Rappers to play Electric Picnic as Gaeilge
An Irish rap duo are to debut their cúpla focal at this year’s Electric Picnic festival.
‘Conas atá tú’, the newest track from Cork rapper GMC, featuring Bubba Shakespeare, will feature in the line-up for this year’s arts and music festival.
The track, a mixture of up-tempo hip-hop beats and traditional Irish music, is set to be a hit with festival goers at Electric picnic, which goes ahead in Stradbally, Co Laois, on September 4, 5 and 6.
Performing entirely as Gaeilge, the duo will appear in the Irish tent over the three-day event.
In an exciting new development for the Irish language, the artists have worked with lecturer and trad music artist Johnny McCarthy to create a contemporary and catchy Irish hip-hop tune in association with Gael-Taca, the Cork-based company set up to promote the Irish language.
As the modernisation of the Irish language has become a hot topic in recent years, this combination of old and new has the potential to send Irish hip-hop in a whole new direction.
“While the song is performed in Irish, it’s also a party song,” said GMC.
“The Irish language has long had the reputation of being less than fun, thanks in no small part to the way it is taught in schools.
“We wanted to take the Irish language and do something fun with it. It’s the first rap diss track on Peig,” jokes the Cork producer.
Performing in Irish is a natural progression for both artists who take pride in performing in their own accents.
Recently, GMC has been credited with helping to urge young people to get out and vote for Labour politician Alan Kelly with one of the first political raps the country has heard.
This got huge radio attention during the elections. He also supported Flo-Rida at the Marquee in Cork, as well as having a number 12 hit with ‘Not Tonight — The Bouncer Song’ in 2005, a top 50 album in 2006 and produced Shakey’s chart hit ‘Irish Party’.
