Pick of the week
Tiger Dublin Fringe
September 10th - 25th
If it gets harder each year to find a common theme stretching through the Tiger Dublin Fringe – this year clocking in at 73 productions and 412 performances – that might be because you’re looking at it properly. That’s not as easy a task as you might think: curators and critics have a habit of confidently finding patterns where none is intended. So, after various years seemingly defined by site-specific/site responsive performance, or docudramas, or aerial theatre, you’re more likely to find every facet of contemporary performance represented in the jamboree of 2016.
It’s all here: the kaleidoscopic cabaret of the Spiegeltent at Merrion Square (featuring recent Edinburgh smash Hot Brown Bunny, Thisispopbaby’s hotly anticipated glitter canon Riot, and Goulash Disko, among others), the espresso-jolt of the postdramatic (Dylan Coburn Gray’s aleatory Briseis After the Black, Dick Wash’s verbatim slam George Bush and Children, Brokentalkers’ Syrian allegory The Beach), contemporary-issue-driven theatre (Fionnuala Gygax’s direct provision-inspired Hostel 16, Rachael Clerke’s crossdressing punk cabaret about patriarchy and architecture, Cuncrete) and, in what may be just a passing fad, some actual, honest- to-goodness plays (Finbar Doyle and Jeda DeBrí’s TRYST, Shane Mac an Bhaird’s Traitor, Stacy Gregg’s Override).
One consequence, and maybe this counts as a trend, is that it’s hard to decide what, if anything, counts as “the alternative”. Take Collapsing Horse’s intriguing The Aeneid, a reconceived classic, which could slip into or free from any given category. Then again, that might represent the natural evolution of a Fringe that right at the heart of things.
Friday
Jane Siberry
Whelan's Dublin 8pm €16
whelanslive.com
Canada's Jane Siberry is well known to those who like their pop music spiked with genuine singularity and garlanded with melody lines. To others she is a barely recognisable name, despite her impressive success as a mainstream art-pop star throughout the 1980s. With cult fandom established, then, the size of a venue such as Whelan's seems appropriate, if somewhat unworthy of her huge talent.
Collate
The Bunatee Belfast 10pm £12/£10
facebook.com/CollateNI
Bjarki has been making wigged-out, tough-edged groundbreaking techno music since he was a teenager back in Iceland. Now alliged with Nina Kraviz's Trip label, his tracks such as I Wanna Go Bang, with its sad-eyed Arthur Russell sample in the midst of a twitchy, edgy groove, are finding favour worldwide. He's be showcasing tracks from his forthcoming album at Collate tonight and there's support from Celestian and Fourth Mind.
Metá Metá
Workman's Club, Wellington qy, 8pm, €15,
improvisedmusic.ie
Innovative Sao Paolo trio Metá Metá's music is rooted in the sounds and rhythms of Candomblé, the folkloric religion of Brazil whose origins go back to the Yoruba traditions of West Africa. Over that profound and mystical base, vocalist Juçara Marçal, saxophonist Thiago França and guitarist Kiko Dinucci spin new songs and stories, drawing on a world of influences from Afrobeat to punk rock to psychedelic samba.
Aine Cahill
thegrandsocial.ie
A fairly random apperance on BBC’s Glastonbury television coverage introduced Aine Cahill (above) to a huge audience, and last week at Electric Picnic she delivered a terrific set of music that had plenty in the crowd checking their timetables to find out her name. Sure, the music is a little too close in colour to her obvious influences but Cahill has an obvious talent that will only get better and better.
Saturday
Tw!tch
Queen's Students Union Belfast 7pm £7
twitchbelfast.com
Ahead of Tw!tch's 10th birthday party in October, they're taking the opportunity tonight to salute some of the homegrown DJs and producers who've starred at the club over the last decade. You'll have live sets from JC Williams and Chris Hanna, visits from Dubliners Kenny Hanlon and Sage & Mode 1 as well as Jordan, Isodisco and Beat BBQ. The action starts on the roof and takes off from there.
SassyBlack
Amp, Cork 10pm €12/€10/€7
It was with some sadness that we learned of the break-up of US R&B/hip-hop duo, THEESatisfaction – but every cloud has a silver lining, right? Stepping into the limelight, Seattle-based SassyBlack (aka Catherine Harris-White) brings her solo work to Ireland, as she promotes her recently released debut album, No More Weak Dates. Think trippy jazz/soul with a dash of psych-funk on the side.
The Malibu Club
Button Factory Dublin 11pm €10
A visit from Late Nite Tuff Guy is always a welcome sight in the club listings. Over the past few years, Australian DJ and producer Carmelo Bianchetti has created a fine bundle of superlative disco edits, remixes and cuts, and in the process, has turned vintage dusty grooves by Chic, Chaka Khan, Queen and many others into glittering anthems for dancefloors everywhere. Support from the Malibu Club DJs.
HTBX
Cellar Bar Galway 11pm €10/€7/€5
facebook.com/HotBoxPromotionsIrl
It has been a busy few months for the Hotbox crew, between The Gathering of Hotbox event in Co Offaly in aid of the Limerick Land Search Team and their third birthday bash last month. Tonight, there's grime, techno, garage and dubstep in the HTBX blend from Timbeaux Tonez (Fund A Mentalist), Sam Fitzpatrick (Wiggle), Ozwald (Wiggle) and Jesko (Sweet Tooth). Expect more HTBX outings in the coming months.
Listen at Arthurs
Arthurs, Thomas st., 8pm, €10
listen.ie
Dublin pianist, composer and keyboardist extraordinaire Justin Carroll (left) has been based in Brooklyn, New York, for the past decade, but he's home for the summer and renewing some old musical acquaintances. Catch up with him at the excellent monthly Listen salon, where he'll be digging out some of his old analog keyboards, and at JJ Smyths on Thursday for re-union of his much-admired Hammond organ trio Organics, with guitarist John Moriarty and drummer Kevin Brady.
Sunday
Sire: Maria McKinney
Galleries II & III, RHA Gallagher Gallery, 15 Ely Place, Dublin
rhagallery.ie
Maria McKinney has a way of drawing divergent strands of thought together to make ingenious and illuminating hybrids. Here she takes the traditional corn dolly, fashioned from the final sheaf of the crop and ritually sacrificed at the next year's sowing. Then she suggests a contemporary equivalent: DNA sequencing carried out at a bull stud, as scientists shape the future of beef and dairy herds.
