The Donegal Youth Service was well represented by The Majors//The Minors and Team Donegal at the Irish Youth Music Awards last weekend.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Irish Youth Music Awards hosted its national day in Croke Park last Saturday the 22nd.
Nineteen young musicians/bands through live selection gigs all over the country had won the right to represent their region at the National Day.
Donegal Youth Service and Team Donegal were represented by super duo Emory Ramsey and Ciaran Coyle of The Majors//The Minors, who rocked the house and gave their all in a performance that had the crowd on their feet dancing at the Croke Park venue.
Ciaran Coyle and Emory Ramsey – The Majors The Minors getting warmed up before going on stage at the Irish Youth Music Awards in Croke Park.
While on the Leaders’ Choice Stage, Darragh Clarke performed to an enthusiastic crowd with such confidence he even responded to requests.
Darragh Clarke representing Donegal Youth Service on the Leaders Choice Stage in Croke Park
The star prize was to elude Team Donegal unfortunately, but they did however take home the prize for Best Facebook Management, an acknowledgement of the fantastic job the team of 23 young people did marketing their act online.
Over the past 10 years the IYMAS programme has brought together some of Ireland’s top music industry personnel and thousands of young musicians from all around the country.
All of the performers on the day were chosen to represent their region at local live selection nights, with The Majors//The Minors being selected after a gig in The Loft at Donegal Youth Service in early January 2017. Each band and performer had a whole team of young people behind them who took on individual music industry roles as part of the competition.
In addition to performing at Croke Park, young musicians had the opportunity to attend workshops and master-classes in vocals, drums, songwriting, and bass, and attend panels led by music industry professionals including BIMM lecturers.
They also had the opportunity to speak to RTÉ 2FM representatives who were there on the day. 2FM are an official sponsor of the Irish Youth Music Awards and have been supporting the programme all year.
Matthew Melia from IYMAS Team Donegal 2017 shared his feelings on the experience “Fo
Members of the Donegal Team outside Croke Park before the Irish Youth Music Awards 2017.
r me the IYMAs are a great opportunity, I learned a lot about the music industry from actually playing on stage, to important aspects such as PR and fundraising.”
“I feel the IYMAs are great to help young artists get on their feet regardless of winning or not. Overall I gained a valuable skill-set that will definitely be useful in my future in music”.
The Irish Youth Music Awards is an educational programme for young bands and musicians aged 12 to 19, and are an official Challenge Partner of Gaisce. Aimed at creating teamwork and friendship at local level, the project also provides first hand work experience in all areas associated with the music business such as PR, stage management, graphic design, and photography.
The programme honours the most effective music projects run by groups of young people based on the entire project from the band, to the crew, to the promotion and approach to the competition.
Ciaran Coyle and Emory Ramsey – The Majors The Minors on stage performing their song ‘Summer’ at the Irish Youth Music Awards in Croke Park.
The Donegal team were coordinated by Youth Worker Dominic McGlinchey who worked with the team from the early preparation stages in late 2016 all the way up to the National day.
“The five month journey allowed for huge growth and development of everyone involved in our project. Our team of twenty three participants took on jobs relating to the following areas; Facebook, Stage, Audio, Photo, Image, Press, Fundraising, and Graphic Design, to promote and maximise the potential of our team. A new addition this year was free online education via Lynda.com, making the IYMAs without a doubt the ultimate practical and musical education experience in the country” Dominic shared
This year’s winners, Liquid Space, along with all of the young musicians involved in Team Galway, will receive five days’ recording time in a studio in Dublin, a recording session in RTÉ 2FM’s legendary Studio 8, and their regional youth club will receive a full backline provided by Music Maker Dublin, to support the continuation and growth of the project. They will also produce an album of their own, released on physical CD with a professional design. The album will be digitally distributed worldwide through iTunes, Spotify and many more outlets. Last year, Team Galway recorded and released their IYMAs album which stormed the Irish compilation charts, entering at No 5.
Donegal Youth Service participate in the IYMAS every year and are big supporters of young musicians. There is also a dedicated band room for bands to make as much noise as they want in the DYS HQ 16-18 Port Road, Letterkenny. Drop in, or call us on (074) 91 29630 for more info! Donegal Youth Service are a registered charity (Charity No. CHY 15027).
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