We Cut Corners – Tour
Strange Brew presents… with The Ambience Affair + Come On Live Long, Free show
with Come On Live Long, €10 / www.whelanslive.com
with Come On Live Long, €8 / www.ticketmaster.ie
with Come On Live Long, €10 / themodel.ie
Jape have been announced as winners of the Meteor Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year 2011 for their album “Ocean Of Frequency” (Music Is For Losers). The judging panel made up of 11 Irish music media professionals deliberated at length to choose the album which represented the best of Irish music from the shortlist of 10 records released by Irish artists throughout 2011. Instead of using sales or airplay as criteria, the Meteor Choice Music Prize judges focus, simply and solely, on the music.
Culture Ireland funded the attendance of key overseas delegates at the event.
The headquarters of the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) was packed to capacity last night (Tuesday 28th February) for the IMRO Live Music Venue of the Year Awards 2011. Cork Opera House CEO Mary Hickson was on hand to accept the premier accolade of IMRO National Live Music Venue of the Year, which was presented by IMRO Chairman and legendary Moving Hearts man Keith Donald and IMRO CEO Victor Finn. Electric Picnic took home the Irish Festival of the Year Award.
RTÉ’s Jenny Huston hosted the evening, which celebrates the live music community in Ireland, the behind the scenes people in venues up and down the country, from owners to bookers, front of house staff to sound and lighting engineers. IMRO Regional Venue of the Year Awards were presented with The Grand Social in Dublin winning the Dublin Live Music Venue of the Year Award; the Connacht Award went to the Róisín Dubh in Galway; Cork’s Cyprus Avenue won the Munster Live Music Venue of the Year Award; the Mermaid Arts Centre in Wicklow was awarded the Leinster (excluding Dublin) Award, while Voodoo in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal took home the Ulster Live Music Venue of the Year Award.
In addition, Hot Press Editor Niall Stokes presented Hot Press Readers Awards to the O2, Dublin, The Academy, Dublin and the Róisín Dubh, Galway.
Of the awards, Victor Finn, CEO of IMRO said: “The contribution that live music venues and festivals make to local economies is often not recognised and their value in a social and cultural sense within communities is priceless. We are delighted to recognise the contribution that these first class facilities make and to celebrate their achievements”.
IMRO Live Music Venue Awards 2011 IMRO National Live Music Venue of the Year 2011 The Cork Opera House Winner selected from all shortlisted venues below
IMRO Dublin Live Music Venue of the Year 2011 |
The Academy |
The Button Factory |
The Grand Social – Winner |
Vicar Street |
The Olympia
|
IMRO Rest of Leinster Live Music Venue of the Year 2011 |
Birr Theatre & Arts Centre, Birr, Co. Offaly |
The Spirit Store, Dundalk, Co. Louth |
Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Co. Wicklow – Winner |
The Watergate Theatre, Co. Kilkenny |
Wexford Opera House, Co. Wexford |
|
IMRO Connacht Live Music Venue of the Year 2011 |
The Dock Arts Centre, Co. Leitrim |
Town Hall Theatre, Co. Galway |
Roisin Dubh, Co. Galway – Winner |
Hawk’s Well Theatre, Co. Sligo |
Roscommon Arts Centre, Co. Roscommon |
|
IMRO Munster Live Music Venue of the Year 2011 |
Cyprus Avenue, Co. Cork – Winner |
Crane Lane, Co. Cork |
Cork Opera House, Co. Cork |
Theatre Royal, Co. Waterford |
University Concert Hall, Co. Limerick |
|
IMRO Ulster Live Music Venue of the Year 2011 |
Allingham Arms Hotel, Bundoran, Co Donegal |
McGrorys, Culdaff, Co. Donegal |
The Abbey Hotel, Donegal, Co. Donegal |
Voodoo, Letterkenny, Co Donegal – Winner |
Ramor Theatre, Virginia, Co. Cavan |
|
IMRO Music Festival of the Year 2011 |
Castlepalooza |
Electric Picnic – Winner |
Live @ The Marquee Cork |
Sea Sessions |
Oxegen |
Vantastival |
Templebar Trad Festival |
Indiependence |
Temple House Festival |
Galway Arts Festival |
Next week sees the release of Cormac Breatnach’s latest album, Éalú, thirteen years since his last musical journey. The new album has been quite a journey for Cormac, and features contributors from all over the world. In the run up to the album launch on 9th March, Cormac took time out to speak to IMRO about how it all came about.
While Cormac has always looked beyond his traditional Irish roots for influence, Éalú, as the title suggests, provided a further escape for him to expand the flavour of his music. “For many years now I have been meaning to give expression to a number of musical ideas I wished to work with. The ‘concept’ Album which is the culmination of these ideas came about once I decided to reduce the number of tracks.”
