It's the 20th Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival!

The 20th Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival 2-12 May 2019

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Contents and Foreword

Words & Ideas Comedy Theatre Music Sound & Vision

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Visual Arts Special Events Artist in Residence At a Glance

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One of the hallmarks of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival is its joyful eccentricity. This year’s programme is no exception, with acts ranging from the legendarily misanthropic comedian Jerry Sadowitz to the sublimely musical Rufus Wainwright, and much else in between. Here we have a hugely creative, diverse and accessible festival programme that mixes the international with the local, all of it top quality. And the affordable prices mean there’s no excuse for not trying something new!

Is it any wonder this festival commands such a wide, loyal, and growing, audience. The Arts Council, as principal funder through our public and National Lottery funds, is proud to support the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival as it delivers another inspirational programme of arts.

Roisin McDonough Chief Executive Arts Council of Northern Ireland A massive thank you to all the artists who’ve enthralled us, the venues and the tech crews who’ve hosted us, the volunteers who’ve collected tickets cheerfully and the funders who’ve kept our doors open for 20 years.

Mostly thanks to you, loyal CQAF audiences, who attend our shows, support local arts and give us a reason to do what we do.

Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival

Booking Details

Buying Tickets The easiest way to obtain tickets for the festival is online from www.cqaf.com. You can also present your email confirmation on your phone.

In Person Tickets can be purchased in person from the box office at the Visit Belfast Centre, 9 Donegall Square North (opposite the Front of City Hall). Tel. 028 9024 6609, and at the International Airport from the Visit Belfast desk.

Refunds The Festival can only refund money or exchange tickets in the case of a cancelled event.

Disabled Access The Festival aims to be as accessible as possible however a small number of venues used have restricted access. Please let us know your requirements when booking tickets. The festival offers 2 for the price of 1 in the case of a disabled attender requiring an assistant to attend an event.

Please contact the box office to avail of this.

Community/School Groups The Festival strives to develop new and first time arts attendee’s.

If you would like your school or community group to attend, please contact Maggie McKeever (maggie@cqaf.com) to discuss opportunities for your group to attend.

Mailing List If you would like to add, update or remove your contact details from the Festival mailing list, please email us at mailinglist@cqaf.com Age Restrictions in Venues Due to licensing laws, CQAF exercises a strict over 18s only policy in any venue that sells alcohol.

General Enquiries For any general enquiries relating to the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival or the Out to Lunch Festival, please contact Sean Kelly, CQAF, Unit 8, Northern Whig House, 3 Bridge St., Belfast, BT1 1LU. Tel: 028 90232403 E. sean@cqaf.com Festival Team Director: Sean Kelly Operations Manager: Maggie McKeever Press/Marketing: Joe Nawaz Production: Louise McElvanna, Barry Hollywood Programme Design: Tonic Design Website: Pauric McAnespy Management Committee: Noyona Chundur (Chair), Chris McCreery, Caroline Wilson, Ciara Hickey, Hilary Copeland.

Bernard MacLaverty

First Presbyterian Church Rosemary Street Thursday 2 May 7.30pm

Tickets ÂŁ8.00 www.cqaf.com

Bernard MacLaverty read at the very first Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in May 2000 so we are delighted Bernard will open this, our 20th edition, of the Festival.

In Midwinter Break, 16 years on from his last novel, Bernard MacLaverty reminded us why he is regarded as one of the greatest living Irish writers.

A retired couple, Gerry and Stella Gilmore, fly to Amsterdam for a long weekend, a holiday to refresh the senses, to do some sightseeing, and generally to take stock of what remains of their lives.

Their relationship seems safe, easy, familiar. But over the course of the four days we discover the deep uncertainties that exist between them.

In tonight’s event, Bernard will read from his work and discuss a remarkable career in writing.

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Image Š Robert Burns

Neu! Reekie!’s Curfew Towering

The Black Box Thursday 2 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Salena Godden, Bill Drummond, Eugene Kelly (The Vaselines), Michael Pederson & Kevin Williamson

Neu! Reekie! are a prize-winning literary production house based in Scotland. Neu! Reekie! curated The Curfew Tower, Cushendall in 2018. This show will reflect this and involve writers that participated including Neu! Reekie!

Founders, poets Michael Pedersen and Kevin Williamson will be joined by Salena Godden, one of Britain’s foremost poets whose electrifying live performances have earned her a devoted following.

Also performing tonight is Bill Drummond with Elvis and Me. Since the 70's Bill Drummond has been the creator of many ambitious, reckless art projects and was a key protagonist with the KLF. The night will include a performance by Eugene Kelly, founding member of The Vaselines. Vaselines songs including Molly's Lips, and Jesus Don't Want Me For a Sunbeam have been covered by many artists, notably Kurt Cobain who was a huge fan.

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Marian Keyes

Festival Marquee Saturday 4 May 1.00pm

Tickets £8.00 (including soup!) www.cqaf.com

Postponed from January’s Out to Lunch due to illness, we’re delighted Marian has agreed to reschedule this event.

Marian Keyes is one of the most well-known and successful Irish novelists of all time. Born in Limerick, her first novel, Watermelon, was published in Ireland and was an immediate smash hit.

Its quirky Irish humour and chatty tone appealed to people of all ages in all countries. Watermelon quickly spread to Britain, followed by America, and is now published in 33 languages.

Despite saying she'd never write a novel because "it would take too long", Marian now has ten under her belt, with over 23 million sold worldwide.

Marian will be interviewed by Roisin Ingle, columnist, editor and podcaster with The Irish Times.

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In association with Seamus Heaney Homeplace

Visit to the Homeplace and tour of Heaney Country

Leaves from The John Hewitt Monday 6 May 10.00am

Tickets £20.00 (including lunch and tour) www.cqaf.com

In what would have been Seamus Heaney’s 80th year (b. 13 April 1939), we invite you to join us for a visit to the awardwinning Seamus Heaney Homeplace in Bellaghy, Co. Derry, which celebrates the life and work of the late poet and contributes to his legacy.

Leaving Belfast at 10.00am, the day will consist of a tour of the Centre and lunch followed by a guided tour of Heaney Country by Eugene Kielt.

Eugene’s tours are recommended by the Guardian, the Irish Times, National Geographic and other travel guides.

The bus will return to the John Hewitt at 5.00pm.

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New Fiction: Geraldine Quigley & Jan Carson

The Green Room Tuesday 7 May 7.30pm

Tickets ÂŁ4.00 www.cqaf.com

Celebrating the release of two great new novels by two of our finest new voices.

Music Love Drugs War This astonishing debut novel by Geraldine Quigley is a clever multiple-narrative account of teenage kicks and sectarian strife in early 80s Northern Ireland marking the author out as a writer of rare compassion and humour.

The Firestarters This hugely anticipated second novel by Jan Carson is dark, propulsive and thrillingly original. It is a tale of fierce familial love and sacrifice which fizzes with magic and wonder.

Dark, propulsive and thrillingly original, this tale of fierce familial love and sacrifice fizzes with magic and wonder.

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Phil Taggart’s Slacker Guide to the Music Industry

Oh Yeah! Music Centre Tuesday 7 May 8.00pm

Tickets £5.00 www.cqaf.com

What do Biffy Clyro, Run the Jewels, Charli XCX, and George Ezra all have in common?

Well, aside from selling a truckload of records, and defying all the gloomy predictions about the music industry, they’ve all given up their hard-earned wisdom to contribute to the one-stop-shop for everything you’ll ever need to break into the frightening world of being a professional musician - Phil Taggart’s Slacker Guide to the Music Industry.

With contributions from some of the most successful names in the business, and the behind the scenes label bosses, managers, promoters, and marketers who made it happen, BBC Radio 1 DJ Phil Taggart has shared his considerable expertise within the business to give even the most basic beginner a road map that will hopefully lead to success.

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Rory Gallagher – The Man Behind the Guitar A talk by Julian Vignoles

The Green Room Saturday 11 May 1.00pm

Tickets £5.00 www.cqaf.com

Rory Gallagher was Ireland’s first superstar. He was a bluesman, a songwriter and singer and above all, a master of the guitar. He is remembered for the fiery energy of his shows and commitment to his audience.

Julian Vignoles has written the most comprehensive account of Gallagher’s life in Rory Gallagher – the Man Behind the Guitar. His years in the Fontana Showband and formative years in Belfast are explored in detail.

Vignoles charts how the great musician’s short life shifted between the bright lights of success and the darkness of personal struggle.

Though he died at 47 years of age, his musical legacy is increasingly celebrated across the world.

‘Definitive book about the icon of Irish Rock’

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– IRISH INDEPEDENT

Emma Dabiri – Don’t Touch My Hair

The Dark Horse Saturday 11 May 5.00pm

Tickets £5.00 www.cqaf.com

Straightened. Stigmatised. 'Tamed'. Celebrated. Erased.

Managed. Appropriated. Forever misunderstood. Black hair is never 'just hair'.

This book is about why black hair matters and how it can be viewed as a blueprint for decolonisation.

Emma Dabiri takes us from pre-colonial Africa, through the Harlem Renaissance, Black Power and on to today's Natural Hair Movement, the Cultural Appropriation Wars and beyond.

Dabiri looks at the trajectory from hair capitalists like Madam CJ Walker in the early 1900s to the rise of Shea Moisture today, touching on everything from women's solidarity and friendship, to forgotten African scholars, to the dubious provenance of Kim Kardashian's braids.

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Kevin McAleer

Sunflower Public House Sunday 5 May & Tuesday 7 May 7.30pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Tyrone's biggest living lama Kevin McAleer has just been voted 'Ireland's Most Humble Guru' by Mindfulness Magazine for the eighteenth year running.

To celebrate this modest achievement, he has announced a majestic interplanetary tour for 2019, taking in the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Venus and Pluto, before returning to his home planet Earth for a series of spectacular live apparitions.

McAleer's Advanced Awareness seminars promise total selfdiscovery on the night, or your money back; participants are gently guided to a state of deep relaxation, emptying the mind of all thought, and replacing it with meaningless laughter. An evening of divine light entertainment not to be missed.

‘Immaculate mastery of language' - THE SCOTSMAN ‘Will leave your head spinning and your cheeks hurting’ - BRITISH COMEDY GUIDE

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Jerry Sadowitz: Make Comedy GRATE Again!

The Black Box Sunday 5 May 8.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ19.00 www.cqaf.com

Jerry Sadowitz, Britain's FAVOURITE COMEDIAN, is back!

Yes, the man with no visible demograph returns to make you laugh while simultaneously parting you of hard earned cash!

Affectionately known as 'miserable c**t' to his imaginary friends, Sadowitz is the only comic hardly working today who campaigns against human rights.

His television appearances include Love Island, Hard Talk, Michty Me! (still in production) and Loose Stools. He now suffers from Alzheimer's disease and has to watch Netflix comedy specials so he can remember his own material.

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Tom Stade – ‘I Swear To…’

The Black Box Monday 6 May 8.00pm

Tickets £14.00 www.cqaf.com

Direct from the Edinburgh Festival, join Tom as he attempts to figure out exactly where he fits into an emerging new world of feelings and FaceTime. Exactly when did he, and all his stuff become vintage - and why didn’t he see it coming?

Armed with his usual swagger and playful sense of mischief, join Tom as he explores these generational conundrums, and a whole lot more….

