A 100 club special in conjunction with QUB’s Politics in Music and Song Conference 2023. Doors 7pm - Show 7.30pm. Complimentary wine & nibbles included.
DAVE ROBB
Dave Robb, Reader in Music at Queen’s University Belfast, is a Scottish bouzouki player and songwriter. He is currently involved in a research project translating songs of the East German protest singer Gerhard Gundermann. Dave will perform these tonight accompanied by Paul Webster on mandolin. The songs are currently being recorded at Redbox Studios for a CD release.
Gundermann, who worked as a coal miner while simultaneously enjoying a successful music career, died prematurely at the age of 43 in 1998. His legacy has survived in his songs that vividly illustrate the harshness of the working world and the destruction of the environment, but also exude a joyful, optimistic faith in nature to renew itself.
Dave was previously a member of the Scottish folk group Rua with whom he toured internationally and released the record ‘Scottish Music’ (Celtic Music, 1986). As a solo artist he was the support act on the Proclaimers ‘Sunshine on Leith’ tour in 1988 and played the Reading Festival in 1990. He lived and performed in Berlin during the 1990s where he wrote his PhD dissertation on the East German political song scene. He has released several solo albums and also performed and recorded with the Belfast group The Corncrakes.
BARRY KERR
Barry Kerr is a leading light in folk and traditional music on this island. An award winning artist and composer he is currently artist in residence at University College Cork. His work as both a composer and visual artist expresses the very heart of Irish life. As a highly regarded singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and painter he is extremely prolific in his creative output. Recipient of the prestigious Liam O'Flynn award from the National Concert Hall and Arts Council of Ireland in 2020, his recent work has explored the concept of relating visual art with musical performance and composition. This contemporary work was showcased to critical acclaim in his 2022 TG4 film "Fuascail", a creative meditation on the decade of centenaries. Barry has recorded and toured extensively as a solo artist and has been equally at home sharing a stage in the company of artists such as Liam O Maonlaí, Steve Cooney, Pauline Scanlon, Dervish and Cara Dillon. He is currently writing and recording a new solo album of original and traditional songs.