Concorde contemporary music ensemble continue its very successful series of FREE afternoon performances, Up Close with Music, 2pm – 5pm, Saturday,10 March at the Contemporary Music Centre, 19 Fishamble Street, Temple Bar, Dublin. The Series is supported by a Music Project Award from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon.
IMRO Welcomes our 8,000th Member
As well as celebrating live music venues throughout Ireland here at IMRO HQ on Tuesday evening last, we also celebrated an important milestone in our membership number.
Kasey Smith, a young singer-songwriter from Dublin, was officially welcomed to the organisation as our 8,000th member on the night. Rising star Kasey has already cut her teeth in music being part of girl group, Wonderland, formed by Louis Walsh and Kian Egan.
Now Kasey is creating a new path for herself in her solo career, and has recently returned from a two-month songwriting stint in Nashville, where she collaborated and recorded with top writers who have had credits with artists such as Lady Antebellum and Kenny Chesney. Kasey is currently writing and recording between Dublin and London and hopes to start performing live later this year.
The Minister for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock TD, has announced the signing into law of the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2012 and urged all interested parties to focus now on making Ireland a model of international best practice for innovation, and ensuring that our copyright laws facilitate the achievement of this goal. Minister Sherlock also launched the next stage of the Copyright Review Committee review of Ireland’s copyright legislation, aimed at removing barriers to innovation.
Commenting on the Statutory Instrument, the Minister acknowledged the desire of some interested parties that it be more detailed and more prescriptive. However he re-stated that the High Court now has significant guidance from the European Court of Justice on the implementation of the measure, and will have to ensure any remedy provided will uphold the following principles:
Freedom to conduct a business enjoyed by operators such as ISPs;
The absolute requirement that an ISP cannot be required to carry out general monitoring on the information it carries on its network;
Any measures must be fair and proportionate and not be unnecessarily complicated or costly;
The fundamental rights of an ISPs’ customers must be respected, namely their right to protection of their personal data and their freedom to receive or impart information.
Making the announcement, the Minister said: “I believe that in Ireland we must build on our very substantial achievements in the creative and digital media industry, and become a model of international best practice for innovation in this area. Ireland is home to some of the world’s most innovative Internet companies, and we are determined to grow our reputation as a location where smart people and smart companies can innovate in this fast-moving arena.
“On many previous occasions I have outlined the reasons why it is necessary for us to proceed to sign this Statutory Instrument in order to ensure compliance with our obligations under EU law. As there are clearly many diverse interests, it is important that interested parties come together and work in a constructive way to map the path forward. For this reason I am particularly anxious that the consultation paper launched today is studied and comprehensively responded to by all interested parties.”
“The challenge now is to examine what measures we can take to develop Ireland’s laws in this area in such a way as to provide the greatest possible encouragement for innovation in the creative and digital industries to take place here.”
“This is a very complex area of law, which affects industries that are developing at lightning pace, and where the interests of many diverse and changing parties interact with each other. My ambition to make Ireland a model of international best practice in this area will not be easily achieved, and as this debate develops I urge all interested parties on all sides to come together and work in a constructive and realistic way to the benefit of all.”
“In that context, I am happy to launch the consultation paper of the Copyright Review Committee. I am committed to reviewing and updating the Copyright legislation currently in place in order to strike the correct balance between encouraging innovation and protecting creativity. This paper has been prepared by the Copyright Review Committee in response to submissions received and public engagement. I urge all interested parties, including information providers and ISPs, innovators, rights holders, consumers and end-users, to study it carefully and engage in a constructive debate on all the issues”.
“This is a valuable opportunity for all interested parties to express their views and to make a meaningful contribution towards shaping the future development of Irish copyright law. I am confident that the work being carried out by the Copyright Review Committee, with the interaction and input of the interested parties, will result in establishing Irish copyright law on a firm footing to encourage innovation, foster creativity and meet the challenges of the future with confidence”.
Since the release in October 2011 of debut album “SAIL” Dominic Paul has been busy gigging at venues around Kerry, and Dublin, also for delegates of the “Make A Wish Foundation”.
Dominic Paul was “Spotlight Artist” of the week on the Andrew Morrissey afternoon show on Radio Kerry,Andrew described the tracks from the album “SAIL” , “It’s So Sad” and “Kick Out Of You” as sounding “Kinda like Jack Johnston” together with listeners of the show,with both tracks being well received on the airwaves.
Also Dominic has received airplay on the Sean McCarthy show on Radio Irish “America’s only Irish radio station”,and the Henry O’Donovan show on Bondi Tunes Sydney