BELFAST
Clockwise from top left: Visitors outside the historic Sunflower pub — a public house has stood on this site since the late 1800s; pizza at the Sunflower pub; graffiti on North Street; busker Kenny with his dog Charlie in the Ulster Sports Club music venue
was safer inside than out there.” Gallagher made a point of stopping here on every single Irish tour during that time, which meant his music was widely seen as an escape from The Troubles. “It brought both sides, Catholic and Protestant, together for a couple of hours, which nobody else could seem to do.”
WRITING ON THE WALLS Remnants of The Troubles can still be found in Belfast, decades since the peace agreement was signed. The following day, I fi nd political murals depicting the period on the Falls and Shankill roads, including a kaleidoscopic depiction of Bobby Sands, the IRA leader who died on hunger strike in prison in 1981. At the Sunfl ower pub, a 15-minute walk north from the Linen Quarter, a security cage from the 1980s remains as a relic of social history. A black metal sign on the side reads: ‘no topless sunbathing, Ulster has suff ered enough’. “The city is anti-establishment due to
its politics,” says guide Adam Turkington, stroking his ginger beard outside the pub and pointing at the cage, which was used as a checkpoint during The Troubles to identify people before entering the bar. He leads street art tours of Belfast every Sunday. “This refl ects in the city’s music — punk is the obvious one — but also art. They’re both important.” Adam heads up Seedhead Arts, a Belfast-
based street art collective that over the past decade has provided painting opportunities for hundreds of artists worldwide. Their popular Hit the North Festival sees thousands of artists descend on Belfast each May, where they paint murals everywhere from the ends of terraced houses to lampposts, soundtracked by music from artists like David Holmes, a Belfast electronic DJ and producer. “A decade ago, we were tasked with painting
The night history was made Legendary blues-rock band Led Zeppelin played their famed track Stairway to Heaven for the fi rst time at the Ulster Hall music venue in Belfast in 1971
derelict shop shutters on North Street, in an area that had been left to go to ruin by developers,” he says, adding that’s where the name for the festival came from. “Street art used to paper over the cracks, but now Belfast is a fertile ground for it.” We eventually reach our destination, the
Ulster Sports Club music venue. Here, we fi nd a mural of a punk with neon-green spiked hair on the venue’s gabled wall, laid back on a sofa and holding a baseball bat in front of a smashed-up TV. ‘Alter your native land’ is sprayed beside it — lyrics from Stiff Little Fingers’ Alternative Ulster punk anthem. “This is how music and art combine in this city,” Adam says with a nod. “I think Northern Ireland understands art
more than most places due to our rich mural traditions,” he adds, saying that the art is typically inspired by historic events. During The Troubles, street art became even more popular. “Whether it’s in the city centre or on one of the peace walls, which still separate unionist and nationalist communities, the writing you see on the walls here is so political.” Later that day, I can’t help but gravitate
back to Ulster Hall, the city’s spiritual home of punk rebellion. But rather than crashing riff s and pogoing punks, my visit is timed with a performance of a diff erent sort. Heading inside, passing the plaques dedicated to Ruby Murray and Rory Gallagher, I take a seat in the auditorium. I’m here to see one of Belfast’s other, little-known cultural exports — opera. Tonight, it’s the turn of the 30-strong NI
Opera Chorus, with a showcase featuring a snippet from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Each of the performers was selected from open auditions in Belfast. I watch as the full chorus, dressed in black, perform classical works like Mozart’s haunting Requiem in D Minor backed by the warming tones of the old pipe organ. Then, soprano Mary McCabe, playing the lead role of Tatyana, fl oats across the stage in a mauve gown to perform The Letter Scene with soaring vocals, during which she declares her love for the lead, Eugene Onegin. In this moment, the music is so beautiful
that all thought of what lies beyond the historic doors of the Ulster Hall are forgotten — just as they were in the days of Rory Gallagher. All that matters is we’re all together, enjoying the performance.
Q&A with Charlotte Dryden, chief executive at the Oh Yeah Music Centre
WHAT INSPIRES YOU? There’s something powerful about how music can be a catalyst for change. From Ruby Murray to Van Morrison, The Undertones to Stiff Little Fingers and beyond, the contribution music has made to lives in Belfast can never be underestimated. There’s a strong sense of community here and music feeds through so many different strands of our work.
WHAT ARE BELFAST’S BEST MUSIC VENUES? I love the Empire Music Hall, The Black Box, Voodoo, the Ulster Hall, The Telegraph Building and Limelight, all of which have been springboards for huge bands like Oasis. We have a lot of great venues in the city.
WHAT SHOULD VISITORS NOT MISS IN BELFAST? We’re a city of festivals — there are too many to mention, but I’d recommend electronic music weekender AVA Festival in May; TradFest in July, a showcase of traditional Irish folk music; and our own Sound of Belfast Festival in October, which celebrates rising local musicians at more than 30 venues around the city.
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