The Irish-speaking Belfast rappers leading a Celtic revival

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Belfast rappers Kneecap brought their kitted out RUC Land Rover to the Galway Film Fleadh for the Irish premiere of their film. Photograph: Andrew Downes, xposure
Belfast rappers Kneecap brought their kitted out RUC Land Rover to the Galway Film Fleadh for the Irish premiere of their film. Photograph: Andrew Downes, xposure

Belfast and Derry rappers Kneecap have been in the news for many things in the past year: they took a case against the previous UK government for intervening to block an arts grant; they led a boycott of Irish artists of the global music industry’s shop-window, South By Southwest, because of the Texas festival’s links to the US military and weapons manufacturers; they played Glastonbury; they released their debut album, Fine Art, and their debut feature film, Kneecap, is about to be released in cinemas around the world after an award-winning outing at the Sundance Film Festival.

They arrived to that event in a jeep designed to look like a PSNI vehicle.

Una Mullally has been following Kneecap since long before they took to stages beyond Belfast and she says that their film “will be a landmark moment for the Irish language, Irish cinema, and Irish music”.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast