Local acts wowed at Guinness Cork Jazz Festival
Cork artist Diamond, who performed at last weekend’s jazz festival.
Local acts should always be at the heart of a local festival, and even as our reputation grows stronger internationally, it’s imperative that these artists get a proper chance to showcase their talents here in Cork. The weekend started with Cork’s Diamond performing at the launch of the festival in the Opera House, and this talented young singer, rapper and trumpeter was one of the stars of the weekend. Elsewhere Maya Libbey, Soléne Laurence, Sam Healy, Saoirse Lynch, 2Hats1USB, Tara Casey, Aisling, Sunday Times, Jimmi Jambons, Karen Underwood, Syano, AbbieLee, Dan Walsh, Laoise Leahy were just a few of the many different local artists who played great shows over the weekend in Cork.
From a personal level, Masters At Work’s arrival as a DJ duo to Cork was a big one, and I was honoured to play some tunes before the legendary New Yorkers on Friday night at the Opera House. They are without doubt one of the most iconic production duos of all time, and their sounds shaped clubs like Sir Henry’s and The Savoy like no other. It was great to experience this event with our own Masters at Work, Shane and Greg, who pushed this sound in Cork and put us on the map worldwide.
More than one or two observers mentioned that it could easily have been Fish Go Deep themselves up there, but it underlined to me how lucky we are to have grown up under their tutelage here. I personally enjoyed Kenny and Louie’s set and I was impressed that they remained humble and friendly and graceful as people off the decks too. Obviously, with production credits running so deep, they could have played for four or five hours, but there are a lot of shows at Cork jazz weekend and turnaround time is really tight.
The late night Opera House shows welcomed Annie Mac for a high octane rare Cork show (supported by another big Irish name Tara Kumar) and Boney M, plus Berlioz (again supported capably by our own Aisling). Winnie Ama again demonstrated that she is one of Ireland’s best talents. Elsewhere, I missed most of the great shows at Live at St Lukes, The Triskel and the Everyman, but I did briefly catch the amazing Keyon Harrold and Marcus Strickland playing before their Coltrane and Miles show at the launch. Joe Armon-Jones again proved himself to be one of the most exciting talents in jazz, while Kokoroko, Jaz Karis, Jason Moran, Jasmine Myra, Momoko Gill and many others won many more new friends and fans.
The opening evening took place on a stormy Thursday but despite this, The Triskel, Live at St Lukes, The Everyman and the Cork Opera House were all packed. The Yussef Dayes show at Cork Opera House will live long in the memory for anyone lucky enough to have attended it, and again he was ably supported on the night by Xmunashe. The Yussef Dayes show will prove to be one of those “I was there” shows, and it was great seeing an artist at his peak performing here to a sell out crowd.
There is a major musical movement happening outside the mainstream, and the shows such as this one, the Joe Armon-Jones gig, Jaz Karis, Kokoroko and more, demonstrated that there is a hunger for these forward thinking sounds in 2026.
I spent a lot of time in the Savoy over the weekend too and it was great to have it back operating on such a busy weekend in Cork.
Diamond and her band tore it up on Saturday night amidst a stacked line-up while Syano, AbbieLee, Boolaboom, JarJarJr, Jus Me, Sunday Times, Shane Johnson, Leon Stax and many more performed there over the weekend.
Cyprus Avenue was busy too any time I called over, though I missed the Skin on Skin show, which got great reviews.
The streets were busy and outdoors it got messy at times but, overall, it was another great festival and another great reminder of Cork’s music potential too.
