News / Play that Vunk-y music
Shetland Charitable Trust is putting its financial weight behind a three day festival of non-traditional arts and music that kicks off on Friday.
The trust is putting up almost £3,000 towards the second Vunk Festival which is already more than double the size of last summer’s event.
The festival promotes types of hard rock music rarely heard in the isles and yet whose Shetland performers are acclaimed on the UK mainland.
This weekend’s event will provide a stage for musicians and visual artists to interact creatively with visiting bands from Holland, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Orkney.
The four main events will be a dry bar concert for over 14s at Voe Hall on 9 July starting at 6.30pm headlined by The Dangerfields from Belfast and featuring some of Shetland’s most promising young rock musicians.
At 6.30pm on 10 July Lerwick’s Norscot Angling Club will rock to the sounds of Newcastle band A Thousand Lies; Dutch groups Deafening and Monstertone; local performers Ten Tonne Dozer, Bitumen River and Poison Popcorn; and Inverness outfit Stolen Order.
A three day art exhibition featuring work from Shetland, Orkney and Australian contributors, including Jono Sandilands, Co:Lab, Tirval Scott and the Orkney Movie Group, will be on show at Shetland Museum between 9 July and 11 July.
And on 11 July a film showcase with live music from Aafrugg, Poison Popcorn, The Xylophone Race, Joe Watt and A Thousand Lies will be held at the Shetland Museum between 1pm and 5pm with the chance to meet members of the bands in an informal setting.
Vunk Festival committee secretary Karen Bruce said the idea behind the not-for-profit event was to provide a festival of art forms that were not well catered for in Shetland.
“It is a festival with brand new content, and will be challenging for the people who come to listen to the music and come to see the art work. This is about finding a niche in a very small island to provide something new and different.”
She said the charitable trust had been crucial to helping the event grow this year and there were hopes to experiment further in the future.
The trust grant of £2,769 will cover more than 40 per cent of the cost of sound engineering, concert recording, travel, venue and transport hire, security and musician’s remuneration.
Trust chairman Bill Manson said: “The charitable trust has always strived to support a wide range of cultural activity in Shetland, which is why we were more than happy to step in to help a group of people who clearly feel they are under represented in these islands.”
Tickets for the two concerts are £10 each and are available from High Level Music, Clive’s Record Shop and the Shetland Box Office on 01595 745 555.
There is no admission charge for the visual art exhibitions and the film event at the Shetland Museum and Archives.
Ms Bruce said she wanted to thank all their sponsors and the many volunteers who have worked tirelessly to make the festival happen.
Further info at: www.myspace.com/vunkventures or e-mail vunkfest@hotmail.co.uk
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