The Ergodos Festival, described as 'a nine day adventure in music', takes place in Dublin from 17-25 April.

It features, among other things, the fiddle player Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Gamelan Sekar Petak, a twenty-seven piece percussion orchestra from York. Artistic directors Garrett Sholdice and Benedict Schlepper-Connolly describe the festival, which follows an 'off grid' theme as follows:

"The composer Lou Harrison used to say 'don't put down the hybrids, because there isn't anything else'. Things are infinitely complex, and there are many influences acting upon what we do. Yet in our haste to define, we are forced to generalise. The culture of genre is an illusion, surely. A product of marketing and the needs of commerce, its taxonomy is harmfully imprecise.

We celebrate music that doesn't fit the grid, that falls between the cracks, that evades definition. We present a confluence of musical languages.

Harrison's friend John Cage wrote: 'Life is essentially a cause for joy. Here we are. Let us say Yes to our presence in chaos. Anything is a delight, we do not possess it and thus need not fear its loss.'

Let us open our ears."

Posted: 14 April 2009