Binlids: The Show Goes On

By Ned Kelly

West Belfast businesses have stepped into the breach after Belfast City Council and the Arts Council rejected funding bids for a revival of the play, `Binlids'.

By helping to find the bulk of the £27,000 needed, they thwarted the overtly political attempt to stop the telling of West Belfast's resistance since the 1971 introduction of internment. This highly acclaimed production from the award winning DubbelJoint/JustUs team will now run for two weeks from 16 February (8pm) at BIHFE on the Whiterock Road in West Belfast.

Tickets are in great demand as many people learn from the audiences at its original run that it is a theatrical experience not to be missed. Its innovative telling of one community's history of resistance captured audiences' imaginations when it premiered at last year's Féile an Phobail/West Belfast Festival. The production uses four stages with the audience in the centre of the hall. There is a sense of being involved in the action of the play which adds to the dramatic impact. Make sure to book a ticket to experience it yourself.

Anyone from Tyrone wishing to attend the play should contact their nearest Sinn Féin centre for information or for tickets.

Kila - not taking it easy

By Ned Kelly

The wild energy of the Dublin-based seven-piece Irish funksters, Kila, kept them dancing through the night at last Saturday's Whiterock gig.

The BIFHE hall, which the week before had echoed to the efforts of West Belfast's finest sitting exams, and next week will see the explosion of Binlids, was a whirl of Celtic tunes, Afro-Caribbean beats and compelling rhythms.

Kila kept the dancefloor packed with happy sweating bodies, mixing the frantic with the hypnotic. Tunes such as `Tóg go bog é' (Take it easy), the title track from their latest album, are rich in musical diversity and haunting Gaelic vocals. This second album follows on from `Mind the Gap' and marks them out as the cutting edge of new Irish music.

Kila's growing reputation is built upon the diverse bedrock of their past works. These range from acclaimed film soundtracks, to theatre and dance compositions, to Oireachtas winning pieces. The flute of Colm O'Snodaigh, Eoin Dillon's pipes, Dee Armstrong's fiddle/violin, Ronan O'Snodaigh's bodhran and Eoin O'Brian's electric guitar, not to mention the thumping bass, combine in an original way that bears testament to their depth of experience and multiplicity of talent.

Well worth checking out.