In just under two months, the latest installment of the Electric Picnic Music and Arts Festival will be underway in Stradbally.
Organisers say that several announcements will come between now and the start of the festival on August 16.
First off, they have confirmed that the popular rave in the wood, known as ‘Mother’, will return.
They say: “The Mother Queer Dance Party in the woods is back at Electric Picnic this August.
“Late night from 11pm- 4am Friday, Saturday & Sunday, we’re hosting an all-night queer dance party with the Mother DJs alongside special guest DJs & performers.
“From DJs to dance party drag, kinksters, dancers, queer performers & our whole queer festival family we’re gearing up for a weekend of dancing & hedonistic reckless abandon.
“Mother DJs Rocky T Delgado, Ruth Kavanagh and Ghostboy will be joined by a selection of our favourite guests including Kelly-Anne Byrne, Glamo and Billy Bunzari.
“With nonstop tunes from our DJs & pop-up shows featuring Abrakedavre, Annie Queeries, Anziety, Avatar Guille, Donna Fella, Faux Joli, Naomi Diamond, Nokia, the OINK Go-Go Dance crew, Saint Marco, Shaqira Knightly & the Mother Dancers we’re creating an unashamedly queer space at Ireland’s largest music and arts festival.”
The Folly Festival in Cullohill is scheduled to take place on July 5 and 6 – with the festival supported by Electric Picnic.
TV presenter, musician and podcaster – Doireann Ní Ghlacáin – has been announced as the MC and face of the forthcoming Folly Festival.
Doireann is a talented TV presenter renowned for fronting events such as The Fleadh – the world’s largest annual festival of Irish music on TG4 in addition to being an award-winning documentary maker.
Doireann is also a hugely sought after musician who travels all over the world (China, The Middle East and America) with her fiddle and sean nós performing at prestigious events such as the iconic Other Voices.
And finally a popular podcaster on ‘How To Gael’, a chart topping, good craic bilingual podcast, which she co-presents with her friends and fellow gaeilgeoirs, Today FM’s Louise Cantillon and Virgin Media’s Síomha Ní Ruairc.
Doireann has just completed a documentary for RTÉ Radio One – ‘ The Say a Song Project’ kicks off next week on RTE Radio one The programmes invites some of Ireland’s top writers and sean nós artists to re-imagine the ancient tradition of sean nós song and explore what they can tell us of modern Ireland.
And with all these strings to her bow, Doireann will make an incredible MC to the stellar weekend lineup of headliners Darren Kiely and The Scratch alongside other firm favourites including Roísín O, Dea Matrona, Oscar Blue, Jessica Doolan, Saibh Skelly, Paddy Keys, Dooley Brothers, and many more over the festival weekend.
Performances are punctuated by numerous daytime events for all ages, which starts off with the scenic Cullohill Mountain Walk and continues throughout the day, with everything from artisan food and crafts, family activities, children’s entertainment at Nancy’s Yard and much more.
Festival tickets are not required to take part in the daytime events and everyone is welcome to attend.
The Folly Festival is Ireland’s first-ever gender-balanced music festival, which in 2018 first addressed the discrepancy within the entertainment industry, where male artists outnumbered female artists 5:1 – a ratio which is mirrored throughout the industry’s engineering and production roles.
In selecting performers, Folly Festival actively promotes gender-balance, selecting the lineup accordingly, with an equal number of male and female acts.
All proceeds from the Folly Festival are used by the organisers Cullohill Community Council for Village renewal projects along with donations to local schools, clubs and societies.