One of the most prolific and engaging stand-ups of our time. As seen on Ch4’s Comedy Gala, BBC One’s Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, The John Bishop Show and Live at the Apollo (twice, bitches!)

‘Unmissable’ - EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS ‘Sack loads of charm, poise and free-flowing spontaneity.

Mischievous, high-spirited, no-nonsense stand-up from an expertly skilled Pro.’ – CHORTLE

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Kieran Hodgson – ‘75’

The MAC (Upstairs) Tuesday 7 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Passion. Betrayal. Harold Wilson. Character comedian Kieran Hodgson returns with the epic and surprising tale of how Britain joined Europe in the first place.

On a deeply personal quest for understanding, Kieran perfects a series of obsolete impressions and discovers that the 70s were about more than just TISWAS, the colour brown and the words ‘Let’s go on strike again’.

Three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee, Star of Radio 4’s Earworms and Lance, and as seen regularly on BBC2’s Two Doors Down, Upstart Crow and Dad’s Army: We’re Doomed.

‘A terrific show’

- THE GUARDIAN ★★★★

‘Ravishingly entertaining, informative, full of insight and plenty of laughs’ - THE TIMES ★★★★ ‘Incredibly dense in laughs…it’s not half as niche as it sounds, and ten times funnier’ - CHORTLE ★★★★

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Nina Conti In Your Face

Festival Marquee Wednesday 8 May 8.00pm

Tickets £15.00 www.cqaf.com

Strap into the mask as Nina, Monkey and a bag of tricks improvise their way through an adventure of hilarious witchery. No two shows are ever the same!

She’s won a British Comedy Award, stormed Live at the Apollo, Russell Howard’s Good News, Sunday Night at the Palladium, and made a BAFTA nominated film - all without moving her lips. Expect the unexpected...

‘Charming, sharp, warm, glamorous’ -

THE TIMES ★★★★

‘Put simply, Nina Conti is a genius’ - THE MIRROR ★★★★

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In association with Infinite Jest

Sarah Keyworth

McHughs Thursday 9 May 8.00pm

Tickets £8.00 www.cqaf.com

You've seen her on Comedy Central, you've seen her on the BBC. Now see Nottingham-born rising star Sarah Keyworth's debut hour.

Join Sarah as she tells you about her life with an important little girl and her battle against every expectation of what being a girl means. Think Girls Just Wanna Have Fun but British, deadpan and in no way similar.

Best Newcomer Award Nominee - Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2018 Herald Angel Award Winner - Edinburgh Fringe 2018 ‘Pulling in the biggest laughs’ - THREE WEEKS ‘Excellently deadpan’

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- HUFFINGTON POST

Bivouac alternative comedy club presents

Stephen Frost’s Improv Allstars

Sunflower Public House Friday 10 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Featuring Stephen Frost (Whose Line is it Anyway), Andy Smart (Comedy Store Players) with Steve Steen and Ruth Bratt (Showstoppers).

Stephen Frost’s Impro Allstars have been making people laugh all over the world with their very own brand of irreverent improvised comedy. You shout it out, they act is out – no safety nets! Fast, funny and furious. Not to be missed.

‘I’m so proud to bring Stephen Frost (The Young Ones, Who’s Line is It Anyway, Blackadder) to play the Bivouac comedy club. These are four legends from the first wave of alternative comedy in the early 80’s scene performing in the Sunflower bar. A mighty second instalment of Belfast’s very own nomadic alternative comedy club night Bivouac. A guaranteed sell out.’ - PAUL CURRIE

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Deirdre O’Kane – A Line of O’Kane

The MAC Upstairs Friday 10 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Back by popular demand! Footloose from a glittering turn on Dancing with the Stars and revelling in her return to stand-up, Deirdre has really hit her stride.

Don’t miss this hilarious and frank take on twelve frantic months in the life of a tango-tripping, family-minding, tellymaking, house-moving, comedy dynamo.

‘O’Kane is an instantly charismatic stage presence and her brand of day-to-day anarchism stormed the place.’ – THREE WEEKS

‘O’Kane dazzles the audience from start to finish.’ – THE LIST ‘Unique star quality.’

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– THE GUARDIAN

Rob Auton

Sunflower Public House Saturday 11 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

The Talk Show is a comedy/theatre/spoken word show about talking by award-winning writer and performer Rob Auton.

Following on from his shows about hair, sleep, water, faces, the sky and the colour yellow, Rob now turns his attention to talking because he is ready to talk about talking.

Since 2012 Rob has chosen a specific theme for his shows and challenged himself to create an hour of material about each subject. These shows have given rise to sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe as Rob continues to build his audience through his unique use of words and humour.

The Talk Show was the second best-reviewed comedy show at the Edinburgh Festival 2018.

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Roy Walker

The Black Box Sunday 12 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

It is both good and right that we sign off the 20th Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival with one of Belfast's (and the festival's) favourite sons. Yes, the living legend that is Roy Walker returns to the Festival stage for one night only!

Roy's career is well documented, building a reputation as a master comedian in the 60s and 70s in the clubs and on television, to hosting the golden years of Catchphrase in the 80s and 90s, to his recent career as break out TV star in a range of shows including The Real Marigold Hotel and Celebrity Come Dine with Me. His first love though, has always been comedy. Give him a microphone, an audience and a spotlight and Roy Walker is truly in his element.

One of the finest Irish comedians of his or any other generation, and a true friend of the Festival, ladies and gentlemen, we give you Mr Roy Walker.

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What Girls Are Made Of

The MAC (Downstairs) May 1–4 8.00pm

Tickets £12.50/£25.00 www.themaclive.com

It’s 1992. An ad in the local paper declares: Band Seeks Singer.

In a small town in Fife, a schoolgirl is catapulted into a rock star lifestyle. Grunge has gone global, indie kids are inheriting the earth, and a schoolgirl from Glenrothes is catapulted to a rock star lifestyle as the singer in a hot new indie band.

Touring with Radiohead, partying with Blur, she was living the dream. Until she wasn’t.

Based on her meticulously detailed teenage diaries, this is the true story of Cora Bissett’s rollercoaster journey from the girl she was to the woman she wanted to be.

Directed by the Traverse Theatre’s former Artistic Director Orla O’Loughlin, Cora celebrates life’s euphoric highs and epic shitstorms, asking what wisdom we should pass on to the next generation – and which glorious mistakes we should let them make.

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Alice McCullough Earth to Alice

Sunflower Public House Friday 3 May 8.00pm

Tickets £8.00 www.cqaf.com

Alice McCullough’s award-winning performances have captivated audiences as she plays with the boundaries between spoken word, comedy, storytelling and theatre.

However there’s a story behind the success. In this new adaptation of her critically acclaimed show, and following two admissions to a mental health ward, Alice is more determined than ever to tackle the stigma of mental ill health head-on and take to the stage once more.

Expect laughter, some tears, and a life-affirming kick in the balls in this re-emergence of a talent not to be missed.

‘Great show – fragile but in control, real, and in the moment.’ - KEVIN MCALEER

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The Ballad of Patrick MacGill

Sunflower Public House Wednesday 8 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Born in 1890 on a poor farm in Glenties, Patrick MacGill had three years of schooling before being presented for hire at Strabane Hiring Fair at the age of twelve.

At 14 he travelled to Scotland with a squad of tattiehowkers, often sleeping rough while ekeing out a living.

Despite all the odds, this young Irish migrant worker managed to educate himself, becoming famous as ‘The Navvy Poet’.

Belfast folk-singers Jane Cassidy and Maurice Leyden draw on MacGill’s two most acclaimed works, Children of the Dead End and The Rat-Pit, in which he brings to life the soul-destroying struggles of the migrant worker, and his triumph over them.

They are joined on stage by Scottish singer Derek Williamson. All three narrate, sing and play keyboard, guitars, mandolin and fiddle. Archive photos of MacGill, Donegal and Scotland at the turn of the 20th Century provide an atmospheric and poignant backdrop.

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Soda Bread Theatre Company presents

The Girls Guide to Saving the World

The American Bar Thursday 9 May & Friday 10 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

A frank and funny new play about friendship, feminism and what it means to be successful, this Elinor Crooks play, an Irish premiere, is a tale of mid-20’s angst as Jane, Bella and Toby deal with the difficulties of accepting adulthood and what that means for their lives.

Jane and Bella are best friends. They’re starting a revolution. But they’re falling out of step. Toby dreams of babies, buggies, and home improvement. But he can’t even care for a cat. And a boy keeps telling Jane to take what she wants. But what is that, exactly?

Three twenty-somethings attempt to make sense of their own uncertain worlds. Even if it means losing sight of each other in the process.

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Keep Telling Me Lies

The MAC Thursday 9 May – Sunday 12 May 7.45pm (Matinee Saturday/Sunday)

Tickets £22.50 www.themaclive.com

Love and betrayal set against the music of the showbands.

P E E K NG LI S L E T ME L I E G

Written and directed by Brenda Winter-Palmer, developed

by Antoinette Morelli and the Karma Theatre Company.

Of all the iconic buildings in Belfast, the now derelict Floral Hall stands as a monument to the life, love, loss and music of the Showband era.

This is the story of two Belfast women as they reminisce about the lives they used to lead. Set against the backdrop of the crumbling Floral Hall and driven by the music of the Showbands, they recall the fateful night they met their future husbands.

Presented by David Hull Promotions.

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Fallen Fruit

The MAC Saturday 11 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12.50 www.themaclive.com

What has changed. What has not. What we remember. And what we try to forget.

In 1989, as the Berlin Wall splits open, a young girl looks forward to life beyond communism; a couple unravels, and 80s TV permeates everything.

A story of love, breaking free and Europe, from Two Destination Language.

‘Fallen Fruit is thoughtful stuff about political walls and personal barriers’ – LYN GARDNER ‘As she sweats with the effort of breaking down walls,her charming smile traded for a grimace of determination, Fallen Fruit reveals the process of change for what it is: hard work.’ – THE GUARDIAN ‘Fallen Fruit has rich, rich ground to explore. Radeva’s performance is ripe with vivid images from her childhood’ – ALICE SAVILLE-EXEUNT

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Co-hosted by PLACE, with support from the MAC

Stowaway City

by Emily DeDakis Michael McKnight

Sonic Lab at the Sonic Arts Research Centre Cloreen Park, BT9 5BQ Sunday 12 May 12:30 p.m, 2.00pm 3:30pm, 5.00pm and 6:30pm

Tickets £5.00 www.cqaf.com

“Even your words are disappearing. I only have a handful left.”

Civil war breaks out in the U.S. Snipers patrol the rooftops; militias are targeting newsrooms. A journalist escapes on a cruise ship and finds herself in Belfast.

The press are keen to talk to the stowaway, but anything she says will put her friends in danger. Told via phone messages to her lover back home, Stowaway City traces her story as she weighs the consequences of speaking out.

In this immersive audio play, listeners will be free to explore a 360° virtual soundscape of Belfast in the Sonic Lab at SARC. The narrative unfolds as you move through the space, navigating the story and the city with your ears only.

Limited audience numbers for each show.

Note on visiting the Sonic Lab: Please wear flat, comfortable shoes with a reasonably thick sole. This is because the floor is a metal grid that allows sound to come from the basement.

