Musical Belfast
Music has always been the fuel that drives Belfast forward. And
this drive has produced a synergy that created talent such as Van
Morrison, James Galway, the harpist Derek Bell, Snow Patrol, Barry
Douglas, Ash and many more. Belfast has always been a city of music
but the one fact that makes Belfast different from other cities is
that here the music is ‘of the people’; cities such as
London, Paris, New York and Tokyo provide a wonderful showplace for
the music of outsiders; in Belfast the creative talent is
indigenous, its alive, its now; its here.
If you are interested in connecting with the
source of this energy the
Belfast Music Tour is an essential part of any
visit to Belfast.
Belfast is a small city, as cities go, and yet
it has one of the most dynamic, pulsating club scenes in Europe.
This is a 7 nights a week blast with more than 80 club nights
catering for whatever type of beat you choose. And it’s not
something new; in the ‘60s, the club culture of Belfast was
thriving with around 80 Rhythm and Blues clubs animating the city.
In the 70’s the punk scene rejuvenated the city’s nightlife and
this sowed the seeds of house in the late ‘80s. With each new wave
Belfast reinvented itself.
But Belfast is not just about the clubs;
Belfast is about people and the music that oozes from the soul of
the city: classical, traditional, country, jazz, blues and rock.
It’s all there in venues across the city and when the venues are
full then it pours out onto the streets in festivals and
carnivals.
Classical
This is the home of the world renowned and highly respected Ulster
Orchestra whose diversity of style and quality of performance is
legendary. It is also the birthplace of maestro James Galway the
man with the golden flute and virtuoso pianist Barry Douglas. The
city fathers have long acknowledged that great artists need great
auditoriums in which to allow their music to resonate and
reverberate and in Belfast you will find your listening pleasure
enhanced by venues such as the Waterfront Hall, the Ulster Hall,
Elmwood Hall, and the Great Hall at Queen’s University, Clonard
Monastery, Whitla Hall and Rosemary Street First Presbyterian
Church.
Traditional
In 1792, the United Irishmen invited the remaining travelling
harpists of Ireland to perform in the Belfast Harp Festival in what
is now the old Northern Bank on Waring Street. This festival may
have preserved traditional music in Ireland, for the harmonies
played over the 3 day event were transcribed by Edward Bunting, a
church organist from Armagh and published as a collection thus
conserving this magic for posterity. Out of this rich and fertile
source have come such luminaries as Derek Bell of the Chieftains,
one of the world’s greatest harpists, and merging traditional Irish
into traditional folk music The McPeakes. Back in the 50’s and 60’s
Francis McPeake played Uilleann Pipe with such legendary names as
Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Pete Seeger. The McPeake Family run the
successful McPeake School of Traditional Music and still perform
and tour from time to time.
Country
There is an old Irish saying that ‘all our wars were merry and all
our songs were sad’ and perhaps that is why a love of country music
runs deep in the Belfast psyche. Certainly there is more than a
trace of our psyche in the music of the Appalachians, as they
stretch from Newfoundland down through the Blue Ridge Mountains of
Virginia through Tennessee and into the Mississippi basin. And this
is an affair that has produced names such as Bap Kennedy, Brian
Houston and of course Van Morrison. This is an affair that has
indelibly influenced the music of western culture.
Jazz
Belfast jazz is young and vibrant though this is a youth that is
based neither in talent nor experience but in energy and vigour.
Jazz has long found a willing home in Belfast where great talent
has emerged through such names as Brian Irvine, the New
Orleans-style Apex Jazz Band and trumpeter Linley Hamilton who
began playing with the Irish Youth Jazz Orchestra in 1989 and
following these are the young bloods Mark McKnight a graduate of
Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts; drummer David Lyttle,
who studied in Canada and New York and guitarist Joel
Byrne-McCullough, a graduate of Newcastle Upon Tyne. It is these
amazing creative talents that are rocking the boat in jazz music
today. And the boat, be it trad, Dixie, gypsy or mainstream, is
here in Belfast, sailing each night in a club or pub near you.
Blues
The Blues is a music that scoops up the soul and spirit of its
listener and deposits them in a pool of warm embracing melancholy;
it is a style of music that touches everyone at some time; it is
also a music style that has found a resonance in the Belfast psyche
where it has taken on a persona so different from its American
cousin, a persona that is raw, extreme and visceral. This unique
identity stretches back beyond the early days when Van Morrison
fronted Them. Later when the great Rory Gallagher moved from Cork
to Belfast he brought with him a raw vitality that captivated the
local scene with his group Taste; legendaries such as John Wilson,
who drummed in both Them and Taste - are still playing blues in
Belfast.
Rock
No matter what style of music you
talk about the recurring name is Van Morrison, so great has been
his influence both in his native Belfast and on the international
music scene. His virtuosity and flexibility has allowed him to
write some of the great rock ballads of this generation then move
across through the blues, to jazz and influence it all with gospel.
As rock developed through the 60’s Belfast was not isolated, it was
a hotbed of emerging talent and not just ‘Van the Man’ but also
such greats as Eric Bell and Gary Moore, who both featured with the
band Thin Lizzy. Rory Gallagher, too, moved easily from blues to
rock and back again as the mood took his style, creating some of
the great moments of rock history. There are venues in Belfast that
have become synonymous with the development of music in this city
and The Limelight is one; here bands such as Ash, Sultans of Ping,
Tindersticks, Stereolab, James Taylor Quartet have played and
influenced the hybrid growth of local taste.
Whatever your style or taste in music Belfast
will surprise you and Belfast people will startle you with their
passion and knowledge of the music that they love; their music and
your music; Belfast is music city.
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On during your visit just click the link!