Rostislav Mazurkevich is a Ukrainian songwriter, singer and guitarist from Odessa. A young and talented bard with a piercing voice, gentle romantic ballads and exciting rock and roll songs.
“This is a turning point in my life: I am 30 years old, and despite the songwriting experience during 10 years, I did not dare to release my songs, was constantly looking for suitable musicians, arrangers, moving from city to city, writing hundreds of different songs, even selling songs for other singers…
And at some point I realized that the matter was not in the shell, but in myself, in my soul and in the desire to speak honestly through my poetry and music. Performing and releasing songs with just the guitar is an ancient minstrel magic that will always be coveted by the people. This year I will fulfill my dream and the dream of those who have been waiting for my music for years. In autumn I will release my first album.
Thanks to the festival for the trust, it is exciting to be in the company of amazing musicians”
A vocal harmony duo fifteen years in the making, Moors & McCumber have done more than just endear themselves to fans – they’ve built a genuine community. Bridging the gap between classic folk rock and present day Americana, they write heartfelt songs directly inspired by life’s experiences. With their latest record, 2021’s ‘Survival,’ they have created some of their most compelling work to date.
The sound of Moors & McCumber is adventurous, eclectic, and endlessly creative. Borrowing from rock, pop, blues, folk, and world music, the two multi-instrumentalists defy common logic and embrace spontaneity to bring their stories and songs to life. Their strong vocal harmonies and unconventional instrumentation combine to create a mesmerizing experience. At the center of it all is their evocative songwriting.
While “more than the sum of their parts” has become a bit of a cliche, there is no better phrase to describe Moors & McCumber. James is a gifted singer and songwriter, while Kort specializes in creating vocal harmonies and captivating arrangements through inventive instrumentation. With their voices combined, they create a truly special sound. As Grammy award-winning producer Lloyd Maines says, “They bring it all to the stage and deliver in a big way.”
“There are very few musicians on the planet who can actually strike me speechless with the beauty and skill of their playing. Jon Gomm is one of those musicians.” – Randy Blythe (Lamb Of God)
Jon Gomm is a singer-songwriter and acoustic solo performer based in Yorkshire, UK, known for his once-seen-never-forgotten virtuoso guitar style. This involves slapping, tapping and retuning as he plays, producing a huge, multi-layered sound filled with bass, drums and near-orchestral depth and complexity, all from a single guitar.
His songs are often deeply emotive, whether with or without his soft, affecting voice. And his live performances are intimate and powerful, but always punctured by his natural North Of England wit and self-deprecation.
Jon is also a passionate advocate for mental health and neuro-diversity.
“Jon, you are a genius man, I LOVE your music and playing!” – Steve Lukather (Toto)
“Wonderful guitar playing. An all-round genius” – Stephen Fry (actor, writer) speaking about Jon Gomm on The One Show (BBC, UK)
John Spillane is a long-time friend of CIGF, playing at almost every edition bar two, as well as spearheading our attempts to break the World Record for the largest ensemble guitar performance in 2009 where 981 guitarists played ‘Óró sé do bheatha abhaile in unison. “It was like a scene from a Disney movie,” — John Spillane
John Spillane is a musician, songwriter, performer, recording artist, storyteller, poet and dreamer. Rooted in people, place and story, his music transports the listener and his live performances captivate audiences around the world.
After his acclaimed release of 100 Snow White Horses in 2021, in October 2022, John will released ‘In Another Light’ a career spanning album recorded live at the Right Here Right Now Festival recorded at Cork Opera House in November 2021.
Jessie Lloyd is a Songkeeper. An Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait singer, social historian and cultural practitioner of Indigenous song and founder of her award-winning Mission Songs Project. As a cultural ambassador, Lloyd takes audiences on a profoundly-moving musical journey into the depths and diversity of Australia’s Aboriginal culture, history and identity.
Jessie’s work continues the songlines of Aboriginal Australian, a body of traditional songs that carries the 60,000-year history of the world’s oldest living culture. She engages her audiences through intimate storytelling, moving harmonies and historical insights, using her humour and truth to share the voices of her elders, just as they would around a warm campfire or kitchen table.
Since graduation from Abmusic – Aboriginal Music College in Perth in 2002, Jessie and performed and toured across Australia and the globe. Singing in various bands and choirs throughout her career and now producing her own themed shows and music projects. As an experienced arts administrator and music producer, her first passion is singing and performing the songs of her people.
I Dreamed I Dream are a genre-blending five-piece band from Cork. Consisting of Julie Landers on vocals and drums, Claire Aherne on vocals and bass, Niamh Hayes on keys and Elle Kelleher and Laura Dineen sharing guitar duties, they are influenced by everything ranging from shoegaze and dreampop to classic girl groupsÂ
Described by the Evening Echo/Examiners Mike McGrath-Bryan as “emerging experimentalists” and with a “healthy disregard for musical convention”, IDID are fast becoming one of Ireland’s most captivating bands.
