Body&Soul's announces its cultural highlights

The organisers of Body&Soul has announced this year's "cultural highlights".

Some of the leading names in the world of comedy, art and podcasting will be joining the event's stellar list of musical performers to give festival goers plenty of options next month.

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED PODCASTS GO LIVE

For the first time at Body & Soul, special editions of some of Ireland and the UK’s much loved cultural podcasts will be recorded with a live festival audience, including award-winning ‘The Last Bohemians’ by Kate Hutchinson, alongside The Blindboy Podcast presented by Blindboy Boatclub.

Blindboy Boatclub’s podcast, which sees a monthly global audience of over 1 million listeners, is hosted by David Chambers, one half of the Irish comedy hip-hop group The Rubberbandits, who will deliver ‘hot takes’ and social commentary, personal stories and absurdist riffs' alongside conversation with a very special guest (previous appearances include the likes of Spike Lee, Emma Dabiri and Cillian Murphy, so stay tuned).

SOME TIME TO CRACK UP

Keeping Body & Soul’s comedy pedigree up to its usual outrageous standards, a host of much loved home-grown comedians will also be on hand to set the world to rights across the weekend, including Ireland’s comic keyboard hero David O'Doherty, a regular guest on television shows such as QI, Have I Got News For You and Would I Lie To You?, alongside stand up and MC Shane Daniel Byrne and Dublin-based comedian and improviser Tony Cantwell. The live comedy programme for this year’s festival will take place as part of the new live space in Ballinlough’s walled gardens, presented by Bulmers, with more details to be announced soon.

ÉRIU: LIVE PERFORMANCES

Following the release of Body & Soul’s film, Ériu, available to watch on RTÉ Player, the artists commissioned for the project will now also appear live at the festival: from a performance by opera singer Emma Nash, to audiovisual works by Aoife Dunne and New Jackson &andthe Lighting Sculptors showcased in the woods. There will also be full live performances from Lisa O’Neill and Crash Ensemble; John Francis Flynn; Overhead, the Albatross; AE Mak and Peter Broderick, and further appearances from Alltar featuring Súil Amháin; CUROD, Edwina Guckian & John Carty, alongside a pop-up live space presented by Felix Power.

HITTING ALL THE MUSICAL NOTES

Alongside extraordinary live sets and high octane performances from a host of world class music names and exciting new talent, this year’s festival will also stretch and expand the boundaries of music through its wider programme of talks, installations and sonic experiences.

Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley takes to the stage for a gossip-fest history lesson in pop music before rock’n’roll - with his new book Let’s Do It: The Birth of Pop, which charts early pop, from ragtime and blues, to country and crooning. After the conversation, Bob will play a DJ set inspired by the book.

Alternative music experiences continue with electronic rock-sitarist, singer, composer and producer BISHI, who will present her new audiovisual art installation, Reflektions (co-produced with Richard Norris), alongside a live set from her new album, Let My Country Awake, which focuses on dual identities, anti-racism and a call to find empathy in a divided world.

A GARDEN OF (UN)EARTHLY DELIGHTS

Across the site, festival goers will be taken on an enlightening ride across the weekend, via a plethora of other performances and commissions. From contemporary Irish visual artist Maser’s site specific artworks, to Felispeaks (aka Felicia Olusanya), the young Nigerian-Irish spoken word performance artist who is fast becoming one of the most exciting and in demand poets in Ireland, blurring the lines between music and poetry, cultural awakenings will also be discovered with Bibliotherapy - the art of prescribing fiction to cure life’s ills - and the chance to experience Quiet Sun, an early morning, immersive and meditative performance work by Maïa Nunes.

24 HOUR ARTY PEOPLE

When the Solstice sun goes down, the tempo goes up at Body & Soul and this year brings a host of evocative experiences which will see festival-goers through to the small hours. Billy Mag Fhloinn’s Pagan Rave, a ceremonial salute to the festival’s Solstice roots, featuring over 20 performers bedecked in costumes and masks and culminating in a DJ set by Sally Cinnamon, will initiate festival-goers into Saturday night from the newly commissioned, 35ft tall Beacon Stage. The Beacon will also hand over its keys to a spectacular programme of party wizards, welcoming the musical playgrounds of Optimo, who will be marking their 25th anniversary; Radiant Love resident and co-founder Byron Yeates; and French electronic music DJ, producer and composer Chloé Thévenin, amongst other highlights. But there’s no need to wait till nightfall, with The Beacon also presiding over the much-loved daytime Body & Soul ‘Sing Along Social’ and a residency from Mother, who will bring their unique brand of disco and drag to Sunday afternoon.

BULMERS: BEE INSPIRED WITH A €5,000 ART BURSARY

In partnership with Bulmers, Body & Soul is this year inviting artists and creatives to ‘bee-inspired’ and propose imaginative concepts for a new living artwork installation, in celebration of Ireland’s wild bees, to be commissioned for this year’s festival. The winning design will be awarded a bursary of €5,000 to fund the conception, development and installation of the work. The Bulmers Art Bursary installation will be a regenerative piece, using natural materials and plants that will be repositioned in the Ballinlough Estate after the festival has taken place and include a planted art installation to attract pollinators, provide a bee-friendly habitat and a protected environment that encourages biodiversity.

For more information on festival, which takes place on the weekend of June 17 to 19, click here