UNITED KINGDOM SUMMER PEARLS: London's architectural gems along the banks of the Thames
MUSIC: Europe's best pop and rock gatherings
BAGPIPES: The plaintive sounds of Scotland
SUBMARIUM: Journey to the bottom of the sea FESTIVALS: Fun in the sun in West Belfast
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FRANCE and SWITZERLAND VULCANIA: Blow your top at France's volcano park
ART: Berthe Morisot, the unknown Impressionist
FESTIVALS: Aix-en-Provence has it all
ART: The Barbizon School painters come to life
ART: Take a stroll through medieval gardens of delight
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SPAIN, PORTUGAL, ITALY and GREECE SALAMANCA: The city splashes out on culture
MUSIC: God's rock stars: the singing Greek monks
FOOD: Italy's unusual culinary delights
FILM: Great outdoor viewing in Rome
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GERMANY and BENELUX HORTICULTURE: The world blossoms at Floriade
BRUGGE: Belgium's second city shines
ART: Berlin's homage to multiculturalism ART: The best of the world's artists on show at Documenta 11 DANCE: Czech twin ballerinos steal the show in Hamburg MORE ..
CENTRAL and EASTERN EUROPE ART: Yugoslavia's modern art museum is back
ART: A retrospective of Samizdat art and writing from the Communist bloc
GRAZ: Austria's little-known city of culture
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THE NORDIC REGION DESIGN: Denmark celebrates Arne Jacobsen
MUSEUM: Get a blast from the past at Stalin World
STOCKHOLM: Welcome to the Venice of the North
MUSIC: Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on tour MORE ..
PLUS LISTINGS: Other things to see and do in each region
The West Belfast Festival is rooted in art and history
On the Falls Road, confetti used to be slang for the bricks and stones that would rain down during Ulster's regular bouts of rioting. These days, it's more likely to mean what it's supposed to mean: fun and celebration. Especially during August, when the Falls, the main artery through West Belfast, hosts the opening parade of Féile an Phobail (the People's Festival).
The Féile, also known as the West Belfast Festival, is rooted directly in the violence that plagued Northern Ireland for three decades. Started in 1988, the festival was intended to divert young people away from the street disturbances that had become a traditional facet of early August in this Irish Republican Army stronghold. It also aimed to bolster the self-image of an area that had both suffered from and been blamed for the bloodshed. From these humble, even austere beginnings, the Féile has become the biggest community-based festival in Ireland, with a quarter of the 200,000 participants coming from outside Northern Ireland.
The festival covers music, drama, comedy, visual arts, cinema, sport, history and politics. It also manages to jump effortlessly between the local and the global: after sampling Japanese food alongside a pint of Guinness, you could find Basque musicians paired with a pop act from up the road. But the main focus is, of course, Irish — and that means an abundance of traditional folk music. One of this year's headliners is the long-running folk supergroup Altan. The first weekend, Aug. 2 to 5, will also be devoted to a folk festival-within-the-festival, known as Croí na Féile (Heart of the Festival). The comedy section will be led by Jason Byrne, a Dubliner whose stand-up routine has been dubbed part Spike Milligan, part Duracell Bunny.
The Féile also has a regular association with the Irish Museum of Modern Art, based in Dublin. This year it brings an exhibition — "Fragments sur les Institutions Républicaines IV" — which reproduces jail messages written two decades ago by dying I.R.A. hunger strikers. Such a close marriage of politics and arts is routine in the Féile — this year there will be a concentration on the Middle East. The organizers are unapologetic, arguing that politics — especially the republican politics favored among Northern Ireland's Catholics — is part of the culture in West Belfast. "It is a very political festival, but that's because of where it comes from and why it started," says the director, Carol Jackson. There is a chill factor, however. People from East Belfast, the predominantly Protestant part of the city, are conspicuously underrepresented in the audience. Nevertheless, the Féile is the most obvious proof that the turmoil of the past has been left behind.
Féile an Phobail, West Belfast • Phone:+44 (0)28 9028 4028• Website: www.feilebelfast.com
