The Duncairn’s Virtual Cabaret has a small but mighty crew behind it, working to ensure that each episode appears in front of you. Every crew member has their own very specific input, and one such member of the team is musician and promoter Josh Healy, frontman and writer for indie band Bui and a founder of non-profit promotions company Sizeable Bear Promotions. If you tuned into Episode 3, you would have seen Josh performing an old English folk ballad, but he is also instrumental behind the scenes with ideas, contacts, and ongoing work on social media.

“I’m in two bands” he explained of the various projects, groups and ventures he’s involved in besides his work on the Virtual Cabaret. “One is Buí, which was started in 2017 with three of my good friends… We’d almost finished our second album before everything closed for lockdown, so we’ll get that finished once we can. The other band is called The Alcoves, it is more of an Irish ballad group.” They started The Alcoves in January past, after months searching out relatively unknown songs that they would like to perform. However, soon after their first gig the lockdown was announced and plans were put on hold - including recording the band’s first EP. “So, plenty to get back to for both once it is possible.”

For Josh, like all the rest of us, it’s important to keep that focus on things to achieve and look forward to after the ties of these strange and potentially disempowering times are loosened. “I’m no different, some good days and some bad days, but generally keeping alright. I’ve been trying to spend more time cooking and haven’t really been pushing myself to play music very much since I’ve not really been much in the mood.”

His work with the Virtual Cabaret has helped keep him in the loop. “Like everything The Duncairn does, the focus is always on the idea of the collective, everybody working for each other. So, at a time of social distancing when everybody is being kept apart, having something like this really is special. Even just engaging by watching the show is the same thing, it feels special in a whole lot of ways… The most important aspect is definitely the community idea of it.”

The format of the show offers viewers the chance to donate £5+ to watch an entire episode with multiple performances on offer. 100% of proceedings goes to artists who appear, each of which will have recorded their own lockdown performances at home or somewhere else of their choice especially for these Saturday night Virtual Cabaret episodes. It’s a format that does have certain advantages according to Josh. “With anything that’s not live, you can sit back and really relax and enjoy the show knowing that all the hard work is out of the way, which is lovely. Everything can be checked beforehand to make sure what’s going out is going to be right so there’s less pressure in that way. The hard work is done mostly by Baz (Editor and producer Barry O’Kane) putting it all together and Ray (that’s Ray Giffen, The Duncairn’s Creative Director) for pretty much everything else I should say!”

However, as a musician Josh also works in front of the camera, recording himself perform for the show. ”From a playing perspective it’s very odd playing to an imaginary audience, but it all comes together very nicely in the context of the show… “The song I played [on Episode3] was an old English folk song from Cornwall called Hal an Tow. It originates roughly from the start of the 1600s and the most famous version of it is by The Watersons. It’s a quite hopeful and upbeat song which talks about welcoming in the summer, so I thought it would be a nice one to do at a time like this. It’s one that we plan to record on The Alcoves EP too.”

This is one of three performances recorded by Josh for the Cabaret, so look out for future appearances from a young musician who is equally at home playing solo or with a band. “I used to only play solo, I loved acoustic music and everything when I first learnt guitar in my early teens but got bored playing by myself by the time I reached my later years in school. Since I write so many of the parts of the songs [for Bui] I usually have a way I can play them solo, but I much prefer to do it as part of the band. I’ve played solo only a handful of times under the name Buí, I mainly try to keep the solo playing to when there’ll be an audience who I know will listen so I don’t end up feeling embarrassed singing about personal things to a crowd of people who aren’t interested. I played by myself most recently in Limerick last month to a crowd of 20 people which was really lovely, it’s an amazing city for music at the minute.”

Image by Bui synth player and videographer Adam Sloan

It was Virtual Cabaret host Conor Caldwell who initiated Josh’s connection with The Duncairn. “He was a lecturer of mine in Queen’s University and he invited us to play a couple of times in The Duncairn after he heard our album… we played as a part of Myles O’Reilly’s Club 50 weekend and Ray invited us back to watch the next gig the following night. I really loved both nights as well as both the venue itself and everything it stood for. From then on, I started attending shows every couple of weeks, I always found the place to be so welcoming and relaxing that it always a treat to come to no matter what was on. My attendances also coincided with the beginning of Sizeable Bear promotions in April 2019, something myself and a few friends started to give a platform to some of the amazing DIY acts from around Ireland to play in Belfast (and be paid fairly to do so!). Ray was then kind enough to say we were allowed to use the venue for some of our shows so we were very lucky to put on some amazing nights, including one with 4 acts from Limerick’s amazing DIY LK collective playing and most recently a charity tribute night to the late great Daniel Johnston. I know now exactly what the venue stands for and why it’s so important that we have a place like this in Belfast, so at this point I’m just delighted to help out with anything if I can be of any use!”

Link in with The Duncairn’s Virtual Cabaret this Saturday on Facebook or YouTube at 8.30pm, and keep an eye on the Facebook page for updates, artists, and announcements.