Venues may be closed but music will not fall silent in the city

This is a time of great uncertainty and fear for all musicians and performers, and while a lot of entertainment may translate onto virtual or digital platforms, is there anything like the thrill of live music, of actors up there beneath the footlights as performance unfolds in real-world real-time?

The Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast, which holds its annual Sound of Belfast festival, now in its seventh year, showcasing the best of what the city has to offer sonically and celebrating the local musical output across a variety of genres and styles, has risen to the challenges of the pandemic and come up with an online programme that will feature a rich variety of music from a panoply of local artists and acts.

CEO of The Oh Yeah Music Centre, Charlotte Dryden, said: “Sound of Belfast has always been about putting the musical spotlight on the city, turning the volume up, looking at some of the best local talent from the amateur to the well-established and professional.

“With all the venues having been shut now for six months and no end in sight, we felt at Oh Yeah that it was important to try and find a way to keep up momentum because the arts have real value and music, for example, really has been helping people get through what are very tough and unprecedented times.

“We wanted to remind people that venues, artists, live music - it’s all still there and hopefully will return eventually as it was before.”

Festival organisers began getting in touch with all sorts of venues whose doors are now firmly shut - the chatter of customers fallen deafeningly silent - deciding to record various artists playing in different spaces across the city; their voices would resonate amidst the silence but they would still be heard.

“We pre-recorded music from lots of different artists across different genres,” explains Charlotte. “We had Duke Special performing in an empty Empire, which is really his spiritual home.

“It was so poignant, witnessing him perform in this empty venue, a music hall that has been the home of so many of his gigs.

“We had Neil Martin, a respected classical musician, perform at the Strand Arts Centre, playing the cello. There is this really striking imagine of him on his own with his instrument there.

“Then we had rising star Ryan McMullan performing on the roof of the Oh Yeah Centre. He has this great song called Belfast City so we got him to do that from the roof and we filmed it and when we actually watched the footage back it just totally blew our minds.

“We cried when we watched that footage it was so beautiful, so Ryan’s recording will kick the whole thing off and is probably what I am most looking forward to.

“We’ve tried to tap into lots of different genres so we have like a soul band called Manukahunney at The Black Box; we’ve got Linley Hamilton doing jazz at the Ballyhackamore Social Club, and heavy rock band New Pagans at Voodoo, what has become a much loved rock and punk venue.

“We had a classical musician, a pianist called Ruth McGinley, and we got her to play on the baby grand piano at the studio upstairs here at Oh Yeah.

“She did a very powerful rendition of My Lagan Love.” In total, they curated 15 recorded pieces of music by various artists and every day during the Sound of Belfast, from November 6-12, they will release a new one via the Oh Yeah You Tube channel, allowing audiences to experience the best of local music by the clever Covid-free means of the virtual gig.

“This is a snapshot and a showcase of the great talent we have here and also the venues that people know, love and miss,” continues Charlotte.

“I mean lockdown has been devastating. It has just been the worst time for music and the arts. We’ve been lobbying and appealing to government that we need a package of support to help us get through this.

“Covid is not going away anytime soon. We are going to be battening down the hatches for a long and grim winter really. I have spoken to a lot of musicians and they are talking about having to give up their careers; they feel like they have no other option. They are facing big decisions.

“A package of support could lead the way back, through socially distanced gigs, which would offer some hope. We just want to find a way to do this safely, to make music and gigs viable again.

“The hope is that when we do find a vaccine, and all this is behind us, we will be able to get back out to gigs and the venues we love and maybe even support them that bit more than usual in order to help the industry and creatives of all kinds to get back on their feet.” Dryden hopes people will keep buying and enjoying music throughout this bleak winter, and that many of us will be lifted through our darker days by the upswing of the melodies and artists we love, listened to online or on the radio, their voices still singing, the beat not stopped.

“We wanted to help lift spirits with Sound of Belfast, help the venues, find a way to support the artists and remind everyone of what great music can do for our hearts and souls, even in the midst of a pandemic when things can seem hopeless.

“We have to hold on for the spring and imagine a return to the way things were and we need that vision to keep us going.”

The programme will also still also include workshop guest speakers and industry professionals guiding musicians and artists through funding, maximizing and utilizing online promotion, navigating streaming and playlist opportunities, music licensing, as well as managing finances and artist manager advice.

Presenters from YouTube Music, PRS for Music, PPL, Help Musicians, DITTO and AIM (Association of Independent Music) will host events on video platforms and registration is necessary.

Special events include a Getting To Know...with Therapy?, where music journalist and author Stuart Bailie will talk with the band about their recent biography ‘So Much For The 30 Year Plan’.

There will be a beautiful event -organised by Malojian and presented in association with Smarts - dedicated to music manager the late Lyndon Stephens . The NI Music Prize will be streamed live on the Oh Yeah YouTube Channel on Nov 12; this year’s Legend Award goes posthumously to Bap Kennedy.

The Sound of Belfast will be held November 6-12 and showcased internationally via the Oh Yeah Music Centre YouTube channel. Visit www.soundofbelfast.com.