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Cabaret in the Cathedral

St Anne’s Cathedral Saturday 11 May 6.30pm

Tickets £10.00 (Adults) £5.00 (Children under 14) www.cqaf.com

The Community Arts scene in Belfast has been an important element of the cultural life of the city for over 30 years.

Many organisations have developed from a grass roots level, supplying music, theatre, carnival arts, street entertainment and circus to all, and helping to sustain many artists working and living in our city.

This one-off event brings together a range of talent from across Belfast's community arts organisations to present a unique family cabaret within St Anne's Cathedral.

As well as showcasing some of the finest acts Belfast community arts has to offer, the cabaret is being held in support of Ash Reynolds, one of our best known and loved artists.

For the final line up of acts please check our website and social media #CabaretintheCathedral

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Dick - One Man in 100,000

Sunflower Public House Sunday 12 May 2.00pm

Tickets £8.00 www.cqaf.com

Richard Stamp has been a comedy performer for over 30 years and has successfully toured the globe with his comedy creations, notably Half Naked Chef, and his art installations.

In 2018, whilst on the other side of the world, Richard was diagnosed with Penile Cancer, a rare form of cancer, with less than 1 in 100,000 men suffering from the disease in UK. It is one of the easiest cancers to treat if it is caught early.

Dick is the deeply personal hilarious and emotive telling of his story, with his cancer, from diagnosis through to options with prosthetics.

‘Ground-breaking theatre from the eminent breaker of ground’ – FRINGE REVIEW

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Son of Liverpool - From Scottie Road to Town

Sunflower Public House Sunday 12 May 7.30pm

Tickets £8.00 www.cqaf.com

“Y’know somethin’, I’m pretty sure Liverpool’s me real Ma ‘n’ Da.” Performance poet Gerry Potter in a powerful evocation of his home town.

Son of Liverpool is an epic theatre-verse exploration of birth, life, parenting, hysterical partying, howling laughter and death. Where the raucous power of bricks and mortar, cranes and dock-lands collide with back alley Scouseology and dancing.

Gerry asks, from the rare auld times till now, are we more our ever-evolving native cities than we are our families?

Does accent, industry, demolition, discos, church, school, dead ‘ard scally girls, chippies, indeed do those auld Dock Road pubs, have more than a hand in our upbringing?

Son of Liverpool will ask you if you are a child of your city.

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Teenage Fanclub

Festival Marquee Thursday 2 May 8.00pm

Tickets £20.00 www.cqaf.com

Over the past three decades, Teenage Fanclub have produced consistently exquisite songs that nod to ’60s sunshine pop and folk-rock as much as they do to classic power pop and the grungier sounds of electric Neil Young.

Teenage Fanclub's radiant brand of pop classicism has yielded numerous outstanding albums including Bandwagonesque, Grand Prix and Songs from Northern Britain. It's a body of work that remains utterly timeless, utterly compelling.

Fortunately for us - and rest of the world - the band have recently regrouped for standalone single Everything is Falling Apart and a slew of summer festival dates.

Heartfelt, lyrical with vocal harmonies to crack the hardest rock exterior, Teenage Fanclub remain one of our favourite bands and it’s a great honour to welcome them back to the CQAF stage for our 20th celebrations.

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Howe Gelb

Ulster Sports Club Thursday 2 May 7.30pm

Tickets £15.00 www.cqaf.com

Howe Gelb has been called one of the most resilient and consistently inventive American of artists his generation.

Based in Tuscon Arizona since 1972 Howe has collaborated with artists such as M Ward, PJ Harvey and John Parish, and his band Giant Sand spawned and inspired bands such as Calexico who are part of Howe’s extended musical family.

The key question with any Howard Gelb show is what guise he will take on for the occasion - solo piano music, free jazz excursions, late night crooning, dusty acoustic Americana, flamenco, another version of one of his songs, or something that he hasn’t done yet. If there is such a thing.

CQAF is honoured to welcome Tucson’s unique, freewheeling Americana icon Howe Gelb.

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Hen Ogledd

Voodoo Thursday 2 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12.50 www.cqaf.com

Founded by Richard Dawson and Peilot artist Rhodri Davies, Hen Ogledd come to CQAF with the addition of Bothwell and Sally Pilkington to present their most surprising and accessible album to date.

Each hailing from historically different tribal regions of the Old North, the musicians on Mogic challenge the idea that the ancient world was rife with magic, while the new is infiltrated by cold logic.

A dynamic record of ravishing melodies, hallucinatory textures and bonkers rhythms is pinned down by some deft performances: Pilkinton’s picture-perfect pop and earthy singing, Davies’ blazing harp splutterations and guitar moans, Bothwell's twisted telephone techno and bamboozling lyric-bombs and Dawson's utter bass.

‘Phantasmal electronic, squelching synths and a bass that almost clangs with detuning.’ – WIRE ‘Their improvisational roots are still evident, but the bursts of outsider pop shining through proves they have plenty more to dig up.’ - MOJO

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William the Conqueror

Duke of York (Upstairs) Thursday 2 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

A character, a mythology, the flicker of a younger self, William the Conqueror is many things, but in simplest terms it is the name of a band put together by songwriter Ruarri Joseph, with close musical conspirators Harry Harding (drums) and Naomi Holmes (bass) in the winter of 2015.

Channelling classic blues and roots through a grunge/indie filter, their diverse influences include The Doors, Ryan Adams and The Lemonheads.

Praised for their grit and authenticity by the likes of The Guardian and MOJO, they made their mark at AmericanaFest in Nashville, signing to Loose and sharing the stages with the likes of Van Morrison, Richard Thompson and Ethan Johns.

Proud Disturber of the Peace was shortlisted for the 2018 UK Americana Awards UK Album of the Year. ‘a mighty launchpad for what’s yet to come’

- Q ★★★★

‘a thumping Southern rock and Americana grungy gumbo that hits you right between the eyes.’ - EXPRESS ★★★★

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Jason Lytle (Grandaddy) with special guest Malojian

First Presbyterian Church Rosemary Street Friday 3 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12.00 www.cqaf.com

If Jason Lytle learned anything from nearly 15 years at the helm of Grandaddy – the Modesto, California quintet– it's that he's just not cut out to be a 21st century pop star.

There were triumphs, no doubt - they toured the world with classic The Sophtware Slump, shared stages with Elliott Smith, and talked shop with David Bowie when he turned up at their shows.

But Lytle was a poor fit for life in a breakthrough indie rock franchise. By the time he was writing 2006's Just Like the Fambly Cat, he knew it was over.

Jason moved to Montana, and enjoys hiking in woods, skateboarding in skateparks, playing the piano in his living room, recording music, and occasionally, playing shows.

Jason will be joined in this special performance by Stevie Scullion AKA Malojian who, over the last few years, has released 4 stunning solo albums of rare power and beauty.

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Echo and the Bunnymen

Festival Marquee Friday 3 May 8.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ25.00 www.cqaf.com

It would be remiss of us not to invite "the best band in the world" (copyright Ian McCulloch 1984) to play at the CQAF 20th anniversary celebrations. It's also 40 years since the release of the incendiary The Pictures on My Wall introduced a startled world to Echo and the Bunnymen.

In the decades since, McCulloch and Sargeant have steadfastly followed their own dazzling star. Building a stunning body of work (including the likes of The Killing Moon, Seven Seas and Bring on the Dancing Horses) along the way.

The recent release of The Stars, The Oceans and The Moon, in which the band revisit many of their classics, not only found McCulloch in fine voice, but reminded us all - if a reminder were needed - what a truly seminal act The Bunnymen are.

So it's with a thrill in our heart and an artful scouse swagger in our gait that we welcome Echo and the Bunnymen back to the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival.

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In association with Elixir

Lowkey

Oh Yeah Music Centre Friday 3 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12.00 www.cqaf.com

One of the UK’s most potent and electrifying rappers, Lowkey is a towering figure of the scene who renews the old tradition of conscious hip-hop activism for the war on terror generation.

Fusing politically charged lyrics and deft dissection of topics such as race, war, global poverty and politics with anthemic choruses and unrelentingly energetic performance, Lowkey commands a keen and growing legion of followers.

After releasing his respected 2003 Key to the Game mixtape, he took a hiatus and returned in 2009 with debut full length Dear Listener.

Back on form and with a slew of new releases, Lowkey is out of retirement and ready to make more memorable marks in the global hip-hop consciousness.

‘Arguably the biggest name on the UK hip-hop underground scene’ - THE GUARDIAN ‘Soundtrack To The Struggle solidifies Lowkey’s position at the forefront of UK hip hop’ - SBTV

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Kitt Philippa

The MAC (Upstairs) Friday 3 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Who is Kitt Philippa? They are human, they are searching and in music they find hope. Although raised on classical, the songs are strangely urban and often conveyed with digital sleight. An organ scholar and an experimentalist, KP plays piano, guitar, clarinet, prayer bowl and bicycle wheel.

The 2018 emergence of Kitt Philippa with new single Human and follow up single Grace has been championed by Mary Anne Hobbs, Tom Robinson, Phil Taggart, Huw Stephens, Today FM, Hotpress, The Line of Best Fit and Nialler9.

They took new music on the road in support of SOAK, Villagers, Lisa Hannigan, Hilary Woods, Wye Oak and closed out 2018 by winning 'Single of the Year,' by public vote, at the Northern Ireland Music Prize. ‘they are extraordinary. I think they are a shining future star’ – MARY ANNE HOBBS ‘… full of sparse, graceful, elegantly pitched wonder.

There’s a beautiful minimal soulfulness…’ – IRISH TIMES

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Lisa O’Neill + support by Kú Kilian

The Black Box Friday 3 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Lisa O’Neill is an Irish songwriter like no other. Her roots may be sourced in folk and traditional music but her work opens up a landscape beyond any settled sense of genre.

Over the years she has quietly built a reputation for herself and now has a growing following with her unique folk sound, strong song-writing and distinctive voice.

Her work is filled with tension and emotion, contextualizing themes of love, loss, heartache and sorrow today through referencing tales from the past with beauty, honesty and defiance.

Lisa’s latest release Heard A Long Gone Song has recently been Choice Nominated, had a 5/5 star review from The Guardian on release and a coveted Best Folk Album of 2018 from the same publication.

‘It’s uncompromising, stunning, soul-shaking stuff’ - THE GUARDIAN

‘A record that is personally political, uniquely beautiful, heartfelt and witty. And perhaps as timeless as the passed down songs Lisa sings as if they were hers.’ – FOLK UK

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Skipper’s Alley & The Conifers

Áras Mhic Reachtain (283-289 Antrim Road) Friday 3 May 9.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Skipper’s Alley Described by The Irish Times as “gloriously threedimensional”, the group spring from harp-accompanied Sean-Nós songs to feral, unkempt sets of reels, creating a sound that is both “scintillating” and “a model of tender delicacy” (David Kidman, The Living Tradition).

Rinne The Irish Times cur síos ar Skipper’s Alley mar ghrúpa “iomráiteach agus tríthoiseach”… preabann an ghrúpa ón tamhránaíocht ar an tsean-nós leis an chruit mar thionlacann go dtí seiteanna ríl fián. Cruthaíonn siad fuaim bríomhar atá mín agus séimh ag am chéanna.

The Conifers The Conifers are five young musicians from different parts of Ireland and one member from Berlin. Conor O'Loughlin (Concertina), Bryan O'Leary (accordion), Marty Barry (Guitar + vocals), Cathal Ó Curráin (fiddle, bouzouki + vocals), and Felix Morgenstern (bodhrán).

