Ballydehob Jazz Festival is back with a weekend of BIG fun in the small village

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One of Ireland’s most raucous events, Ballydehob Jazz Festival is back this May Bank Holiday.
The village will host a free Live Music Trail featuring over 30 performances from Irish and international acts, including Fixity, Donal Dineen, Goodnight Circus, Paul Dunlea, Cormac McCarthy, Runaway Retros and the Jabin Ward Trio.
Headline concerts in the Jazz Hall include a Ballydehob debut from Karen Underwood, while Saturday’s headliners, Tatiana Eva-Marie and The Avalon Jazz band, come all the way from Brooklyn, New York.
The Moonshine Shindig, BJF’s signature late-night Jazz Club, returns on the Saturday and Sunday night, while kids will be awe-struck by the New Orleans style Jazz Parade, starring Ballydehob’s Jazz Giant Puppet Family.
You can dance your way through the weekend with Swing Dance classes led by international dance instructor Peter Loggins, the foremost historian on American Jazz Dance, and his dance partner Katja Završnik and this year will see the first Ballydehob Jazz Poetry Slam, in partnership with the Working Artist Studio, with some of Ireland’s finest young poets and spoken words artists.
A Micro Mural Exhibition will showcase a new series of small murals under the theme The Rising Tide. Each artwork will be created in unassuming areas within the village to be sought out by the audience, all coordinated by muralist Shane O’Driscoll of Ardú Street Art Project.
In between all that you can hit the Jazz Food & Crafts Market for sustenance, original artwork, live music and pop-up circus performances.
Early bird festival tickets are €50 at ballydehobjazzfestival.org.