As previously announced for the Galway International Arts Festival, the Galway native Kettama is doing a show in the Heineken Big Top for the festival, but more details have been announced, and the show on July 23rd is a G-TOWN label takeover with Kettama joined by another local boy Shampain for a curated night of Galway-rooted electronic music.
Tickets are €35 plus fees from GIAF.
Since their beginnings in 2015, playing room 2 of Galway’s now defunct Carbon Club, KETTAMA and Shampain have emerged at the forefront of a new wave of Irish electronic acts, selling-out local and international dates, and performing for the likes of Boiler Room, Mixmag, and HÖR.
About Kettama, Shampain & G-Town
In 2020, the pair launched G-TOWN Records, a platform dedicated to reinvigorating the scene and supporting homegrown talent. Spawned from their shared and individual interests, G-TOWN has since built a community through local projects including an active partnership with Galway United FC, throwing afterparties for Hardcore bands like JESUS PIECE, releasing music from emerging producers such as Tommy 2000, and of course, hosting the best club nights in Galway.
Breaking through is no easy task amidst Ireland’s tough licensing laws (that are well documented through the work of Sunil Sharpe and Give Us The Night among other lobbying groups), making this partnership with renowned cultural institution, Galway International Arts Festival, hugely important for the country’s burgeoning electronic scene.
KETTAMA is a dance music household name at this point. Having started off doing the rounds on DIY YouTube and Soundcloud pages, his name skyrocketed to dance music royalty status thanks to iconic Boiler Room sets, co-signs from the likes of Mall Grab to Calvin Harris and Disclosure, releases on Unknown to the Unknown, Steel City Dance Discs, Ninja Tune, GTOWN RECS and much more along with a tour history that dots each and every continent. As both a producer and a DJ, KETTAMA is a highly esteemed name in the world of electronic music and is in large part a huge reason why Irish dance music has excelled so much on a global scale over the past 5 or so years.
Shampain, being ‘just a DJ’ with no production credits, has carved out quite the name for himself in the same time period, having played all over Europe and even as far as India in recent weeks. With a longstanding residency on Paris’ legendary Rinse France, and a cult-following given his forays into theatre and television; what Shampain ‘lacks’ on the production end gives immense scope for more creative endeavours outside the current path laid out for full time DJs in 2023.