While their music is energetic, lively and has a wholesome sound, the band members strive to remain true to a traditional repertoire rooted in the regions of Clare, Sliabh Luachra and Donegal.

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The Gold Tips

Duke of York Friday 3 May 8.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ7.00 www.cqaf.com

Belfast's newest soul outfit make their hometown debut brought together by a love of Stax, Sam Cooke and Northern Soul, the live show promises to be an energetic, sweat drenched testament.

A trip to Trondheim in autumn 2018 led to the unearthing of Parade, The Gold Tips debut album. Not a moment wasted.

It was recorded, it is said, in an old barn in the middle of nowhere, with a generator, a brass section and a long way back to the nearest town.

From the Northern European wilds comes an idiosyncratic soul shouting, heart-breaking testament. It's the sound of 2019, echoing down through the ages. Preach, brothers and sisters.

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Mary Coughlan

The Black Box Saturday 4 May 2.00pm

Tickets £20.00 www.cqaf.com

Mary Coughlan is one of Ireland’s greatest female jazz and blues singers, a true artist who has carved out a highly regarded career and a legion of devoted fans worldwide.

Her seminal first album Tired and Emotional rocketed her to overnight fame in 1985, and fifteen albums later, her ability to deeply connect with both the song and her audience remains undiminished, a testament to her inner strength and to the power of transformation & redemption.

Mary live is in a league of her own, her glorious husky voice pulling every ounce of emotion from the music. Resonant with the grief of Billie Holiday, the soul of Van Morrison and the defiance of Edith Piaf, to hear Mary sing is to be at the core of the human heart.

‘Her husky gin-soaked voice has been compared more often to Billie Holiday... at times she is more like an incredibly relaxed KD Lang or Edith Piaf.’ – THE TIMES

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Sean O’Hagan + guests Big Monster Love

First Presbyterian Church Rosemary St. Saturday 4 May 3.00pm

Tickets £8.00 www.cqaf.com

Sean O’Hagan is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas. His musical career started with seminal Irish band Microdisney which he co-founded in the 1980s. For several years he was also a member of the English-French band Stereolab.

As well as writing and performing, Sean is also an arranger working in film, art and cultural events. His talents have lead to numerous collaborations with Brian Wilson, Paul Weller, Super Furry Animals, Doves, Vanessa Da Mata, Sondre Lechre, The Charlatans, The Cora, St Etienne, Mercury Rev, Gilberto Gil and Terry Hall.

This concert is being staged to remember Thomas McCabe who successfully opposed the formation of the Belfast Slave Ship Company in 1786.

Proceeds from the concert will be given to the N. Ireland Law Centre with a brief introduction from historian Raymond O’Regan author of Hidden Belfast. Supported by Experience Belfast Walking Tours www.experiencebelfast.com

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Robbie Fulks

Duke of York (Upstairs) Saturday 4 May 6.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Robbie Fulks is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter whose early solo work helped define the alt-country movement that began in the 1990s.

He can write lyrics and prose, heart-tugging and kneeslapping. He plays his well-worn acoustic guitar with abandon, speed and, periodically, precision (but mostly abandon). He sings with a tenor that aches and snarls, sometimes at once.

And he is entertaining in a manner that truly classifies him as a must-see artist. Loquacious, wickedly witty, and possessed of a talent bigger than his home state of Illinois, Fulks is a musical traveller, adept at multiple styles, but too restless to stay in one place for too long.

In the “if people only knew about him, he’d be huge” discussion, Fulks has remained a hot topic for 20 years.

‘A soulful singer with an expressive honky-tonk tenor, and he's a natural performer.’ – NEW YORK TIMES

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Superfly Funk and Soul Belfast and CQAF present

Men of North Country

Oh Yeah Music Centre Saturday 4 May 9.00pm

Tickets £15.00 www.cqaf.com

CQAF proudly gives you Rock’n’roll from the soul of Tel Aviv. After a string of successful tours in continental Europe including a live session for Craig Charles on BBC Radio 6, it is time for the soul-boys to tour the UK! Emerging from Tel Aviv’s small soul scene, geared with a fresh approach to creating the perfect three-minute nugget, the sextet that has been described as ‘Soul with influences of Mod 79 and Punk 77’, lived up to the expectations with its sophomore LP for the London based Acid Jazz label.

12 tracks that dare infuse Northern Soul, Post-Punk and Rock’n’roll into heady visions of their city’s buildings, streets, bedrooms, clubs and bars, while remaining dedicated to MONC’s brass section extravaganza and their firm belief in the power of a great pop song.

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The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in association with The Duncairn presents

Duncairn Arts Centre Saturday 4 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12.00 www.cqaf.com

The Wonders of the Wake

The Wonders of the Wake is a totally unique Irish Trad Arts show that in laughter, song, keening and haunting Gaelic laments celebrates the ancient rite of the Irish Wake.

Our hauntingly beautiful Mná Caointe, three keening female singers, will bring a tear to your eye and shiver in your spine and take you on a 90 minute magical adventure to the best Irish wake you could ever experience.

The Wonders of the Wake is artistic collaboration between the acclaimed writer of My Father's Wake author Kevin Toolis and the world renowned Henry Girls, Joleen, Karen and Lorna McLaughlin and joined by the amazing Pauline Scanlon.

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Sneaks

Sunflower Public House Saturday 4 May 9.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ8.00 www.cqaf.com

Washington DC-based Sneaks is leading the resistance against the mundane. Breathing new life into the DIY postpunk scene, Eva Moolchan takes a minimalistic approach to creating tunes that rebel against the over embellished.

Using only a drum kit, bass, and whispery vocals, she makes songs you'll find yourself humming along to after you've stopped listening.

New album Highway Hypnosis plays on hip-hop, post-punk, and invented words to fill a gap between the feminist underground and genre-specific singles charts. Through it, Moolchan joins the resistance forged by queer black feminists who create, explore, empower, conquer, and play bass.

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Barb Jungr: Bob, Brel & Me

The Black Box Saturday 4 May 8.00pm

Tickets £15.00 www.cqaf.com

Barb Jungr’s reputation as “one of the world's great cabaret singers” (Time Out) may have gone to her head, as she will now only sing songs by writers whose names start with the letter B. But this means she can return to two colossi of popular song, whose writing has helped define her whole career. A good plan, because she is "one of the best interpreters of Jacques Brel and Bob Dylan anywhere on this angst-ridden planet today” (Village Voice).

In this brand new collection for 2019, Barb will turn her acclaimed ability at reinvention and reinterpretation to exploring her relationship with a set of Dylan and Brel songs she has never tackled before. They include Les Cœurs Tendres (The tender hearts), Voir un ami pleurer (To see a friend break down and cry), Mr Tambourine Man and This Wheel’s on Fire.

Placed alongside them will be some of Barb’s own songs, written with a number of wonderful collaborators. ‘it’s as if Edith Piaf and Nick Cave had a love-child, who was adopted by Carmen McRae’ – GLAM ADELAIDE ‘the alchemist among jazz singers… electrifying… the top rank of jazz singers… she is truly a marvel, who should not be missed.’ - TELEGRAPH

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Spiritualized

Festival Marquee Saturday 4 May 8.00pm

Tickets £25.00 www.cqaf.com

Jason Pierce has always created his own worlds. It began almost 4 decades ago with Spaceman 3’s mesmerising fuzzed-up drone, which metamorphosed into Spiritualized’s majestic, beautiful soundscapes. Hypnotic hymns, throbbing blues rock, and swooning lullabies about love and self-doubt, backed by cathedral-sized arrangements full heart-swelling crescendos.

Each Spiritualized album has been a unique and perfectly assembled collection of sounds that are bruised and beautiful, intimate and glorious.

There’s 1997’s masterpiece Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space; the swelling, spectacular, Let It Come Down, and last year’s And Nothing Hurt, a record which seemed a perfect distillation of what’s gone before: glorious gospel, rock’n’roll, country and psychedelia soundtracking his cracked vocals.

Just listen to I’m Your Man, a perfect, lilting supernova nursery rhyme. Backed by choirs and strings, these hymns soar as high as the stars. Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for an epic evening at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival.

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Hannah Peel & Will Burns Chalk Hill Blue

The Black Box Sunday 5 May 3.30pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

A new album of poetry and electronic music: A dislocated, slippery examination of memory, social and familial relations, landscape and our urge to both belong and move elsewhere.

This is an anti-pastoral picture of a middle-England that could be anywhere, lost, empty, and beautiful even in its decaying phase.

Existing and reacting off each word and sound in the studio together; with the words of poet Will Burns, the analogue electronic compositions of Hannah Peel and the overarching eye of producer Erland Cooper, all tracks were produced and recorded in its entirety within 12 hours.

‘Chalk Hill Blue is another fruitful divergence for Peel whose work is fast becoming something exceptional.’ – THE QUIETUS

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Craig Charles + Supertonic Sound Club + Pete Brady DJ (Superfly)

Festival Marquee Sunday 5 May 7.00pm

Tickets £12.00 www.cqaf.com

The legendary actor, host and broadcaster Craig Charles is one of UK’s most beloved Funk and Soul DJ’s. From Robot Wars to Red Dwarf, Craig is now a Funk & Soul icon after 10 years of broadcasting on BBC 6 Music with their primetime Saturday night show.

Live every Saturday night with an assortment of classic gems and emerging artists, Craig has garnered global support as one of the UK’s foremost Funk and Soul commentators, DJ’s and promoters of new music. The show has become a European benchmark for artists who want to connect directly with their fans.

Mr. Charles and his trunk of funk is back to help CQAF celebrate it’s 20th birthday. In the words of the soulful don himself, ‘No Sleep till Bedtime’. ’The crowd lapped it up and danced their socks off and Craig seemed to enjoy every minute.’ – NOTTINGHAM POST

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Alejandro Escovedo + Don Antonio

Oh Yeah Music Centre Sunday 5 May 8.00pm

Tickets £14.00 www.cqaf.com

Crossing borders, jumping barriers, taking risks, betting it all: that’s the path Alejandro Escovedo has been taking in his lifelong search for the heart of rock and roll.

Alejandro’s new album, The Crossing is about that journey: searching, but not necessarily finding, eyes and ears open all the way.

It was recorded in an Italian farmhouse near Mogdliana and features his collaborator and co-songwriter Don Antonio with his band whom will be backing and opening for Alejandro.

Escovedo has earned a surplus of distinctions: No Depression magazine's ‘Artist of the Decade’ Award in 1998 and the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award for Performing in 2006, just to name two.

A true artist and craftsman, CQAF is delighted to welcome Alejandro Escavado to this year’s Festival.

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Joshua Burnside

First Presbyterian Church Rosemary Street Sunday 5 May 8.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ10.00 www.cqaf.com

Northern Irish experimental folk songwriter and producer Joshua Burnside is something of an anomaly in local terms.

With a brooding, powerful sound echoing artists of places afar and time long gone, his enthralling craft defies local comparison in striving towards an aesthetic as much as visual as it is sonic.

Balancing a diverse palette of sounds, Burnside deftly blends alt-folk and elements of the Irish folk song tradition with South American rhythms and Eastern European influences.

