Other Voices gets an hour-long slot on BBC TV to celebrate 20 years

The BBC is to broadcast an hour-long special celebrating 20 years of Other Voices.

The programme was recorded last November and will feature new performances from Sam Fender, Sigrid, Dermot Kennedy, Villagers, Kay Young and John Grant among others.

The performances were captured last November in the Church of St James in Dingle, where the show has been recorded since it began in 2003.

There will also be archive performances from performers including the Brit award-winning Little Simz, Mercury Prize award winner Arlo Parks, and Dublin band Fontaines DC, who will release their third album Skinty Fia in April.

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The film, which will be broadcast on BBC4 at 10pm on Friday March 18th, comes ahead of the transmission of the twentieth series of Other Voices on RTÉ 2 later this spring.

The BBC programme is presented by Annie MacManus. “Other Voices is communion,” she said. “It is the rhythm and flow of a long conversation. It is the surprise of a tear running down a cheek. It is songs carrying us away and then bringing us back to each other. That is the heart of the matter.”

Other Voices director Philip King said he was "delighted to bring this wonderful festival to a UK television audience".

He added: “There is something very special about Other Voices, the town of Dingle and the church of St James that hopefully we have captured in the programme.

"It's that magic which has kept this tiny festival at the top of the agenda and a must play for artists across the UK and Ireland for the past 20 years."