A HOST of Irish acts last night (April 7) played at London’s Other Voices festival to round off three days of live music, performance and spoken word at Wilton's Music Hall.
Imelda May, headliner at this year’s launch of The Gathering, opened Sunday evening’s show.
The Dublin-born singer, dressed all in black along with her trademark blonde quiff, performed a quad of new songs.
Tracks included a song about her baby daughter and an upbeat rockabilly song Right Amount of Wrong.
SOAK, 16, an up-and-coming solo artist from Derry, armed with only guitar and bowler hat, filled the intimate live venue with her unique voice.
Little Bear, who headlined Other Voices in Londonderry in February, played an atmospheric five-song set before retiring to the bar to mix with fans.
Sunday’s final act, Matthew E. White, delivered tracks from his recently released album Big Inner.
White, from Richmond in Virginia, was joined by musicians from his label Spacebomb Records, a collaborative project launched off the back of his acclaimed debut album.
On Saturday, American singer-songwriter John Grant was joined on-stage by Villagers’ Conor O’Brien for a rapturous performance of Glacier.
Earlier, O’Brien, who described the London show at his “seven millionth Other Voices” performance, was joined by band mate Cormac Curran for a mix of old and new songs drawn from the group’s first two albums.
Dexys opened on Saturday night while Friday’s line-up featured Laura Mvula, Stornoway and headline act Laura Marling.
Irish actor Aiden Gillen from The Wire and Game Of Thrones introduced the acts all weekend.
The shows were screened live at nearby venues including the Barbican Café, The Zepplin Shelter, The Princess Alice and The Oliver Conquest where spectators could enter raffles for free tickets to the main shows.
A series of events were held at The Banter Wagon, a nearby pub and live music venue upstairs at the Zeppelin Shelter. Talks, which were modestly attended at times, included Maeve O’Rourke, a Harvard Law School graduate and campaigner with Justice for the Magdalenes, as well as the renowned music critic Paul Morley.
The Shelter also held live performances including Olivia Chaney with a set incorporating harmonium, keys and acoustic guitar. Caomhin O’ Raghallaigh, from Dingle, played a self-penned song on the fiddle with changes in pace and a deep, sombre style in contrast to his softly-spoken voice.
O’ Raghallaigh is one-fifth of The Gloaming, a group described by Irish journalist and host of the shows Jim Carroll as a “trad supergroup”.
See upcoming editions of The Irish Post for a full review of Other Voices 2013.