Joshua was the winner of the NI Music Prize 2017 and has chalked up over 10 million streams on Spotify with extensive radio play and support from BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music; Guy Garvey, Tom Robinson, Tom Ravenscroft, Lauren Laverne, Huw Stephens and Phil Taggart.

The setting of the 1st Presbyterian Church will make this an extra special show to witness an artist at the height of his song craft.

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whenyoung + support The Larks

McHughs Monday 6 May 8.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ10.00 www.cqaf.com

whenyoung are Aoife Power (Vocals/Bass), Niall Burns (Guitar) and Andrew Flood (Drums) who hail from Limerick but are currently based in London.

First meeting as teenagers, sneaking into the only indie bar of their city in Ireland, they bonded over cheap vodka and The Velvet Underground. Soon after, Niall moved to London, with Andrew and Aoife quickly following, and here they began writing songs together.

Following the release of their critically acclaimed debut EP, Given Up, whenyoung are back with an epic new single, Never Let Go, released through Virgin EMI. A massive slab of joyous guitar-pop, Never Let Go finds the band expanding their sound. The slow burning track features layers of chiming guitar and vocals, creating a wall of sound that beautifully compliments Aoife’s evocative lyrics.

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Rufus Wainwright (Solo)

Festival Marquee Monday 6 May 8.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ30.00 www.cqaf.com

Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and composer Rufus Wainwright will play a special intimate solo show at the Festival Marquee.

This is the 20-year anniversary of his eponymous debut which first burst him onto the music scene. Immediately beloved and critically acclaimed, both Rufus and the record were widely hailed as a breakthrough. It influenced many artists that came after him and set the path for his illustrious career ever since.

One of the great male vocalists, songwriters and composers of his generation, Rufus Wainwright has released eight studio albums, three DVDs, and three live albums.

He has collaborated with artists ranging from Elton John, David Byrne, Mark Ronson, Joni Mitchell to Burt Bacharach.

His album, Rufus Does Judy recorded at Carnegie Hall in 2006, was nominated for a Grammy.

We are grateful to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for the loan of the Steinway piano, for the purpose of this event.

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Anna Calvi (Solo)

Festival Marquee Tuesday 7 May 8.00pm

Tickets £15.00 www.cqaf.com

In less than a decade Anna Calvi has received two Mercury Prize nominations, praise from the highest quarters, and established herself as an artist fearless of examining identity and passion. The three Anna Calvi albums to date are dark-inked essays in turbulence and drama.

She’s collaborated with Brian Eno, Marianne Faithful and, on the 2014 covers EP Strange Weather, David Byrne. In 2017, she composed the music for The Sandman, an opera directed by Robert Wilson.

Hunter, the third album from Anna Calvi, is the embodiment of the feeling of truly letting go.

For the art-rock singer-songwriter it was a catharsis, and an opportunity to be more truthful than she has ever been before. Hunter is a galvanising record which explores freedom. It’s about the female protagonist being the hunter; it goes beyond gender, it is visceral and primal.

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Patty Griffin

The Black Box Tuesday 7 May 8.00pm

Tickets £20.00 www.cqaf.com

Grammy Award winner Patty Griffin has just released her 10th studio recording, the eponymous Patty Griffin on her own PGM Recordings label.

The album represents an extraordinary new chapter for this incomparable singer-songwriter and immediately stands among the most deeply personal recordings of her remarkable two-decade career.

It follows 2015’s Grammy-nominated Servant of Love and collects songs written during and in the aftermath of profound personal crisis, several years in which she battled – and ultimately defeated – cancer.

Yet as always, like very few others, Griffin’s power lies in how Griffin can express the strikingly intimate while never making it about herself, all wrapped in sparse arrangements that breathe an incomparable force and import into her songcraft.

A very special performance is guaranteed.

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Chris Difford

McHughs Tuesday 7 May 8.00pm

Tickets £15.00 www.cqaf.com

2019 Grammy nominated, double Ivor Novello Award winning lyricist Chris Difford comes to CQAF with his 2019 “stand-up, sit-down” tour Up the Junction and we couldn’t be more excited.

The tour sees Difford discussing extracts from his book Some Fantastic Place, which takes a look back at his career, whilst performing hits from across his Squeeze back-catalogue, and debuting some new solo material.

Over 40 years in the business, Difford rose to fame with his first incarnation, co-founding Squeeze with his longtime collaborator Glenn Tilbook. The pair quickly demonstrated an ability to turn characters and sketches from everyday life in to music, going on to write some the nation’s best-loved hits: Up The Junction, Cool For Cats, Labelled with Love, Tempted to name a few.

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In association with The Duncairn

Mick Flannery

Oh Yeah Music Centre Wednesday 8 May 8.00pm

Tickets £15.00 www.cqaf.com

Mick Flannery is widely regarded as one of the finest singer-songwriters to come out of Ireland in recent years.

Mick first picked up a guitar at age of 14, writing songs throughout his teens, while training as a stonemason, which culminated in him signing to a major label at just 21 and releasing his first album Evening Train.

2018 has seen Mick Flannery step out of his comfort zone both musically and geographically, touring new cities across the world whilst working with a number of celebrated producers along the way.

What has transpired over the last year is one of his strongest bodies of work in his 15 year song-writing career.

‘Astute and sophisticated lyrics’ - RTE ‘Strong, imaginative melodies’ – IRISH EXAMINER ‘A song-writing force to be reckoned with’ - IRISH TIMES ‘An album dripping with maturity, poise and potential’ – ENTERTAINMENT.IE

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In association with Moving on Music/The Duncairn

The Fretless

The Duncairn Arts Centre Wednesday 8 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12.00/£8.00 www.cqaf.com

The Fretless is the Canadian fiddle foursome pushing traditional music into new plains.

Debuting in 2012 the band has steadily moved into the public eye, winning Instrumental Album of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards and Instrumental Group of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Award, along with a Juno award for their 2016 album Bird’s Nest.

Their most recent album, Live from the Antfarm, takes this a step further leading the charge in a new wave of folk music.

The Fretless is an innovation in music that must be heard.

They harbour all the energy of fiddle tunes, while shattering expectations. Their approach takes string music to fascinating new places as it transforms traditional tunes and folk melodies into intricate, beautiful, high-energy arrangements. An absolute must-see.

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In association with Moving on Music

Nubya Garcia

The Black Box Wednesday 8 May 8.00pm

Tickets £14.00/£10.00 www.cqaf.com

London-based saxophonist and composer, Nubya Garcia, is one of the leading forces behind the resurgence of jazzinfluenced sounds in the UK. Raised in a creative environment built by a set of Caribbean parents, her brand of afro-tinged Jazz has made her a key component in a string of new and established groups: from work with MOBO Award-winning drummer, Moses Boyd, legendary Jungle producer and toaster, Congo Natty, through to her own works as part of six-piece, Maisha, and the Nérija septet.

What makes her music so compelling is how she is able to weld together the various musical influences of her youth into a bright new sound. Whether it’s the gospel, soul and Latin that she grew up with at home, or the grime, garage and dub she used to dance to at London clubs; it’s all there.

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Dead Lee

The American Bar Wednesday 8 May 8.00pm

Tickets £8.00 www.cqaf.com

Dead Lee are a Portland-based folk duo comprised of Brian Koch and singer-songwriter Kara Harris. The duo represents a mutual love of the darker folk and country traditions.

Koch works as a drummer with Northwest-based Blitzen Trapper. The band formed in 2000, and recorded independently before signing with Subpop Records in 2007 in Seattle.

When Koch and Harris began playing music together, they discovered their interests were parallel and similar.

“We’re drawn to sadder, darker songwriters, like Townes Van Zandt, Gram Parsons and Neil Young,” Koch says. “We like music centered around themes of loss and breakups.

Not exclusively, but there’s a lot of that.”

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Peter Broderick with Support Brona McVittie

First Presbyterian Church Rosemary Street Thursday 9 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12.00 www.cqaf.com

Born in 1987, Peter Broderick is an American-born multiinstrumentalist and singer, now based in Ireland. Aside from collaborations with M. Ward, Laura Gibson, Dolorean, Efterklang, Nils Frahm, Greg Haines, David Allred and many more.

Broderick recorded several acclaimed albums of solo material, ranging from sparse classical compositions or homemade folk music to piano and voice recordings – constantly experimenting with different musical genres and making his name as an increasingly essential artist in today’s musical panorama.

Along with some of the most prestigious venues across the world, Peter Broderick has also performed in festivals like Roskilde, Montreux Jazz Festival, Misty Fest, CTM Festival, Green Man, Supersonic and OFF Festival.

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In association with the Black Box

Carla Dal Forno

The Black Box Thursday 9 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12.50 www.cqaf.com

Carla dal Forno is an Australian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose acclaimed debut album You Know What It’s Like (2016) established her as a singular new talent who navigates the in-between zones of postpunk, industrial, narcotic dub and dream pop.

As a solo artist Dal Forno crafts artfully atmospheric and emotionally ambiguous songs, displaying an observer’s eye for detail and a painterly sense of proportion. Her productions feature synth textures, pulsing drum machines, stripped back guitar lines and disorientating bass undertows, with her glacially detached voice soaring high above.

The Garden EP (2017) is both a refinement and an evolutionary leap from her debut. The EP’s title track – and its clear climax – pays tribute to Einsturzende Neubauten’s song of the same name.

Recommended for fans of Anna Domino, Coil, Raincoats, Kendra Smith, Antena, Flaming Tunes, Another Green World.

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Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Festival Marquee Thursday 9 May 8.00pm

Tickets £14.00 www.cqaf.com

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, are eight horn-playing brothers (plus one unrelated drummer) – all sons of jazz trumpeter and composer Kelan Phil Cohran (a member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra).

Together, they have formed a formidable reputation as one of the best live bands around, releasing three acclaimed albums on UK label Honest Jon’s Records.

With a sound that calls to mind traditional New Orleans big-band jazz and nods to the avant-garde angularity of their father and his contemporaries, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are equally informed by rap, funk and hip-hop.

They have worked alongside Mos Def, Prince, Ghostface Killah, Childish Gambino, Gorillaz (including three tracks on Plastic Beach), Erykah Badu, Robert Glasper and Tony Allen among others. Their stirring song War even featured on The Hunger Games soundtrack.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble’s signature dose of hard brass will have you on your feet, singing along and bouncing around ‘like trampoline testers’ (Evening Standard).

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CQAF and Neighbourhood present

Awesome Tapes from Africa

Ulster Sports Club Thursday 9 May 8.00pm

Tickets £8.00 www.cqaf.com

Since 2006, Brian Shimkovitz's Awesome Tapes From Africa blog has been shedding light on obscure and wonderful sounds from across the continent. As a DJ he brings the blog to life with 2-3 hour sets blending folkloric pop, leftfield dancefloor gems and hip-hop bangers he's collected on African marketplace finds.

Travelling from club to festival to DIY space, Awesome Tapes From Africa DJ sets celebrate the music and musicians whose cassettes Shimkovitz has collected over the years.

Drawing on his vast African cassette archive—which includes highlife, fuji, benga, tsonga disco, soukous, hiphop, rhumba and ethio-soul, among countless other genres—his role now combines that of educator, promoter and selector, finding him DJ across the world.

His DJ sets on twin tape decks explore deep, regional sounds using analog-anchored agility not heard/seen anywhere else.

