The independent Irish online radio station QFM (formerly Quarantine FM) this week announced the launch of their very first festival, Cana Music Festival. The festival, taking place as a series of YouTube premieres due to continuing COVID-19 restrictions, will be streamed over four weeks, with each week focusing on a different province, with the first broadcast from Cork taking place at 19:30pm on Thursday July 8th. 

Cana Festival was recorded across four days in June in four distinct Irish venues, including the beautiful Oranmore Castle in Galway and Belfast’s Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich. Each night will see three Independent Irish artists across a wide variety of genres take to the stage and perform live for the first time in over 12 months. Each concert, recorded across Cork, Galway, Belfast and Dublin, will also give viewers a look behind the scenes with interviews and a sneak-peek at how QFM’s first ever festival came to life. 

The schedule of live streams and featured artists are: 

Cork: Thursday, July 8th, 7:30pm QFM HQ, Cork City

Arthur Valentine 

Kestine 

Blakkheart

Galway: Thursday, July 15th, 7:30pm, Oranmore Castle

Brídín

Seba Safe

Honas

Belfast: Thursday, July 22nd, 7:30pm, Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich

Dena Anuk$a

Our Krypton Son

Sister Ghost

Dublin: Thursday, July 29th, 7:30pm, GlassMask Theatre

Sophie Doyle-Ryder

Zeinab

Sinead and D Cullen

QFM was a digital radio station set up in March 2020 and born out of Covid-19 unemployment. It ran as a radio station from March 2020 to March 2021 and during that time broadcast over 1,100 hours of completely new and original radio content, including nearly six hundred interviews before pivoting to producing podcasts and creating live events. Cana Music Festival is run by QFM’s very own impassioned Irish music enthusiasts Anna-Rose Charleton, Sam Hardiman, Heather Lawrie and Cailean Coffey.

The aim and ethos of QFM has always been to support young Irish people paving their way in the fields of music, theatre, visual arts, dance, sports and more, and to provide a platform to allow people to share their COVID-19 experiences. Cana Music Festival has been made possible thanks to the support of IMRO, and it’s hoped this year’s virtual event will mark the beginning of QFM’s journey of hosting live events, festivals and creating paid work for Irish and international musicians, stage crew and event staff.

For more information and to keep up with Cana Festival, you can visit their Instagram page here.