Irish-Acoustic-Folk-Pop-Singer-Songwriter
Wendy Jack is among a number of artists who have been given the opportunity to showcase their songwriting talent at this year’s Belfast Nashville Songwriter’s Festival. This prestigious festival includes established international artists such as Donovan, Midge Ure, Chip Taylor, Lee Roy Parnell, Benita Hill, aswell as talent grown closer to home in the form of Gareth Dunlop, Bap Kennedy, Bagatelle, etc. The festival runs from 28th February – 2nd March in Belfast.
Wendy Jack is delighted to announce she will be performing in The Square Box Theatre, Dungannon on Saturday 1st March (show starts at 8PM). It’s been over a year since Wendy has held a concert in her home town of Dungannon, so she is really excited to be returning to the stage in the Ranfurly Arts and Visitor Centre. On the night there will be a mixture of old and new music with songs from her debut EP, a selection of unreleased material and even a special preview of a new release called ’90 Degrees’. Another highlight planned for the evening will be the screening of a short video which Wendy was involved in making and for which she composed the sound track. The 6 minute film called ‘The Caledonian Range’ has just finished touring the Republic of Ireland as part of an art exhibition and so this in-concert-screening will be it’s Northern Ireland premiere!! Thrown into the mix there will also be interpretations of songs by artists who have inspired Wendy over the years…
Joining Wendy on guitar is the very talented Larry Harte (from Coalisland) who is increasingly in demand as both a traditional session player and as an accompanist. His recent projects have included a performance and recording for RTE in Dublin. Larry is an accomplished mandolin, guitar and banjo player… Indeed, he has even published a beginner’s guide to popular Banjo Tunes!
Another very special guest on the evening is the world renowned Master Bodhran player & craftsman Seamus O’Kane. Seamus, from Dungiven, has been responsible for the design of the modern drum. As a player, he has given workshops in USA, France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Scotland and throughout Ireland. He has recorded on more than 30 CD’s and LP’s and has appeared in 2 instrument making documentaries…Ceirde Cheoil (bodhran making)…Banrion an Cheoil (harp making).
This promises to be a very special evening of music and song & also a great chance to catch Wendy in concert before she heads to The Belfast Nashville Songwriter’s Festival to showcase her work there…
Tickets are €10 / €8 (which includes a FREE Limited Edition CD). They are available from The Ranfurly House Arts and Visitor Centre via the Box Office 028 8772 8600.
Happy to announce a few concerts coming up starting in March 2014… Dates and venues are listed in the gigs section. The first will be a return to The Square Box Theatre, Dungannon on Saturday 1st March…More details will be announced very soon.
Friday 20th September saw the launch of an exhibition which is the culmination of weeks of hard work by HARNESSING CREATIVITY project participants… Wendy Jack was delighted to be chosen from a diverse range of high calibre ‘Creatives’ to participate in a flagship Arts Project for the Northwest of Ireland. Over these past few months she has been working within two separate creative teams to produce two very different proposals aimed at bringing economic benefits to Tyrone through artistic endeavours:
The Caledonian Range = Proposal for an Artist Residence and Film Centre in The Sperrins Mountains. As part of this exhibit Wendy Jack wrote and produced an original soundtrack for a film about the Sperrins and how this proposal could best fit within that inspiring landscape.
Go Gallivant = Proposal for an Interactive Book aimed at Children and Families. The team initially carried out some local research on potential characters, story-lines and locations leading to some sample animations. Wendy Jack then created a theme tune to fit the style and ethos of the proposed ‘book’. Wendy also took this opportunity to dabble in a little bit of ‘voice acting’ to bring one of the characters to life for the exhibition.
Both proposals are currently on display in The Dock (theatre & exhibition space) Carrick-On-Shannon. The plan is for the exhibition to tour the Island of Ireland in due course… with the next stop being in The Dublin Civic Offices from 6th December 2013.
The original music created by Wendy for this project will be released in due course… WATCH THIS SPACE!!!
It’s been a while since I released ‘Fairies’ but I am now very excited to be back in the studio doing some prep work for my next full recording session… Watch this space!!