Kelly Doherty aka the Cork electronic artist Gadget and the Cloud and recent Nialler9 writer put together a list of Black Irish and POC artists on Twitter with an accompanying playlist for people to check out.
While many readers of this site will be familiar with the artists, it’s still a great thread and playlist to get even more on board with. These artists have been doing great things for a while now, regardless of the acceleration of BLM and anti-racist protests here in Ireland.
With a lot of white Irish people now really trying to understand the perspectives of Black Irish and migrants in the heinous Direct Provision centres in this country, now is the time to really double down on support and understanding of the perspectives of these artists, without letting last week’s energy and action dissipate.
See also Erica Cody’s piece in Irish Examiner this past week and the new Black And Irish Instagram page documenting their experiences for starters.
Many Irish artists donated their proceeds from Friday’s Bandcamp-waived sales to MASI (the Movement of Aslyum Seekers In Ireland) over the weekend. This is just the start of this action. You can donate via Paypal to them direct to their email [email protected].
Here’s Kelly’s thread and the playlist is below which includes Denise Chaila, Kaé, UD, Boy W1DR (pictured), Shiv, Jehnova, Celaviedmai, Sia Babez, Hudis, Jordan Adetunji, Tebi Rex and more.
black artists are making some of the best, most innovative music in the Irish scene but aren't receiving the support and platforming that many mediocre white male artists seem to get with ease. here's a thread of some Irish POC who are absolutely killing it right now
— kelly // gadget and the cloud ⛅️ (@gadgetatc) June 4, 2020
Black Artists Who Are Absolutely Running the Irish Music Scene playlist:
Also check out Slight Motif’s Slimo Weekly playlist.
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.
