Electronic music takes its place in Cork City Hall on culture night

From a vibrant contemporary history that goes back decades and involves some of the medium’s leading lights, to the vista of a city’s scene picking itself up after hard times, Cork City has a deep and involved relationship with electronic music. Little surprise, then, that part of that latter effort is down to a collaborative effort to help organise the scene, provide events and workshops to further foster the community in that respect, and help the medium replace generational roots.

Emerging after the early-2022 lifting of restrictions, the Electronic Music Council was founded by DJs and producers, and set out its stall about what shape nightlife could take on, in a profoundly-changed world.

“I suppose where it all started was back in November 2021, we came out of the pandemic a little bit before that, and then suddenly, we're being closed for Christmas,” says co-founder and drum ‘n’ bass DJ Natalie McCormack, aka NatMac. “Everybody was like, "wow, we're going back to real life, this is great". Many people had to change their careers during that pandemic time, and lose themselves from the lifestyle that they had, so it was like a little taster of getting back to normal, and then suddenly, we were being closed again. I just noticed the financial impact on myself, my friends, people in the industry; and the mental impact that it had, and to be honest, I'd had enough because no one was really doing anything to support the local scene in Cork.

“And I just called everybody in anybody in a public space, in The Black Market, because that was the only thing we were allowed to do at that time. and I said, let's just figure it out, what's going on. I called club owners, artists, producers, light engineers, sound engineers, equipment specialists, anybody and everybody who I knew was struggling. And we sat down and hashed it out. That was the start of the Electronic Music Council, we were literally trying to figure out what we could do as a music community, trying to get ourselves in a better space out of the pandemic.”

The group has recently stepped up its ongoing activities, including club nights, workshops, and social-media event roundups, with day-long programme A City Comes Together, which added beginner-friendly jams, demonstrations and sets from a wide variety of DJs and producers to the collective’s body of work, and providing a dimension of cultural cultivation and encouragement alongside the group’s stated mission.

That same curatorial instinct, and desire to help further the city’s electronic music culture, has led to the EMC taking over the City Hall on Culture Night for Faoi Choim na hOíche (Under Cover of Night), an ambitious event that opens with music and dance workshops; a dance-inspired visual arts exhibition featuring a number of locally-based artists; and screenings of interviews with icons like Fish Go Deep’s Greg Dowling, and house legend Kerri Chandler - McCormack discusses the process.

“We wanted to find a way to collaborate with art and music, and amplify our messages together, where art showcases alongside the music, and the music speaks for itself with its sound and the audio visual element that comes with some of that. We thought, we want to showcase our music in a three-dimensional way, we want to see how we can create an audiovisual, immersive experience. What space could we use to do that? The City Council said, 'well, we've got a few spaces, let's talk about it'. We always have thought about the City Hall as being a very prestigious building, it's really been a core piece to delivering arts and entertainment in the city - but we haven't really seen a large amount of electronic music go through it: Depeche Mode in 1982, The Prodigy in 1994, Gorgon City in 2014.

“It's not seen as a space that would typically be used for this sort of music. We spoke to the council, and they agreed that it could be a really good spot, and we also said that we were applying for the late night Arts Council funding, and we hoped to be successful on that, and in receiving this successful application for that funding as being one of the flagship events of Cork's Culture Night, we then approached the council and said, we'd like to go ahead with the City Hall. And they agreed, and that's when that started to kick off.” 

That first part of the night features an eclectic array of events, and for the EMC, constitutes a huge job of work in curating, connecting and bringing visual arts, dance, and historic resources inspired by electronic music and club culture together. An important goal of the piece is to draw generational connections, and open the medium up as a space for all - from historic pictures and interviews around the glory days of the now-exalted Sir Henry’s, to showing people a human face to the music, in the Techno People of Cork immersive-art show.

“I think sometimes if you're not already in the nighttime culture, and established, and understanding it, sometimes there can be quite a negative view on it, so the most important piece about this event is to showcase and insight into night culture in a positive element. This whole event is non alcoholic, so that you can fully immerse yourself into experiencing the event. Art is a very important part, different types of art, how immersive it is, from the dark to the positive sides of it; workshops on movement, because when you're in an electronic dance music event, it's not stationary, you move, you interact.

“The whole point of creating this event is so that it is immersive, that you get that feeling that you have when you go to electronic music events, the lights, the sounds, the feelings, the emotions that really you revisit, and the movements that you encounter. We also want to showcase that we're very much a community, so that there are elements all around with information about the people, the community element, where people talk to each other and are encouraged to connect with each other.”

The night concludes in the main auditorium of the City Hall, with a club night happening in the historic space, including Waterford techno selector Cailín engaging in a DJ battle with herself, in the form of house alter-ego GRL; and electronic artist and educator Hybrasil, presenting ‘Drones from the Island’, a full audiovisual show that draws on a techno-futurist vision of Celtic mythology and ancient history.

A big step forward, then, for the use of a space that’s hosted everything from world championship boxing contests, to the Leeside visit of former US president John F Kennedy - which must surely feel like a huge achievement for a grassroots effort.

“It means everything, not just to me, but that this is really a pinnacle event that gives great insight into the importance of electronic music as an art form. It's incredibly important as an artist in electronic music that you're recognised and taken seriously. By having a place like this, to showcase the wide scope of what electronic music offers, really does allow us to give that platform and recognition.

“It just shows how important it is to people, whether you're an attendee, whether you're a producer, an artist, a light engineer, whether you're someone who is inspired and aspiring into that realm, it really does hit many different people. Cork has been known for many years as having such a connection to electronic dance music, but now it's really time to showcase the whole scope of that, and push even further forward.”

Faoi Choim na hOíche takes place on Friday September 22, at Cork City Hall, as part of the city’s Culture Night offerings. For more information, head to culturenight.ie.

Follow @electronicmusiccouncil on Instagram for more info on upcoming EMC events and workshops.