“(Eoghan has) a creative streak on par with some of this country’s greatest-ever songwriters. The lyrics of The Deepest Breath are proof and testament to that. Incredibly powerful words which not unlike the great Liam Weldon, are words that belong to and represent the working people. Words of hope for the overlooked and hard done by.” – Myles O’Reilly
“Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin has a wondrously sonorous voice” – Irish News
“…once you hear his voice, you’re unlikely to forget it” – Folk Radio UK
EOGHAN Ó CEANNABHÁIN
Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin is a Dublin-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His musical roots are in sean-nós singing – the style of his father – and he grew up listening to the likes of Sorcha Ní Ghuairim, Seán ‘ac Dhonncha, Colm Ó Caoidheáin and other greats from the tradition. He is also influenced by folk singers from the English language tradition such as Liam Weldon, Luke Kelly, Anne Briggs, Margaret Barry and Thomas McCarthy.
Eoghan has performed and recorded with a number of different bands, including Dublin-based Skipper’s Alley, Irish/Scottish/Manx Gaelic collaboration Aon Teanga: Un Chengey and folk/electronica band Jiggy. He also collaborates with Clare fiddle and viola player Ultan O’Brien. Their debut album Solas an Lae won best album at the RTÉ Folk Awards in 2021.
Over the past few years, Eoghan has come into his own as a solo artist and songwriter. His songs – written in both English and Irish – build on his sean-nós singing foundations but combine hard-hitting lyrics with other musical influences to create a rich, contemporary sound. He recently released his debut solo album, ‘The Deepest Breath’.
For this intimate live show, Eoghan will be joined by Ian Kinsella on guitar & vocals; and Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz on cello & vocals.
“The lyrics and beauty of Elly’s songs are wondrous. Her music touches your soul. The ups and downs of life and the feelings that are thrown up are captured by Elly’s poignant and deep-rooted lyrics, brought to life by her amazingly powerful and deeply- melodic voice- sweet and beautiful, while also penetrating your heart and mind. Elly is also an excellent musician, accomplished on both the guitar and piano. She is a songwriter par excellence. This is a woman who is a specialist in her craft.” – Tom Niall
Originally hailing from Tipperary Ireland, Elaine Howley is a vocalist and producer who merges an expansive tapestry of experimental, analogue processes with a love of classic songwriting and melodic hooks, to create a sound world that is distinctly her own.
Immersed in both the experimental music scenes in her adopted home of Cork, and the DIY ethos of Ireland’s alternative rock community, Elaine’s music grew out of years of varied, extensive collaborative practise, performance and experimentation. She has toured across Europe and the UK as the singer in the acclaimed psychedelic rock group, The Altered Hours, sharing stages with the likes of Fontaines DC, Wooden Shjips, Clinic and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Closer to home, she has played in ambient trio Crevice and folk group Morning Veils. It was through playing with these groups and performing with the improvisatory collectives The Dark Arts Orchestra and HEX and collaborating with composer Irene Buckley and musician Roslyn Steer that Elaine began to further explore vocal layering and manipulation, sampling, stretching and slowing things down to uncanny, enigmatic layers of sound.
After contributing to a host of critically acclaimed compilations, Howley released her first full length solo album ‘The Distance Between Heart and Mouth’ in 2022 through Touch Sensitive Records (David Holmes, Cherrystones, Documenta, Vox Populi). Pitchfork praised the album as “a spectral slow burn that refuses to trip over itself to get anywhere in particular. By absorbing the wisdom of the process, Howley permits her craft to resound deeper than ever”.
Elaine uses tape to process voice, drum machines and synthesizers, creating production that works in tandem with her songwriting to weave an intimate sonic tapestry that feels warm and esoteric all at once. The Distance Between Heart And Mouth was born out of a ritualistic practice of going to her home studio first thing in the morning, creating a daily audio-diary as soon as she woke. It’s unsurprising then that the resulting album emanates an intimate quality; blending deep synths, whisper-soft melodies, echoes, loops, beats and murmurs, recalling the likes of Trish Keenan, Tirzah and Leslie Weiner, while Elaine’s unmistakable voice cracks through the analogue gauze like a crystalline glint of daylight.
Electronic Sound Magazine praised The Distance Between Heart and Mouth describing the record as “nine detailed and hugely captivating vignette’s” while Backseat Mafia observed “The music bristles with experimental edginess but that doesn’t obscure the song craft or the clarity of the statements being made. Elaine Howley’s ‘The Distance Between Heart And Mouth’ bravely tells it like it is and we should be thankful that she does.”
The album, now in its second pressing, has received praise from The Sunday Times, The Examiner, The Thin Air and has been played by Mary Anne Hobbs and Tom Ravenscroft on BBC6 Music. Elaine has been playing live across Ireland in support of the record and made her London debut at the ICA gallery in May 2023.