PROMOTERS announce some of their largest festival shows to date this week, a legend is honoured and we get another round-up of some of the best music the island has to offer on this week's edition of Northern Winds. Belsonic, a now long-standing institution within the Irish festival circuit, announced its biggest-ever headliners for next year’s show at Ormeau Park and other select venues around the city. Thanks to the work of SHINE promotions, punters can expect performances from chart toppers like Florence and the Machine and Sam Fender, as well as the return of legends like Van Morrison and Lionel Ritchie. Belfast continues to grow as a viable performance hub for internationally touring acts. On the subject of international acts, this week it was announced that one of the most acclaimed Belfast musicians of his era would be honoured with a special award – and you more than likely wouldn’t recognise him if he walked past you on the street. Composer Sheridan Tongue, a native of the city, multi-instrumentalist and renowned composer, has likely soundtracked some of your favourite moments on television. And this week, the NI Music Prize announced that they would recognise his work with the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music’ award at this year's ceremony. Sheridan is hugely successful on the global stage, having scored some of UK television’s most prestigious drama series, including Silent Witness, DCI Banks and Spooks, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA. Last year, he picked up a prestigious EMMY for his work on the quirky film The Last Artifact from the North West Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. His documentary scores are also highly memorable, including Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, as well as the landmark BBCNI Spotlight series, The Troubles: A Secret History. On being selected and honoured, Sheridan said: “It is a huge honour to be recognised for this award by PRS for Music and the Northern Ireland Music Prize. I am really looking forward to being back in Belfast for the awards ceremony on the 16th of November, it is always a wonderful evening of music and I wish all those shortlisted for awards which will be announced on the night every success.
