In collaboration with The Waterford Academy of Music & Arts, the Spraoi festival welcomes an injection of hip-hop, new music, dance, and interactive entertainment from WAMA @ Wyse Park. From 2pm-6pm on Saturday and Sunday there’ll be a wide array of events on offer in this lovely park area of the city centre.
The park will host opportunities for graffiti, DJs scratching and playing, MCs rapping, brass instrumentalists and street dancers getting down. There’ll be performances from Aye starring Toby Omoteso, Akasha Movement, Synergy Dance Club, and Limerockers Cru. There’ll be live music from WAMA Drummers, The Shed, No Clue, The Black Roses, Mixing Spirits, Raya Mae, Oran Byrne, and Squish The Kid. And there’ll also be live interviews with some of the amazing street theatre artists who’ve come to Spraoi from all over the world, streaming live on Spraoi’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/spraoiwaterford.
Come along and join in, or just sit and watch the fantastic array of acts on offer.
Acts
WAMA Drumming Band
Born out of The Waterford Academy of Music & Arts, the WAMA Drumming Band will thunder in to the Spraoi Festival this August with their unique blend of toe tapping beats and head bopping grooves. With influences from Rock, Techno, Metal and Hip Hop, expect energy, noise, and fun!
No Clue
Cain Byrne, Liam Frampton
Cain Byrne and Liam Frampton are an emerging acoustic duo from Waterford City. Heavily inspired by britpop bands such as Oasis, The Verve and Pulp, as well as classic rock from the 60s,70s such as The Kinks, and Dire Straits. When they’re not knocking out cover tunes, they’re busy writing their own music. They’re really looking forward to performing at Spraoi in Wyse Park.
The Black Roses
Megan Jacob, Oisin McGrath, Jack D, Ronan Walsh, Adam Daly
The Black Roses are a promising young 5-piece Rock/Metal band from Waterford. They have played in several venues around the city including The Theatre Royal, Imagine Festival, and the LIT Festival to name but a few. Since forming in 2020, they have been working hard writing their own music and honing their skills to the next possible level.
Oran Byrne
Oran Byrne, Ronan Walsh, Adam Daly
Oran Byrne is a singer-songwriter based in Waterford, Ireland. Byrne quickly exploded onto the Waterford music scene in 2021 with his hit single ‘Paranoia’. After releasing four singles consecutively throughout 2021, Byrne released his debut album ‘Moving Forward’ on May 6th, 2022 – an eight-track album which explores themes such as fear, loneliness, and abandonment, accompanied by rich, uplifting, upbeat, and sometimes, gloomy, haunting melodies. His biggest influences both musically and lyrically are The Beatles and Arctic Monkeys. This is particularly evident in his song writing, as he tends to embrace the rich harmonies that defined The Beatles in his own music, coupled with the softly sung poetic lyrics that John Lennon and Alex Turner are noted for.
Squish The Kidd
Conor O’Driscoll
Conor O’Driscoll aka Squish The Kidd is a rapper from Waterford Ireland who takes pride in creating a unique and energetic sound with music inspired by the likes of Juice Wrld, Zillakami, Joey Badass, Midwxst and others! He is excited and passionate about performing in Spraoi!
The Shed
Luke Kelly, Scott Murphy, Alex Keating, Tom O Hanlon
The Shed are a 4-piece indie rock band from Waterford Ireland. Influenced by modern indie music, The Sheds energetic, youthful sound has been compared to these influences with Our Sound Music describing the single ‘Slipstream’ as “evoking Viola Beach”. The Shed have featured on a number of Irish radio stations including Radio Kerry, WLR FM and KCLR as well as a number of independent online stations. The Shed pride themselves on their live performances and their songs describing themselves as a “live band more so than a record band” and their sound speaks to this goal. The band has played around Ireland in Cork, Limerick and Waterford and headlined venues such as Pharmacia, The Vic and An Spailpín Fánach.
Mixing Spirits
Kayleigh, Ziggy, Alex, Connor, Tim
Mixing Spirits are a brand-new outfit from Waterford, influenced by rock, funk and pop. They love to play covers from the artists that influenced them, as well writing their own music. They’re really excited to play in Wyse Park at Spraoi!
Raya Mae
Raya Mae, Eoghan Moore, Alfie Ireland, Sean Daniels, Ronan Walsh
Raya Mae a sixteen-year-old female artist living in Tramore, Waterford. She’s a singer/songwriter who released her first single in May 2022. Both lyrically and musically, she tends to write more pop/punk rock music.