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Daddy Long Legs + Protex and The Sabrejets

The Black Box Friday 10 May 8.00pm

Tickets £12.00 www.cqaf.com

Brooklyn-based trio Daddy Long Legs make their Yep Roc Records debut this May with Lowdown Ways, their third studio album.

Lowdown Ways sees the boys widen their sonic horizons with field hollers, gospel, Cajun, and Mississippi Hill Music, coupled with their renowned supercharged, harp-driven R&B bangers.

While influenced by the likes of Son House, Captain Beefheart, Howlin’ Wolf, MC5, and Dr. Feelgood, their sound personifies garage rock and punk with a contemporary raw twist performed in their own brand of supercharged R&B. Since forming in 2010, the band has released two studio albums, a live album and two 45s on Norton Records. Their last album was 2015’s Daddy Long Legs Rides Tonight. The band has toured with Jon Spencer, Hurray For The Riff Raff, The Sonics, Nikki Lane, Nick Waterhouse, amongst others. ‘…like Chicago blues fired at the moon, played by the demented children of the Pretty Things.’ – ROLLING STONE

78 MUSIC

Strange Victory and CQAF present

UNLOVED + David Holmes DJ Set

Festival Marquee Friday 10 May 8.00pm

Tickets £15.00 www.cqaf.com

It is with both a tear in the eye and a celebratory fist in the air that we announce the last ever God’s Waiting Room (GWR) will take place at CQAF. And it’s a big one.

Belfast-based music legend and GWR mastermind David Holmes’ own band UNLOVED (Killing Eve soundtrack) will be headlining the last ever GWR. Following their 2016 debut album Guilty of Love the band announced their second album Heartbreak of which the eponymous lead single was playlisted on BBC6 music.

The band line-up for the evening is Jade Vincent (lead vocals), Keefus Ciancia (keys), Jay Bellerose (Drums , Perc), Jen Bellerose (electric bass), Kat Khaleel (electric guitar and backing vocals), Raven Ciancia (backing vocals), Sarah Rayne (backing vocals), Visuals by Julian House.

David Holmes will be DJing after the band for an epic grand finale. Expect magic and dancing, mayhem and more dancing.

79 MUSIC

Glasshouse Ensemble perform Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois

First Presbyterian Church Friday 10 May 8.00pm

Tickets £14.00 www.cqaf.com

Glasshouse are a music ensemble from Dublin. They present performances of popular contemporary music in singular locations. Glasshouse produce their own unique concerts, presenting musically exciting albums in their entirety.

Their arrangement of Sufjan Stevens' Illinois is now famous on the Irish scene after performances at The Sugar Club, Douglas Hyde Gallery and Another Love Story.

‘Broderick’s voice, full of emotion and boasting a gorgeous range, perfectly captured the vulnerability Stevens’ lyrics.

As predicted, the opening bars of ‘Chicago’ resonated throughout the packed tent and the crowd, revelling in nostalgia, sang along, not missing a single word.’ - THE THIN AIR ‘Their multifaceted approach to music transcends sound’ – TOTALLY DUBLIN

80 MUSIC

The Eskies

McHughs Friday 10 May 8.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ10.00 www.cqaf.com

The Eskies are purveyors of music that meanders from seasoaked waltz to Italian tarantella, from Brassy funeral march-esque lament to weep-along Klezmar knees-up, from chaingang holler to ragtime finger snap.

Skipping through the dark side of anything that makes you want to dance, steeped in melodrama and usually with not a small amount of tongue in cheek.

The band have brought this unique brand of folk noir/gypsy jazz/sea shanty and their all screaming, all sweating, swaggering stage spectacle to ballrooms and booze-houses the length and breadth of Europe; sullying soirees and lowering inhibitions of get togethers and social occasions wherever they have ventured.

81 MUSIC

My Darling Clementine

The Black Box Saturday 11 May 2.00pm

Tickets £14.00 www.cqaf.com

My Darling Clementine return to CQAF with a full band following the success of third album Still Testifying. Uncut magazine described it as ‘where gospel, country and southern soul happily collide… and it’s terrific.’

Since Michael Weston King and Lou Dalgleish shook up the world of country and americana with their much lauded 2013 debut How Do You Plead?, they have continued to push the boundaries of country music.

After hundreds of shows across Europe and the U.S, and some ingenious musical collaborations (Kinky Friedman, The Brodsky Quartet, Graham Parker), My Darling Clementine have won numerous awards, become regulars on the BBC and gained an ever-growing, passionate fan base.

Wry, witty, acerbic, and at times incredibly poignant, the duo always run their audiences through the full gamut of emotions with their match-made-in-heaven harmonies and songwriting of the very highest order.

82 MUSIC

Say Sue Me

McHughs Saturday 11 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Say Sue Me are a Surf inspired Indie-Rock/Pop act from Busan, South Korea and cited as one of 2019's ‘break-out bands'. Childhood friends Jaeyoung Ha (Bass) and ByungkyuKim (guitar) met drummer Semin Kang and played in bands together since winter of 2012, when they met Sumi Choi at a tea shop in Nampo-dong.

They liked her speaking voice and immediately offered her a spot as the vocalist in a new band that would become Say Sue Me. Following showcases at SXSW in 2018, the band released their sophomore album Where We Were Together which won praise from Pitchfork, NPR, Billboard, The Independent, Stereogum, Paste, MTV, Fader and more.

The band toured the Europe twice in 2018 and count Yo La Tengo, Japanese Breakfast, Snail Mail, The Coathangers, The Ravonettes and Speedy Ortiz as fans.

83 MUSIC

Revisited – Jeff Buckley ‘Grace’

Oh Yeah Music Centre Saturday 11 May 8.00pm

Tickets £10.00 www.cqaf.com

Oh Yeah's Revisited series returns to CQAF by celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Jeff Buckey's masterpiece album Grace.

Released in 1994 Grace gained cult status at first before going on to sell over 2 million albums and is consistently acclaimed as one of the greatest albums of all time.

It was unfortunately the only studio album Buckley would record due to his death only a few days later. Featuring his soaring and heart-breaking version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah as well as favourites Mojo Pin, Last Goodbye and Grace.

To celebrate the legacy of a remarkable, sincere and mesmerising record the Oh Yeah will re-imagine the album with local artists including David C Clements, Reevah and Sam Wickens.

84 MUSIC

Horslips (Devlin, Fean & Lockhart)

Festival Marquee Saturday 11 May & Sunday 12 May 7.00pm

Tickets £17.50 www.cqaf.com

This promises to be very special. Horslips have been exploring the frontiers of Celtic music since the 1960s. The trilogy of albums, The Book of Invasions, Aliens and The Man Who Built America explored Irish history and the forging of new frontiers in the new world.

With hits such as Dearg Doom and Trouble with a Capital T, the band became infamous for their blend of Irish trad and rock. Their songs re-tell Irish myths and legends while giving them a unique twist.

Last November fan Rob Aiken put on an event, Horslips Con 2018, and fans came from the USA and Europe to see their favourite band. Rob is delighted that CQAF are presenting this year’s Horslips Con 2019.

Support on Saturday night will be The Pat McManus Band.

Support on Sunday will be Paddy Goodwin and the Holy Ghosts.

85 MUSIC

CQAF & The Duncairn presents

The Breath

The Duncairn Saturday 11 May 8.00pm

Tickets £15.00 (BYOB) www.cqaf.com

The Breath is guitarist Stuart McCallum and singer Ríoghnach Connolly. Based in Manchester, their unique take on alt-folk journeys from lush, beguiling storytelling to uplifting, punch-the-air anthems.

At its heart is Ríoghnach’s deeply soulful, utterly engaging, stop-you-in-your-tracks voice alongside Stuart’s understated brilliance and their exquisitely crafted, personal songs. Yet it’s the emotional depth of the songs and the remarkable connection the duo share on stage that make The Breath’s live performance so compelling.

Their latest album Let the Cards Fall, is a collection of songs allowed to mature and breathe without losing the multitextured kaleidoscope of sound that marked their debut, Carry Your Kin. Expect a performance that is ‘gentle and rolling, mountainous and anthemic… and emotionally charged’, according to fRoots. A great band in a great venue. Yes, we’re very, very excited about this.

86 MUSIC

A Certain Ratio

The Black Box Saturday 11 May 8.00pm

Tickets £20.00 www.cqaf.com

English post-punk purveyors A Certain Ratio are set to deliver the perfect balance of funk and dance-oriented industrial realness on the Black Box. The show coincides with the release of ACR:BOX, marking the 40th anniversary of A Certain Ratio’s debut release, the Martin Hannett produced All Night Party (Factory Records’ first single release).

A Certain Ratio embraced the ethic and culture of the late seventies post-punk explosion, but sounded like nothing else around them and refused to fit in.

Five albums were released on Factory , two for A&M and two albums on Robs Records, the label set up by Factory’s director, Rob Gretton. Their sound can be heard on everyone from LCD Soundsystem, Happy Mondays, Franz Ferdinand to ESG, and Factory Floor.

Never easily pigeonholed, ACR combine the avant-garde elements of funk, jazz, electronics, tape loops and technology to the pop song, wrapping it in a post punk aesthetic, adding great clothes and the coolest haircuts.

87 MUSIC

Yola

Festival Marquee Sunday 12 May 2.00pm

Tickets £13.00 www.cqaf.com

Yola Carter’s star is definitely on the ascendant after an amazing performance on Jools’ Annual Hootenanny on the BBC on New Year's Eve rounding off a busy year which saw her record her long-awaited debut album Walk Through Fire.

Produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Walk through Fire came out in February to huge acclaim. Additional ecstatic praise has come from Rolling Stone, Wall Street Journal, Paste, Stereogum, and NPR, who have praised Yola’s powerhouse vocals and songwriting, comparing her to a diverse range of artists from the Staples Singers to Dolly Parton.

Yola said of Ride Out In The Country, “Lyrically the song is about escapism and the video adds an awesome twist.

We wrote the song about getting away from an oppressive environment. I was in an abusive relationship a while back, so I drew on the feeling of relief and release that I had when I truly felt free.”

Certain to be one of the standout shows of this year’s festival.

88 MUSIC

89 SECTION HEAD

Folsom Prison Blues: A Tribute to Johnny Cash by the Junior Johnson Band

The Black Box Sunday 12 May 2.00pm

Tickets £12.50 www.cqaf.com

On January 13th 1968 Johnny Cash performed two of the most important gigs of his life. Much against everyone's advice at Columbia records, Cash, June Carter, Carl Perkins, the Statler Brothers and the Tennessee Three went to Folsom Prison to record a live album in front of an audience of inmates. His career seemed to being stalling, this was a make or break live album.

The setlist included the gallows-humoured 25 Minutes To Go, I Got Stripes, Jackson with June Carter and Greystone Chapel written by inmate Glen Sherley, who was in the front row unaware Cash was going to perform his song.

The gamble paid off and was the first of four albums he would record in prisons. The Man In Black reminded the world how much of an outlaw he truly was. It has since gone platinum three times and is considered one of the greatest live recordings in American music history.

This will be a special gig recreating that iconic album by Junior Johnson and his band.

Presented by Snow Water.

90 MUSIC

Kevin Roche The Quiet Architect

PLACE 7-9 Lower Garfield Street Sunday 5 May 6.00pm

£5.00 www.cqaf.com

Celebrated Irish-American architect Kevin Roche was working right up until his death, aged 96 in March of this year.

