IMC Jazz and World Music Stage

New to Electric Picnic this year we are excited to announce the IMC Jazz & World Music Stage. Adventurous ears and open minds will find plenty to stimulate them at the IMC jazz and world stage, a new addition to Electric Picnic’s broad church of music and the arts. The stage is curated by leading independent producers Improvised Company and adds another dimension to the Picnic’s melting pot, joining the dots between jazz and contemporary classical groups, along with living traditional music from around the world, and everything from chamber choirs to desert blues, from funky organ trios to asymmetric Balkan grooves.

Friday 29th August

AT FIRST LIGHT 15.00 - 16.00
This Belfast quintet are bright stars in the trad firmament, led with real drive and gusto by uilleann piper John McSherry and outstanding young fiddler Dónal O'Connor.

FOVEA HEX 16.30 - 17.30
Ethereal and much anticipated project from Clodagh Simonds, marking this enigmatic Irish folk artist’s first foray into performance since the early 70s. An EP essential says The Ticket.

DOBET GNAHORE 18.00 - 19.00
From the Ivory Coast, she’s one of the most vivacious performers in today’s fertile West African music scene, with a percussion driven band that features the balafon, with its ingenious system of rosewood keys and dried resonating gourds.

TERRY CALLIER 19.45 - 21:00
A long overdue return to Ireland for the great Chicago born troubadour Terry Callier and his seamless blend of soul, folk and jazz, whose creative flame shows no sign of dimming.

THINK OF ONE'S CAMPING SHAABI 21.30 - 22.45
The latest project from Belgian genre busters Think of One, with guest musicians from Morocco bringing a flavour of the addictive gnawa trance rhythms of the Atlas Mountains to Stradbally.

MILES ELECTRIC 23.15 - 00.30
Six of Ireland's leading jazz musicians including saxophonist Michael Buckley and trumpeter Paul Williamson with a scenery chewing workout on vintage 70s Miles Davis of the Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way period.

Saturday 30th August

MORNINGTON SINGERS 13.00 - 14.00
Saturday morning catharsis with the thirty five glorious Irish voices of The Mornington Singers, with contemporary choral music that includes works by Arvo Pärt.

CRASH ENSEMBLE 14.45 - 16.00
Donncha Dennehy leads Ireland’s leading contemporary classical outfit with composers like Terry Riley and Steve Reich in their expansive bag, and the most eye popping instrumentation you’ll see this weekend.

MSG 16.30 - 17.30
Asymmetric melody vies with searing grooves from this probing trio who mine the rhythmic riches of jazz and Indian music to forge something bold, with the striking New York saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa summoning up the spirit of late period John Coltrane.

YURODNY 18.00 - 19.00
Balkan party grooves a la Taraf De Haidouks from this stunning Irish octet playing addictive originals from their very convincing debut release Odd Set.

RACHEL UNTHANK & THE WINTERSET 19.30 - 20.45
With her band The Winterset, Northumbria’s Rachel Unthank is in the grand tradition of English folk singers, and she makes her picnic debut on the crest of her 2008 Mercury nomination.

SOHA 21.15 - 22.30 From Marseille, Franco Algerian Soha has a sassy pop aesthetic inspired by French musette, Jamaican dancehall and North African rai, and she’s rounding off her summer at the picnic following a UK debut at Glastonbury. We heartily agree with The Ticket, which says she’s “One of the true finds of the festival.”

MERCEDES PEON 23.00 - 00.15
Coming on strong like a Hispanic Sinead O’Connor, Galicia’s Mercedes Peon sings, plays traditional pipes and frame drums, and is a free spirit with a unique take on the Celtic infused traditional music of Spain’s rugged northwest.

HAVANA SON 00.45 - 02.00
Dance to the genuine article, with this authentic and grooving take on son, the guitar driven acoustic idiom popularised globally by BVSC. Havana Son unites Ireland’s leading Latin players, including singer Evelio Galan, who’s soon off to tour the US with The Afro Cuban All Stars.

Sunday 31st August

DUBLIN CITY BIG BAND 12.30 – 13.30
Easy like Sunday morning with Dublin City Big Band, eighteen of the capital’s finest jazz players, nailing the orchestral hits of Basie, Ellington and Quincy Jones with special guest, crooner Cormac Kenevey.

FARMERS MARKET 14.15 – 15.15
Live, they’re an institution at home in Norway, wilfully fusing old Broadway show tunes with frenetic Balkan grooves. Mordant humour meets some amazing musicianship, especially from farmer in chief, accordion and banjo man extraordinaire Stian Carstensen.

LOU RHODES 15.30 – 16.00
As one half of Lamb, Manchester’s Lou Rhodes is known for her personal approach to drum ‘n’ bass, but this solo set is a more folk oriented affair, sparse, organic and quietly compelling.

SEAMUS BEGLEY & TIM EDEY 16.30- 17.30
Jigs, slides and polkas from the great mephisto of West Kerry dance music. Resistance is useless when Begley’s accordion and guitar partner Tim Edey work up a head of steam, and watch out for the fleet moves of Sean nós dancer Seosaimh O’Neachtain.

IARLA Ó LIONÁIRD'S INVISIBLE FIELDS 18.00- 19.00
The sean nós master sings the songs of his native Cuil Aodha in a dramatic electronic domain, where that contrast of new and old, digital and acoustic, is made bolder with the addition of fiddler of the moment Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. Ticket recommended.

JAH WOBBLE'S CHINESE DUB 19.30- 20.45
Commissioned by Liverpool City of Culture 2008, Jah Wobble’s Chinese Dub augments his regular crew with guest Chinese musicians, and has had summer festival audiences happily grooving across the east /west divide, as the ex PIL bassist’s rumbling dub creates a sturdy foundation for a musical journey along the spice routes.

DENGUE FEVER 21.15- 22.30
If you come for Jah Wobble , you’ll stay for more Asian adventures with LA’s Dengue Fever, an oddly compelling pairing of 60’s Cambodian surf pop and West Coast psychedelia that is more than the sum of it’s parts, aptly named and strangely infectious.

MAHMOUD FADL'S UNITED NUBIANS 23.00 – 00.15
Master Egyptian hand drummer Mahmoud Fadl and his United Nubians crew of 3 percussionists and DJ are on hand to provide a trance inducing exposition of rhythms from the Nile Delta.

IBRAHIM ELECTRIC 00.45- 02.00
Europe’s funkiest organ trio are Copenhagen’s Ibrahim Electric, a glorious swamp thing of brawny drumming, dirty distorted sounds from the belly of a Hammond B3, and rock steady guitar riffs indebted to Fela Kuti’s afrobeat.

LINEUP SUBJECT TO CHANGE