and discussions, spread across St Brendan’s Church, Marino Church, Ma Murphy’s, Forest & Flock and other venues around the town.
Aiteall organiser Meg O’Connell said the festival takes its name from the Irish word for a sunny break in weather between rain showers, also used to describe moments of joy in dark times, and that the hope is for the live music brought to Bantry heading into winter to reflect that same spirit.
Friday opens with Dublin sean-nós singer and multi-instrumentalist Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, followed by John Francis Flynn bringing his solo repertoire to St Brendan’s Church.
Saturday moves between performance and participation, opening with a Lilting Workshop led by Ó Ceannabháin. A rare West Cork appearance from The Vernon Spring, the project of pianist and composer Sam Beste, follows in the afternoon. The evening brings Amano, performing as part of her debut national tour, Lemoncello playing songs from new album Perfect Place, and a closing double-bill of AE MAK and d_abdu at Ma Murphy’s.
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Sunday opens with an Irish song workshop led by Amano, followed by a panel discussion on building a music career in Ireland featuring RTÉ 2fm’s Beta Da Silva, alongside musicians and industry guests. The evening’s performances open with Leevy presenting a specially adapted concert for St Brendan’s Church, followed by Sorcha Richardson playing music from her new album Draw the Outline, before the festival closes at Ma Murphy’s with a double-headline from Isaac Jones and Ropeburn.
Alongside the ticketed programme, a record fair runs at Ma Murphy’s on Friday and Saturday, with art and music workshops also taking place at Corecreative.
Day passes and individual gig tickets are available now via westcorkmusic.ie/aiteall.
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, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
