A three-day festival that celebrates the longstanding cultural and musical ties between Wales and Ireland is returning to the Mid Wales seaside town of Cardigan in October.
Other Voices Cardigan has revealed the first wave of impressive live acts for the festival’s stages from October 26 -28.
Italian alt-pop act Sans Soucis, Irish singer-songwriter Susan O’Neill, acclaimed Welsh rockers Adwaith and Machynlleth-born triple harpist Cerys Hafana have all been announced as the first of this year’s headliners.
They will all perform intimate live sets in St Mary’s Church in Cardigan, with more headline artists to be announced in the coming weeks.
Presented by Welsh broadcaster Huw Stephens, Other Voices Cardigan will collapse global distance, bringing all of the headline performances live to the world for free via YouTube and streaming live to a cinema screen in Mwldan, an independent arts centre and cinema based in Cardigan.
Exclusive content from the weekend will be captured for later broadcast on S4C and RTÉ.
Beyond the church performances, the picturesque town of Cardigan will play host to a Music Trail in 11 venues over the festival’s three days, showcasing the very best handpicked established and emerging musical talent from Ireland and Wales.
In an eclectic and diverse mix of more than 35 artists, festival goers can enjoy a journey of musical discovery that celebrates hip-hop, folk, rock, electronica, RnB, punk, electronica, grime, soul and everything in between, reflecting the exciting vibrancy of the two nations’ musical output.
With more artists still to be announced, the Music Trail will feature amy michelle, Angharad, Climbing Trees, Chalk, Dead Method, Fia Moon, Gwilym Bowen Rhys, HMS Morris, Joshua Burnside, Lemoncello, Les SalAmandas, Mace The Great, Mali Hâf, MELLT, Minas, Mount Palomar, Samana, Scustin, Seba Safe, Tara Bandito and Uly.
In addition to the live music programme, an Other Voices festival wristband includes unlimited access toClebran – Flowing Tides, Llanw a Thrai and Sruth. Some of Wales and Ireland’s most compelling voices will come together for a series of intimate and invigorating discussions and stories, as well as some very special performances.
This insightful and fascinating group of thinkers, writers, historians, musicians, linguists, advocates and policymakers will discuss culture, power, representation, the future and much more, all the while capturing our imaginations.
This year’s Clebran features a collection of incredible speakers; Author and broadcaster Jon Gower, harpist Cerys Hafana, Associate Professor of Early Modern History John Gallagher; writer, composer and performer Daf James; writer-director Tracy Spottiswoode; writer, podcaster and journalist Damian Kerlin; journalist and author Richard Fisher, senior lecturer in applied psychology Dr Sharon Lambert and historian, writer and reviewer Christopher Kissane.
More speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. Clebran will take place at Mwldan in the afternoons and evenings of Thursday, Friday and Saturday across the three-day festival.
Early bird wristbands are on sale priced at £25, rising to £35 on October 1. Wristbands will give unlimited access to all Music Trail events and Clebran sessions across the three days and inclusion into a prize draw to win much sought-after admission wristbands to the live performances at St Mary’s Church.
Tickets for the exclusive church performances will not be for sale and only be available through prize draws and competitions. Follow @othervoiceslive and @theatrmwldan on socials for chances to win tickets.
Full details on festival wristbands and streaming are available at othervoices.ie
Phillip King, founder of Other Voices, said: “We are delighted to be bringing Other Voices back to our home away from home in beautiful Aberteifi this October.
“Other Voices Cardigan and Clebran is the culmination of the collaboration and partnership with our nearest neighbours. It’s a relationship and creative engagement that continues to deepen and strengthen.
“Under the auspices of the Joint Shared Statement by the Irish and Welsh Governments, we continue with the building of a cultural bridge between our two remarkable and unique countries.
“This relationship, as First Minister Mark Drakeford remarked in Cardigan last year, ‘has culture at its soul’. Join us in Cardigan at the end of October, when the music will be wonderful and the conversation provocative and passionate.”
Dilwyn Davies, chief executive of Mwldan, said: “We’re delighted that Other Voices will be returning to Cardigan in 2023, and also in 2024 and 2025, thanks to the generous support of the Welsh and Irish Governments.
“As we celebrate the close ties between Wales and Ireland, and more specifically Cardigan and Dingle, the original home of Other Voices in Ireland, it’s incredibly exciting to be sharing with audiences a vibrant and diverse line-up of amazing musical talent from both countries across a wide spectrum of genres.
“We also celebrate Cardigan’s importance as a place where art, culture, language, creativity, ideas, environment and action combine to make our community a precious asset for us all.”
Other Voices Cardigan is staged with the support and investment of Welsh Government and The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
The event is produced by South Wind Blows in partnership with Mwldan and Triongl. The event will be filmed by Triongl for later broadcast on S4C and RTÉ.
