Other Voices

Emerging from the Glassworks on the Sunday night a glassy-eyed BBC DJ hesitated to check for hyperbole before pronouncing: “I think that was maybe the best gig of my life.” The Gloaming climaxed the three day event with a performance to disintegrate preconceptions of the possible and swirl the audience into the rafters.

Previous night, Nathan Connolly’s Little Matador - visually perfect line-up: four cool dudes and a man with mad hair - offered full-on, grown-up proper rock and roll, while musical razor-gang the Amazing Snakeheads (Glaswegians obviously) frightened the life out of the unprepared.

Friday, Colm Mac Con Iomaire’s violin lilted and lurched across lines and traditions. And Public Service Broadcasting introduced old newsreels and po-faced propaganda footage set to synths and thrashing guitars.

That’s not to mention Minneapolis high-drama R&B-inflected Poliça, Dingle’s direct and tight-focused Walking on Cars, the amazing soft, powerful voice of George Ezra, the overwhelming computer keyboards of East India Youth.

Away from the Glassworks, 70 gigs with overlapping mainly local line-ups in pubs, cafes, shops, churches, the old thatched cottage in the (usually) twee Craft Village. Deccy McLaughlin in St. Augustines on the Walls, Little Bear and the Inisowen Gospel Choir in St. Columb’s Cathedral, a sensational onslaught from Ard Ri in Bennigan’s.

None of the visiting acts was less than interesting, every local band rightly up for it and giving loads, some reaching heights they might manage to sustain.

From Dingle to Derry by way of east Clare and Chicago along latitude and longitudinal lines of cultural connection, Other Voices in Derry (this is entirely objective) is utterly unique and double brilliant.

And the Gloaming? A 50 percent boost to your chances of dying with a smile on your face. None of the musicians is paid and all gigs are free in. Next year, rock and roll on.