Despite a lifetime of acclaimed work that included designing new galleries for The Met in New York, Roche had little interest in celebrity and always eschewed the label “Starchitect”.

Graduating from UCD in 1945, and after more than 60 years in the USA, his first Irish project, the Convention Centre Dublin, opened in 2010. Roche's architectural philosophy focused on creating “a community for a modern society” and he has been credited with creating green buildings before they became part of the public consciousness.

He won awards for his designs of over 300 major buildings around the world, among them the Pritzker Prize in 1982 the highest honour given to a living architect.

With The Quiet Architect, Irish Director Mark Noonan brings a cinematic yet intimate portrayal of the man and his staggering body of work.

92 SOUND & VISION

Best in Show

Sunflower (Dog friendly screening) Monday 6 May 2.00pm

Tickets £4.00 www.cqaf.com

It’s nearly 20 years since “the canine Spinal Tap” aka Best in Show hit the big screen.

Hilarious, heart-warming and 100 per cent doggytastic, Best in Show follows the journey of five eccentric entrants as they pit themselves and their pooches against one another in a prestigious dog show.

Directed by and starring the great Christopher Guest along with a stellar cast of comedy talent, we can't think of a better movie for our first ever dog friendly cinema event!

And what better venue than Belfast's own official dogfriendly pub - The Sunflower?

Come join us, bring a four (or two) legged friend with you, grab a beer or a bowl of water, and enjoy Best in Show easily the funniest improvised film about American dog shows ever made!

93 SOUND & VISION

Les Diaboliques

Beanbag Cinema Thursday 9 May 8.00pm

Tickets £5.00 www.cqaf.com

We’re delighted to team up with the Belfast French Club to bring you one of the most suspenseful French films in one of Belfast’s cosiest cinemas.

Considered to be the greatest film that Alfred Hitchcock never made, Henri-Georges Clouzot's ' Les Diaboliques is set in a provincial boarding school run by headmaster Michel Delasalle.

A ruthless lothario, he becomes the target of a murder plot concocted by his long-suffering invalid wife Christina and his latest mistress, an icy teacher played by Simone Signoret.

A dark, dank thriller with a much-imitated "shock" ending, Les Diaboliques is a masterpiece of Grand Guignol suspense.

Enjoy this classic slice of French film noir in the supreme cosiness of the Cathedral Quarter’s famous Beanbag Cinema.

This is a BYOB event. There's a small fridge to chill wines (French, naturally).

94 SOUND & VISION

The Return of the Dancehall Sweethearts

The Green Room Saturday 11 May 3.00pm

Tickets £5.00 www.cqaf.com

With not one, but two highly anticipated shows at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival this year, we thought it was a timely moment to screen the acclaimed Horslips documentary, Return of the Dancehall Sweethearts.

Horslips matter. They mattered in the 1970s and they matter still. Why? Perhaps, to quote from the opening narration of Return of The Dancehall Sweethearts, the 2005 documentary on the band, “We saw in Horslips something that was ours, something that was of us...[they are] part of what makes us, us.”

Horslips formed in 1970 in Dublin, drawing its members from across Ireland – Barry Devlin from Co Tyrone; Jim Lockhart (keyboards, whistle, flute) from Dublin; Johnny Fean (guitars) from Limerick; Eamon Carr (drums) from Co Meath; and Charles O’Connor (mandolin/violin), who was born in Middlesbrough to Irish parents.

Horslips paved the way for many Irish artists including U2.

Bono himself, along with The Edge, Pat McCabe, Dave Fanning and Joseph O’Connor are among the artists who pay tribute to this unique band.

95 SOUND & VISION

The Inertia Variations

The Green Room Sunday 12 May 2.00pm

Tickets ÂŁ5.00 www.cqaf.com

The The’s Matt Johnson remained silent as a singer/songwriter for 15 years. Then, unexpectedly, wonderfully, in 2017 a film - The Inertia Variations - appeared.

With his song writing, Johnson has always been known for his blending of the personal and political with powerful intensity. In the film we see him no less impassioned as he tries to purge his feelings of disenchantment, and attempts to relocate his mojo and muse.

A long-term listener of shortwave radio he launches Radio Cineola, his conceptual version of this romantic medium, in a marathon show which includes not only live music and poetry, but also interviews and discussion about where local, national and international democracy now stands in the 21st Century.

But sudden grief and a promise to the director of the documentary, his ex-partner Johanna St Michaels, to write a new song for the broadcast, stirs up old demons of inertia and bereavement.

Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival is thrilled to present the Northern Irish premier of the remarkable Inertia Variations.

96 SOUND & VISION

Rise: The Storyof The Augustines

The Green Room Sunday 12 May 6.00pm

Tickets £5.00 www.cqaf.com

“This is what it means to be alive - to connect with people.

To face your fears, to be afraid, and to do it anyway.”

In August of 2009, singer William McCarthy’s younger brother James was found dead of an apparent suicide inside Napa State Hospital. Just one week later, McCarthy’s band Pela imploded, leaving both him and band mate Eric Sanderson devastated, in financial ruin, and with a halffinished album that may never see the light of day.

The two resurfaced with a new name, Augustines and, together with drummer Robert Allen, rose up to become one of the most celebrated independent bands in the world.

Rise: The Story of Augustines chronicles the journey of these two men who faced their demons, refused to fall and established a lifelong brotherhood as they struggled to finish their seminal debut record, all while trying to maintain their own sanity and pay tribute to James.

97 SOUND & VISION

Susan MacWilliam: The Telepaths

The Golden Thread Project Space May 2 - June 22

Exhibition Launch: Thursday 2 May 5.00pm – 8.00pm

The Golden Thread Gallery is delighted to presenting a new solo presentation by the internationally celebrated artist Susan MacWilliam in the Project Space in May. The Telepaths is an installation of sculpture, video, and photographic work that explores the ideas and imagery related to historical investigations of telepathy and extrasensory perception.

With a fascination in the experimental handmade objects and apparatus used within psychical research studies MacWilliam draws parallels between the exploratory space of the researcher’s laboratory and that of the artist’s studio.

Susan MacWilliam uses diverse forms of reconstruction, portraiture and storytelling to explore personal and social histories. Subjects include psychic mediums, ectoplasm, Xray vision, telepathy, table tilting, remote viewing and dermo optical perception.

Susan MacWilliam represented Northern Ireland at the 53rd Venice Biennale, 2009. In 2017 she was awarded the EIKON Award (45+) for European women photographers and media artists.

99 VISUAL ARTS

Ray Duncan

The Green Room 2 May - 2 June

Exhibition Launch: Thursday 2 May 6.00pm

“The production of abstract painting has been a thread running throughout my work since the 1960s. I use painting as an evolutionary process, mixing colours directly onto the canvas, incorporating chance and accident, taking a series of calculated risks.

Throughout the process there is an emotional reaction to the painting, it’s nothing more and nothing less. I carry elements of the real world into the work through observations of colours and shapes that I see in the environment but I am not bound by the need to make representational images.” - Ray Duncan Ray Duncan attended night classes at The Art College studying under John Luke and Terry Flanagan in the 1960s and went onto teach Art and Design in Belfast for over forty years.

He has exhibited his own work locally regularly since the early 70’s. In the 1980's, with a group of artists, in a response to a lack of local venues he ran a series of 'House Shows' in artists’ houses.

His work is held in the Northern Ireland Civil Service Collection and the Northern Ireland Libraries collections.

100 VISUAL ARTS

Dan Ferguson – Double Take

Clements Coffee 127-131 Royal Avenue 2 - 25 May

Double Take showcases original paintings by award-winning artist Dan Ferguson featuring scenes of urban spaces in Northern Ireland.

They invite viewers to look at well-known places with new eyes or take notice of the most overlooked ones, and ultimately encourage them to reflect upon their experiences of urban spaces and how they have singled out particular ones for their importance.

Curated by art consultant Francesca Biondi. Works can be purchased online from Gallery 545, a gallery specialising in contemporary art from Northern Ireland Opening times: Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, Sat 10am-5pm.

Friday 3 May, 1pm – Dan Ferguson presents his work (free but must be booked by emailing maggie@cqaf.com) This exhibition is kindly sponsored by Clements Coffee

101 VISUAL ARTS

B Beyond present

Monica Mayer: The Clothesline Project

Performance at grounds of City Hall Friday 10 May 12.00 noon

See www.cqaf.com for workshops and talks.

In The Clothesline Project Mayer transforms the clothesline, a traditionally feminine object, into a tool designed to engage the community and facilitate a dialogue around women’s experience with violence—including topics such as sexual harassment, domestic violence, and trafficking.

Mayer has implemented El Tendedero/The Clothesline Project in various museums and communities throughout Mexico, South America, and the United States, asking women from different economic classes, ages, and professions to respond to the statement, “As a woman, what I dislike most about my city is…”

Participants write their responses on small pink ballots, which are then hung on a clothesline. The site-specific installation documents the project’s results by using content created through community outreach, inviting visitors to add their voices and experiences to the tendedero, or clothesline.

Mónica Mayer (born March 16, 1954) is a feminist Mexican artist, activist and art critic whose work includes performance, digital graphics, drawing, photography and art theory.

102 VISUAL ARTS

Writers of Belfast – Neil Shawcross

Sea Holly 35 Hill Street (Above Orpheus Bar) 9 May – 30 June Gallery opening hours: Wednesday 4pm-7pm Thursday 4pm-7pm Friday 12pm-7pm

Launch: Thursday 9 May 7.00pm

Neil Shawcross is one of Ireland’s leading artists. This is his powerful & emotional tribute to Belfast’s authors, poets, playwrights and musicians…many of whom he has known personally. Neil has gifted the 36 paintings to the city & people of Belfast, and is being exhibited courtesy of the collection’s owners, Belfast City Council.

The large 7ft canvasses reflect the rich variety and contribution of Belfast writers to Irish & British culture… .from the renowned C.S Lewis, Seamus Heaney, Anna Burns and Van Morrison to lesser-known names such as Thomas Carnduff & Déirdre Ní Grianna.

Sea Holly is a stunning new independent art gallery at the heart of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, designed to showcase and support local artists.

103 VISUAL ARTS

Farset Feirste A Typeface for Belfast

A digital reinterpretation of the tiled lettering used for Belfast’s historic street signage

Farset feirste

MuirMcNeil

PLACE 7-9 Lower Garfield Street 2 - 25 May

Launch: Thursday 2 May 7.00pm

Belfast’s historic tiled street signage is immediately familiar to the city’s residents and visitors alike as a representation of the city’s unique character. Originally hand-made with poured clays as white capitals on black tiles during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the signs were first commissioned by the Belfast Corporation for use on major thoroughfares.

The exhibition traces how John McMillan, Emeritus Professor of Graphic Design at Ulster University and a Belfast resident, took the lettering and developed it into a functioning typeface then translated this into a corresponding gaelic typeform that would afford bilingual usage and a shared ownership by our citizens.

104 VISUAL ARTS

CQ Bazaar

St Annes Cathedral Thursday 2 May 5.00pm – 10.30pm

Admission Free www.cqaf.com

CQ Bazaar kicks off the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival with a feast of delights in the majestic St. Annes Cathedral.

