Music
16 Nov 23

Irish Artists For Palestine announce four Belfast gigs

Pro-Palestine protest in Dublin. Saturday 14th of October 2023. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

Irish Artists For Palestine have announced three Belfast gigs- one one November 27th, December 1st and one on December 3rd.

With a lineup that would sell out a musical festival, Irish Artists for Palestine have announced not one, not two, or even three, but four Belfast gigs to raise money for medical aid in Gaza.

The four concerts will take place across four dates: Friday November 24th, Monday the 27th of November, Friday the 1st of December and Sunday the 3rd of December across different venues across the city.

The first date taking place is an Irish language event, titled Ealaíontóirí ar son na Palaistíne. The Irish language event will feature craic agus spraoi to raise money for Medical Aid Palestine. The event is set to take place in Áras Mhic Reachtain - an Irish-language arts and cultural centre.

They'll be live music offerings from Conor Caldwell, Dónal Ó Connor, Craobh Rua and speaker Amir Khalil. The event will be a bring your own deoch affair, as there is no bar there.

The second date taking place in Black Box theatre boast an impressive lineup, with a mix of Irish artists from Dublin's Pillow Queens to Derry's Soak.

Other acts in the line up included are Joshua Burnside, Saint Sister, Lisa Canny, Rachael Lavelle, and Ciaran Lavery.

The night will also feature a special guest speaker, Farrah Koutteineh.

Pillow Queens shared the poster for the event on their Instagram which they captioned saying they were "really grateful to the organisers of this event to have an opportunity to support this very important cause".

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A post shared by Pillow Queens (@pillowqueensband)

The third concert fundraiser for medical aid for Palestine is set to take place in St Comgall's in the newly opened Ionad Eileen Howell. This lineup has a more traditional and folk music bent for fans of trad music and Palestine.

Featuring the likes of John Spillane and Gráinne Holland, gaeilgeoirs are in for a night to raise funds and play music in the name of Saoirse don Phalaistín.

Other acts in the St Comgall's lineup included four piece band Landless who play tradiotinal music with impeccable harmonies, traditional Irish singer Pauline Scanlon and one third of Indie band Wyvern Lingo, Krea.

The final night of gigs for Palestine taking place in the port city will take place on Sunday, the 3rd of December at Devenish Bar Complex and will feature staunch Palestinian supporters and sometimes controversial hip hop duo Kneecap.

Joining the West Belfast will be Pogues inspired folk band The Raparees. Alongside this lineup, there will be music from Huartan, The Sinéad McKenna Band, sean nós singer Róisín Chambers and word from Speaker Dr Hani Mahdi.

This just a fraction of the many events Irish Artists For Palestine have organised over the last month in response to the recent bombing of the Gaza strip by the Israeli government in response to the October 7th attack by Hamas, which killed 1,2000 Israelis.

Since then, Israel has launched a counter offensive of enormous proportions, claiming the lives of over 11,300 Palestinians, with an estimated 4,650 children since October 7th alone.

The Irish Artists for Palestine's mission statement describes themselves as "a coalition of artists announcing an all-island programme of solidarity events in light of the current genocidal attack and siege on Gaza, and the ongoing occupation of Palestine."

Tickets for these concerts, and any events around the country organised by Irish Artists for Palestine can be purchased here.

Complete list of Belfast concerts organised by Irish Artists for Palestine:

Áras Mhic Reachtain gig 24th of November:

Conor Caldwell

Paddy Mckeown

Lorraine Ní Bhrian

Séimí

Catríona Ní Ghribín

Croabh Rua

Lauren ní Néill

Eugene Mac Cionnaith

Dónal Ó Connor