Hedge School review: Hip hop and trad among an impressive mix at Doolin festival
Limerick rappers Citrus Fresh and Hazey Haze performing with various musicians at Hedge School arts festival in Doolin. Rapper Willzee is in the coffin. Picture: Lou Merkert
The Limerick hip hop artist Willzee lies in repose in a coffin in front of the stage at The Barn in Hotel Doolin.
A mythical rap battle over his soul unfolds: pagan forces, represented by rapper Citrus Fresh, and old Ireland in the form of Hazey Haze cast as a priest, both claim Willzee for their own. Eventually, the corpse is reanimated by whoops and applause from the audience, in order to choose his own immortal destiny.
At Hedge School arts festival in Doolin, one of Friday night’s performances came in the form of The Wake, part-theatre, part-gig, deliciously fusing hip hop with trad, and with an ensemble cast of 12 musicians and performers.
The Co Clare festival, in its second year, takes place amidst the normally touristless desolation of Doolin in January, against the backdrop of a roaring winter sea; it brings a gaggle of artists, musicians, writers and more together for “unique collaborations and intimate encounters between artist and audience".
Unique collaborations were indeed all around, of which the aforementioned The Wake was just one. Hedge School functions as a form of multidisciplinary creative incubation space at Hotel Doolin, also home to Doolin Folk Festival each June.
During the day, workshops in everything from glass-blowing to lyric-writing to scoring music for animations cemented a sense of easygoing collegiality and in the evening, fresh ideas were taken to the stage.
Many of the offerings at Hedge School were the kernels of new ideas rather than fully formed things, but with so much potential: Saturday night’s Soundings gig saw spoken word performers read selected works from Soundings, the former Leaving Cert English poetry book, over a virtuosic electronic set from producer Daithí and Galway multi-instrumentalist Anna Mullarkey, alongside Hermitage Green bodhrán player Dermot Sheedy and former King Kong Company drummer Mark Graham.
Despite organiser Simon O’Reilly’s own background in music and film, the festival programming was so balanced amongst disciplines, creativity so broadly defined, and the wealth of talent on hand so impressive that there was something for anyone to lose themselves in at Hedge School 2024.
Here was Declan O’Rourke delving into the creative journey behind his Great Famine trilogy of novels, drummer David Hingerty leading a workshop in complex African and South American rhythms, DJ sets from Efa O’Neill of Dublin Digital Radio and mynameisjOhn, the Clare producer best known for his work with Rusangano Family.
As a self-funded fledgling festival, it can only be hoped that Hedge School continues to forge a way forward and future iterations of this boutique arts festival can build on all that creative potential.
