There’s something special about the Other Voices music festival, which took place in Dingle from the 1st to the 3rd December this year. It’s a quiet and intimate festival that has run since 2002 and has hosted an eclectic range of acts both known and unknown. It’s the festival that’s crafted local Irish talent like Hozier, Villagers, Otherkin, Little Green Cars and showcased international acts like Amy Winehouse, Ellie Goulding, The National and Snow Patrol.
The beautiful St. James’ Church casts its ethereal shadow as the festival’s main venue. You enter through the iron gates and walk on the courtyard gravel to the church, sit down and await an experience like no other. The acts take their place on a decorated stage at the top of the church and the audience sit on pews a few feet away. The venue itself is tiny, fitting fewer than 50 people and a few cameras, but this serves a real intimacy; like one is about to witness something truly amazing. The lineup for St James’ Church this year heralded something extraordinary with an eclectic group of acts; the indie rock band Django Django filled the church with psychedelic vibes, English hip-hop artist Loyle Carner hit his rhymes over some smooth beats, Perfume Genius rang out his art pop and queer soul, Songhoy Blues brought their Malian desert blues, the Bray trio Wyvern Lingo cast echoes with their angelic harmonies.
How does one buy tickets? That’s a good question and the sad answer is that you cannot buy tickets. Tickets can only be won through competitions that the festival runs through their website and through social media platforms. I know this can seem disappointing and you may feel you’ll never win a ‘like and share’ competition on Facebook but the reward is truly worth the attempt. On the bright side, even if you don’t win tickets to the festival, the St. James’ acts are live streamed to several pubs across Dingle and you can enjoy all of the other music happening in the village. The festival is more than just the acts in St. James’ Church.
What really sets the festival apart from others is that the whole village of Dingle becomes a venue for music, banter and good cheer. Different establishments in the area play host as part of the Music Trail which is free to attend by all those in the village; I have a very distinct memory of seeing Booka Brass rousing a cheering and dancing crowd in the packed Dingle Brewing Company. It is these local establishments which give such flavour to the festival. Local pubs like McCarthy’s, Nellie Fred’s and An Chonair give a community feel while the Dingle Brewing Company and An Diseart Chapel Museum provide a more unusual and peculiar vibe. You can wander around from venue to venue and, of course, pints are always a plenty. The Music Trail often features a variety of different genres and this year is no different with acts such as RSAG, Loah and Bitch Falcon. But I would definitely recommend going to the acts that you may not recognise; the beauty of stumbling into a pub and chancing upon something special is wholly rewarding.
As well as this, the Banter section of the festival forays into storytelling and interviews with a variety of characters. A few of the names involved this year were the esteemed playwright Enda Walsh, Emer Reynolds, who directed the space documentary The Farthest, and other talks ventured into such topics as technology, the future, trad music, the arts and many more. The festival encourages more than just being a spectator; it offers a chance to engage with the coastal village of Dingle through its pubs, shops, sights and people.
It’s an incredible festival that we have created here in Ireland and even more heart-warming is that we are sharing the Dingle festival with the world. Other Voices has now had festivals in Belfast, Berlin and Austin as well as curating stages at Electric Picnic and Latitude. The acts in St. James’ Church are recorded and shown on RTÉ at a later date and it is always a special treat to sit down and watch. There are also Other Voices playlists on Spotify which compile some of the best live recorded tracks from the series.
Other Voices, at its core, is a festival that merges music and community. If you win the golden ticket through a competition, then you’re set for a unique experience. If you don’t win then you are still in for an amazing weekend in one of the friendliest villages on Earth; a weekend of music and craic.
