Éire Eile: The Irish music innovators who'll be taking over London this November

A new series is coming to this year's EFG London Jazz Festival, shining a light on innovative Irish music.

Running across several London venues from 13 to 2 November, Éire Eile - Another Ireland is produced by Serious alongside the National Concert Hall, with support from Culture Ireland, and brings together a lineup of contemporary Irish artists working across genres, from indie electronic and bluegrass to trad, jazz improvisation and spoken word.

Kicking things off in the heart of the West End is 19-year-old prodigy Murieann Bradley, who'll be bringing her hypnotising fingerpicking skills and deep repertoire of blues classics to the Stone Nest on November 13.

Equally drawn to the stories behind the songs, Bradley channels the spirit of blues pioneers; her reverence for artists like Elizabeth Cotten and Memphis Minnie informs both her playing and her storytelling, earning her recognition from industry legends - including Jools Holland who invited her to perform on the Hootenanny. A natural performer with astonishing skill.

Muireann Bradley

On November 15, Village Underground in Shoreditch will host a special show from Irish electronic duo Le Boom with support from multidisciplinary artist AE MAK.

Le Boom are Irish brothers Andy and Christy Leech, an electronic act known for their immersive live shows that sit somewhere between a gig, a rave and a house party. Inspired mainly by her own spirit, as well as Bjork, Aldous Harding, Judee Sill, Paul Simon and with the limbs of a young David Byrne; Irish artist AE MAK (Aoife McCann) has been creating what her friends describe as “nursery rhymes for adults”, producing genre-defying other-worldly pop music with industrial beats and charging them into visceral - kinetic stage shows.

Le Boom

Also on November 15, Donegal Social Club - a London-based Irish DJ collective known for deep, wide-ranging sets spanning jazz, disco, boogie and house - will be taking over the Jazz Social on Ropemaker Street. Above all, they're obsessive diggers, and you'll catch them regularly at London's hi-fi venues, and at their own late-night parties.

Donegal Social Club

Experimental Belfast outfit Robocobra Quartet will be performing at Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall, on November 19.

They are a band serious about their music but humorous in their approach, including members with no musical training alongside members with music conservatoire pedigree. The result is a collective of musicians inspired by Stravinsky and Dead Kennedys in equal measures. On stage, the band are protons and electrons circling drummer-vocalist Chris W Ryan; meticulous arrangements and on-the-spot improvisations hang on every word spoken, sung and shouted by Ryan.

Support comes from Lara Jones, a London-based experimental producer, saxophonist, keyboardist and lyricist, that creates high energy pulsating electronics and jazz harmonies that weave into electronic grime and a web of arpeggiated synths, basses and glitchy beats in Ableton Live.

Robocobra Quartet

If avant-folk is more your thing, then you can head over to the Vortex Jazz Club in Dalston to check out Córas Trio, also on November 19.

The Belfast band reinvent the spontaneous. Deconstructed Irish traditional melodies emerge from blissful, otherworldly textures that foreground fiddle, guitar and percussion with transcendental electronics; suspending elements of collective free improvisation with seisiún-style playfulness.

Córas Trio

Staying in Dalston for the next evening, November 20, The Jago will host Negro Impacto - The Dundalk duo blending alternative neo-soul with elements of R&B and funk.

The pair have been on a fast trajectory since their inception in 2021, with a unique sound that has captured attention across the Irish scene and beyond. What started as a casual collaboration after meeting at a local Dundalk skatepark has grown into one of Ireland's most exciting musical acts.

Support comes from GAPTOOF - a hip-hop producer renowned for his signature sound rooted in soulful sampling.

• For more information on the above shows, including tickets, visit this link.

Negro Impacto