Live music all evening with an eclectic mix of DJs, independent record labels, second hand vinyl, vintage clothes, antiques and retro furniture. The best art, design and craft and a feast of delicious food from local producers.

We have the unique Crypt bar brought to us by the award winning Sunflower. Come and treat your eyes, ears, mouth and pockets. Sure to be a great way to kick start CQAF 2019!

Brought to us by CQAF, Little Fox Events and CQ Bid. See www.cqaf.com for artists and bands appearing.

106 SPECIAL EVENTS

Hit the North

Union Street/Kent Street Sunday 5 May and Monday 6 May 2.00pm – 5.00pm

Hit the North is moving. Ireland’s biggest street art festival Hit the North is changing dates.

We’re delighted to be working alongside Seedhead Arts and Community Arts Partnership and join them on their mission to transform the Cathedral Quarter’s most boring walls.

For six years Hit the North has showcased the worlds best street artists to the attendees of Culture Night so a move to May is great news for attendees of CQAF. On Sunday 5th May head to Union Street and Kent Street (beside the Sunflower) between 2-5pm where there will be artists from all over Ireland painting live.

A date shift means a smaller festival for just this year but there’s something new planned for Monday 6th May so watch this space…

108 SPECIAL EVENTS

Raise Your Expectations: Exchange 1NE

Meet at PLACE 7-9 Lower Garfield Street Sunday 5 May individual walks every 15 minutes between 11.00am - 5.15pm

Tickets £4.00 www.cqaf.com

What do you imagine Belfast will be like in 10 years from now? How has it changed? Come and see for yourself a projected vision of Belfast – a real estate development fantasy, a dream of immersive marketing, and a way of life that is coming to North Street anytime soon.

Artists John D’Arcy and Una Lee present the augmentedreality-assisted walk Raise Your Expectations: Exchange 1NE – a story of past and future, myths and forecasts, memory and loss.

Duration: 10 min.

109 SPECIAL EVENTS

Mad Notions Podcast

The Green Room Monday 6 May 7.30pm

Tickets ÂŁ6.00 www.cqaf.com

Irish musicians Mick McCullagh and Nathan O'Regan discuss famous music myths, legends and true stories. Is Paul dead? Is Elvis alive? Just what exactly was Phil Collins singing about on In The Air Tonight? In this sight-loss friendly special event supported by Guide Dogs Northern Ireland, Mick and Nathan discuss the late great, Ray Charles.

Mad Notions enjoyed 60,000 listens across the world in it's first year, with festival appearances throughout Ireland and sell out live shows in Belfast.

All stories discussed with as much factual accuracy and focus as scrawled graffiti in the backstage bathroom.

Peppered among these famous tales are personal anecdotes from each of the lads that highlight the disparity between the perception and the realities of gigging life.

110 SPECIAL EVENTS

Bal Feirste, Belfast’s French Bal Folk Music and Dance Group

Sunower Public House Saturday 11 May 5.00pm

Admission Free

The Cathedral Quarter Festival seeks to offer a vast diversity of cultural experiences through its socially inclusive agenda and its eclectic programming blend of 'big names and emerging fringe activities and performances.

Against this background, this year, we are drawing attention to some participatory activities.

An example is the fun and enjoyment offered by French bal folk (traditional) music and dance. On Saturday 11 May (57.00pm) the Belfast based Bal Feirste Group will be hosting their regularly monthly open house dance session, to live music, in the Sunflower Pub. No partner, special clothing or footwear is needed; tuition in easy-to-learn dances (ideal for beginners) is provided.

111 SPECIAL EVENTS

CQ Radio

Thursday 2 May – Sunday 5 May Various times

www.cqradio.co.uk

It’s back! After a few years hiatus, we’ve brought back the legendary CQ Radio packed with an array of local talent contributing their vision and perspective of the CQAF. This year the CQAF Radio experiment reforms for the opening weekend of the festival. We will be broadcasting live from the Cathedral Quarter area and highlighting forthcoming events and discussing the ongoing future of the area.

A unique blend of music, conversation and comedy will soundtrack the 2019 CQAF. If you would like your say or submit an idea for a show please head over to @CQRadioBelfast.

112 SPECIAL EVENTS

CQAF 2019 Artist in Residence DANI

Singer-songwriter DANI has been wowing audiences for the past few years with her virtuoso guitar playing and highly individualistic self-penned songs.

In 2017 DANI travelled to Indonesia to work with instrumentalists KunoKini. The combination of KunoKini’s exploration of Indonesia’s traditional instruments with DANI’s traditional Irish style of songwriting allowed for a powerful musical partnership.

She recently composed the music for The Silver Branch a collaborative project with playwright Alice Malseed which explores the narrative surrounding contemporary abortion debate through the lens of Celtic Mythology.

‘A multi-instrumentalist with a remarkable knack for eking out sublime, burrowing melodies evocative of Irish traditional music.’ – THE THIN AIR See www.cqaf.com for DANI’s festival appearances.

113 SPECIAL EVENTS

foolsfestival.com 2019

Fri 3 – Mon 6 May Belfast City Centre

g n i z a met theatre A stre FREE!

and circus

Official Accommodation Partner

At a Glance THURSDAY 2 MAY CQ Bazaar 5.00pm - 10.00pm St Anne’s Cathedral

Howe Gelb 7.30pm Ulster Sports Club p39

Teenage Fanclub 8.00pm Festival Marquee p38

Neu! Reekie!

8.00pm The Black Box

What Girls Are Made of 7.45pm The MAC p31

Hen Ogledd 8.00pm Voodoo p40

William the Conquerer 8.00pm Duke of York p41

What Girls Are Made of 7.45pm The MAC p31

Earth to Alice 8.00pm The Sunflower p28

The Gold Tips 8.00pm Duke of York p48

Echo and Bunnymen 8.00pm Festival Marquee p43

Jason Lytle & Malojian 8.00pm 1st PresbyterianChurch p28

Skipper’s Alley/Conifers 9.00pm Aras NicReachtain p47

Lisa O’Neill 8.00pm The Black Box p146

Kitt Phillipa 8.00pm The MAC Upstairs

Lowkey 9.00pm Oh Yeah Centre p44

p104

Bernard MacLaverty 7.30pm 1st Presbyterian Church p4

p6

FRIDAY 3 MAY

p45

SATURDAY 4 MAY Marian Keyes 1.00pm Festival Marquee p7

Robbie Fulks 6.00pm Duke of York p51

Spiritualized 8.00pm Festival Marquee p57

Mary Coughlan 2.00pm The Black Box p49

What Girls Are Made of 7.45pm The MAC p131

Barb Jungr 8.00pm Black Box p55

Sean O’Hagan 3.00pm 1st Presbyterian Church p50

Wonders of the Wake 8.00pm The Duncairn p53

Sneaks 9.00pm The Sunflower p54

Men of North Country 9.00pm Oh Yeah p52

SUNDAY 5 MAY Raise Your Expectations 11.00am-5.15pm PLACE p107

Hit the North 2.00pm-5.00pm Cathedral Quarter p106

What Girls Are Made of 3.00pm The MAC p31

Hannah Peel/Will Burns 3.30pm The Black Box p58

SUNDAY 5 MAY The Quiet Architect 4.00pm PLACE p90

Craig Charles 8.00pm Festival Marquee p59

Joshua Burnside 8.00pm 1st Presbyterian Church p61

Kevin McAleer 7.30pm The Sunflower p15

Alejandro Escovedo 8.00pm Oh Yeah p60

Jerry Sadowitz 8.00pm The Black Box p16

Hit the North 2.00pm-5.00pm Cathedral Quarter p106

Best in Show 1.00pm The Sunflower p91

When Young 8.00pm McHughs p62

Seamus Heaney Tour 10.00am Leaves John Hewitt p8

Mad Notions Podcast 7.30pm The Green Room p108

Tom Stade 8.00pm The Black Box p18

Kevin McAleer 7.30pm The Sunflower p71

Patty Griffin 8.00pm The Black Box p66

Anna Calvi 8.00pm Festival Marquee p65

G. Quigley/J. Carson 7.30pm The Green Room p9

Phil Taggart 8.00pm Oh Yeah Centre p10

Chris Difford 8.00pm McHughs p67

The Fretless 8.00pm The Duncairn p69

Nubya Garcia 8.00pm Black Box p70

Dead Lee 8.00pm American Bar p71

Mick Flannery 8.00pm Oh Yeah Centre p68

Ballad of Patrick MacGill 8.00pm The Sunflower p29

Nina Conti 8.00pm Festival Marquee p20

Carla Dal Forno 8.00pm Black Box p73

Hypnotic Brass 8.00pm Festival Marquee p74

MONDAY 6 MAY Rufus Wainwright 8.00pm Festival Marquee p63

TUESDAY 7 MAY Kieran Hodgson 8.00pm The MAC Upstairs p19

WEDNESDAY 8 MAY

THURSDAY 9 MAY Keep Telling Me Lies 7.45pm The MAC p31

Peter Broderick with Brona McVittae 8.00pm 1st Presbyterian Church p72

THURSDAY 9 MAY CONTINUED Les Diaboliques 8.00pm The Beanbag Cinema

Sarah Keyworth 8.00pm McHughs p21

Awesome Tapes Africa 8.00pm Ulster Social Club p75

The Girls Guide...

8.00pm The American Bar

Keep Telling Me Lies 7.45pm The MAC p31

Impro All Stars 8.00pm The Sunflower p22

Glasshouse Ensemble 8.00pm 1st Presbyterian Church p78

The Eskies 8.00pm McHughs p79

Daddy Long Legs 8.00pm Black Box p76

Unloved 8.00pm Festival Marquee p77

The Girls Guide...

8.00pm The American Bar

Deirdre O’Kane 8.00pm MAC Upstairs p23

Rory Gallagher Talk 1.00pm The Green Room p11

Emma Dabiri 5.00pm The Dark Horse p12

Keep Telling Me Lies 7.45pm The MAC p31

Jeff Buckley Revisited 8.00pm Oh Yeah Centre p82

My Darling Clementine 2.00pm The Black Box p80

Bal Feirste 5.00pm The Sunflower p109

Rob Auton 8.00pm The Sunflower p24

A Certain Ratio 8.00pm The Black Box p85

Keep Telling Me Lies 3.00pm The MAC p31

Cabaret in the Cathedral 6.30pm St Anne’s Cathedral p34

Say Sue Me 8.00pm McHughs p81

The Breath 8.00pm The Duncairn p84

Return of the Dancehall Sweethearts 3.00pm The Green Room p92

Horslips + Pat McManus Band 7.00pm Festival Marquee p83

Fallen Fruit 8.00pm The MAC Upstairs p32

Dick – 1 Man in 100,000 2.00pm The Sunflower p35

Story of The Augustines 6.00pm The Green Room p95

Keep Telling Me Lies 7.00pm The MAC p31

Johnny Cash Tribute 3.00pm Black Box p88

Horslips 7.00pm Festival Marquee p83

Roy Walker 8.00pm The Black Box p25

Keep Telling Me Lies 3.00pm The MAC p31

Son of Liverpool 7.30pm The Sunflower p36

p93

p30

FRIDAY 10 MAY

p30

SATURDAY 11 MAY

SUNDAY 12 MAY Stowaway City 12.30pm, 2.00pm, 3.30pm, 5.00pm, 6.30pm Sonic Lab p33 Yola 2.00pm Festival Marquee p86