Soultrane: Northern Ireland's first dedicated soul festival

Belfast's Oh Yeah Music Centre was packed for the festival launch

Soul music - along with a bit of jazz, funk and gospel - is to have its first dedicated festival in Northern Ireland, called Soultrane.

The February 2024 event it is the brainchild of NI soul singer Siobhan Brown and her husband David.

"The music that traditionally has come out of Northern Ireland is also a type of soul music," said Ms Brown.

So, if you only associate soul music with the USA in the 1960s and 1970s, then think again.

"Soul covers a lot of sub genres - you've got neo-soul, rare groove, hip-hop, disco soul, Northern soul," she told BBC News NI.

"There's so many genres within soul so really Soultrane is about celebrating that and about celebrating the roots of that music, music of black origin and bringing authenticity into soul."

Soultrane is the brainchild of Northern Irish soul singer Siobhan Brown and husband David

She added: "We've been listening to soul for a very long time, we've been listening to jazz for a very long time but there hasn't yet been an actual platform for artists and for people to actually come to a particular place to celebrate that music.

"Northern Ireland is rapidly becoming more multi-cultural and as we've had more people of black origin this music is becoming stronger and stronger in the community."

Siobhan's band Manukahunney will be playing at Soutrane along with UK soul stars like Omar - who has performed with artists like Stevie Wonder and Erykah Badu.

And according to David Brown that mix of local and beyond is what the festival wants to capture.

"The festival is about showing artists in the UK, showing artists of international repute that it's worth coming to Northern Ireland, that there are people here who love and enjoy their music," he said.

Dana Masters says soul music is integral to many people from all backgrounds in Northern Ireland

The plan is to use Soultrane as a starting point to create scope for more performances and rehearsal spaces for soul musicians in Northern Ireland.

Belfast's Oh Yeah Music Centre was packed for the festival launch.

The crowd included soul singer and musician Dana Masters, who has performed alongside Van Morrison for many years.

She also presented the recent BBC Northern Ireland music documentary My Name is Ottilie.

'A gift'

According to Dana Masters, soul music is integral to many people from all backgrounds in Northern Ireland.

"The music that comes out of Northern Ireland, traditionally has come out of Northern Ireland is also a type of soul music and it's why I think all of these musicians really connect deeply with each other," she said.

"And yes it's a gift to the black community but it's a gift from the black community to the rest of Northern Ireland.

"All of us broadening our horizons and enjoying each other's soul music if that makes sense."

Angela Ifonlaja

Gospel is also a big influence on soul and one of those performing at Soultrane's launch was gospel singer Angela Ifonlaja.

Angela has been in Northern Ireland for around fifteen years and said that gospel music was about much more than hymns.

"There's such a wide variety and my music would be very eclectic, fuse a lot of things into there," she said.

"So you'll hear some sort of RnB undertones and soulful undertones and jazz undertones but essentially when you're talking about gospel it's about the message and it's good news.

"It's inspirational, uplifting and you can kind of layer that on different styles of music so if you think gospel is one way think again!"

She also said that a dedicated festival for soul music was vital.

"There are many great talents here in Northern Ireland but they haven't really found a place in the established festivals so far," she said.

"And so this encapsulates a variety of music that hasn't yet been brought to the fore."

That is set to change when Soultrane takes place in February 2024.