Oh Momma! It’s almost that time of year when the mighty Sperrins will once again be reverberating in perfect unison to the pounding rock anthems at another epic Glasgowbury Music Festival. Now celebrating its 7th year, the event has established itself as Northern Ireland’s largest independent music festival – and rightly so. Whats more, it’s happening right here on our doorstep, slap bang in the rural surroundings of Mid-Ulster. Its inception as a fundraising gig for the Ulster Cancer Foundation helped to provide the initial impetus which has seen the festival go from strength to strength, year upon year. Outwardly, you’d be forgiven for thinking the festival doesn’t take itself too seriously – its very much a safe and relaxed family friendly environment – and thats part of its charm. Everybody is there to enjoy themselves, witness some great up-and-coming musical talent, and generally have a good days craic – so you needn’t worry about being stomped on in a frantic surge to be right up next to the front of the stage. Don’t be fooled though, because under the covers its very much the ‘real deal’ – bucketloads of blood, sweat, and tears (as well as one or two Health & Safety forms no doubt!) go into putting this whole thing together each year.

As ever, at the helm of the good ship Glasgowbury, the man with the plan is the self-effacing but irrepressible character that is Paddy Glasgow from which, in case you hadn’t already guessed, the festival gets its name. Without the passion, focus, and dogged determination of Paddy and the Glasgowbury Music Group folks, quite frankly its a miracle that the festival takes place at all – but to coin a phrase that was quoted to us recently, “He’s a hard man to say no to!“. Capitalising on the success of the Glasgowbury Music Festival, October 2004 saw the emergence of more intimate bite-size gigs in the Cellar Bar, known simply as the ‘G Sessions‘ – you’d probably have to ask Paddy yourself, but we’re guessing they helped to fulfil a number of different criteria. For some artists, they acted as a stepping stone to a future appearance at the main festival, whilst others took the opposite route and played the G Sessions after their stint at Glasgowbury – giving folks the chance to catch them a second time around in cosier surroundings. The G Sessions also cater for those needing their regular fix of Glasgowbury goodness throughout the year between festivals. In any case, whatever the reasons, the G Sessions have the very same ‘Small But Massive‘ ethos pumping through their veins as their older and wiser sibling – quite simply, to showcase both unsigned and established musical talent from our Northern (and Southern) Irish shores.

More recently, the Glasgowbury Music Group has branched out to offer a number of different courses, such as Contemporary Music Practice, Live Sound Workshops, and the Rural Key Music Project – an initiative comprising a diverse series of intense workshops, designed specifically to give young musicians in the Mid Ulster area a step up the musical ladder and exposure to all aspects of the music industry, ranging from sound engineering, artist promotion, songwriting and performance techniques to recording their very own music CD. After a sucessful first year, the Glasgowbury Music Group is now seeking applications for its second intake to the Rural Key Music Project – if you think you might be interested, then drop a line to glasgowbury@gmail.com.

We’ve had the pleasure of attending the Glasgowbury Festival and G Sessions over the past few years and snapped a few pics whilst we where there, so you might want to check out the following image galleries:

• Glasgowbury Music Festivals
• G Sessions

Of course, the festival wouldn’t be what it is without you lot – yes YOU! So, don’t just sit there, checkout the ticket and lineup details – although we’ll be posting details of everything you need to know right here on ballinascreen.com soon too…

Finally, we’d like to wish Paddy and all the good folks from the Glasgowbury Music Group every success with the festival this year – and assuming nothing happens to us between now and then, we’ll be there ourselves to grab a few snaps for the ballinascreen.com Image Gallery so that you can relive the event or see what you missed! We can’t wait!

Deadly!

Winner (£50): Gerry Cuskeran. Lotto Numbers: 1, 4, 7, 20. Next weeks Jackpot: £1,550