We’ve blogged elsewhere about the return of our brilliant Amal Muslim artistry bill for Greenbelt 2019 – and about our brand new eco venue, The Hothouse, and the return of The Table, our much-loved food venue from last year. But there’s more, lots more, to get excited about in today’s latest lineup announcements.
Here’s just a whistle-stop tour. If you’re looking to lose yourself in the line-up take a look at the line-up pages, where you can also filter these artists and thinkers by the day on which they’ll be appearing, if you’re keen to start day-dreaming your own festival… (you can browse the day-by-day highlights here as a poster).
We’re packed to the rafters with new music
Music’s going to be bursting out of every nook and cranny of the grounds this summer as we put together a handpicked roster of brilliant beats you might not see anywhere else. You want blissed-out folk? We’ve got that. Communal sing-a-longs? Beatboxing masterclasses? You want Iranian fusion? We’ve got alllll that and more…
We’re so excited to be bringing the jazz-infused AK Patterson as well as the banging tunes of DJ Andy H to Boughton House this summer. We’ve got the indie ska of Cut Capers and local hero and singer-songwriter Danni Nicholls.
If foot-to-the-floor punk skiffle is your thing you’ll love DeadBeatz, and we’d urge you to check out the lo-fi garage punk of Mouses and the mighty sound of She Makes War. There are also plenty of old favourites that we’re chuffed to bits to bring back, like Martyn Joseph‘s songwriter circle show ‘The Rising’ and the much-loved Old Plough Folk & Acoustic Club. If you like to laugh along to the songs, you need to be there for the irreverent irony of The Sweetchunks Band.
We’re packed to the gills with GB first-timers too. We’ll be introducing multi-instrumentalist Kizzy Crawford and up-and-coming pop sensation Millie Turner. They’ll be alongside a solo acoustic set from the irresistible Smiley & The Underclass and classy Australian singer-songwriter Steph Grace.
Want more? How about the hip hop and beatboxing of The Scribes, the lyrical mastery of Cole Moreton‘s The Lightkeeper or the all-out rock of Tigress? We’ve the pulsating sounds of Iranian fusion band Ajam rubbing up against the joyful Gambian beats of Sona Jobarteh. So pack your musical passport and prepare for the journey.
Stretch your mind (some more)
When you need a break from the bass you can wander across the fields to soak up brand new ideas, provocations and puns from this next lot of new thinkers and doers.
We’ve got Vicky Walker with her amazing new book on faith and relationships, Relatable, as well as biblical insight from the Iona Community’s liturgist and hymn-writer John Bell. We’ll be looking to the skies and beyond with the integrated theological cosmology of American Catholic nun Sr. Ilia Delio, and the clear-eyed astronomical evangelism of the Sky At Night’s lead astronomer Maggie Aderin-Pocock.
We’ll be considering the macabre with the Baptist minister Peter Laws, who writes about the sacred and the scary and thinking about ‘Jesus consciousness’ with the School of Life philosopher and ex-priest Mark Vernon. We’ll also be welcoming back the ordinarily extraordinary teenage Greenbelter Jyothi Cross and we’re delighted to be bringing comedy writer James Cary to Greenbelt this summer to talk about the sacred art of joking.
We’ll be sharing inspiration from the Palestinian peacemaker Sami Awad and hearing from ex-EDL member and reborn community activist Ivan Humble about the ties that truly bind us together. Is religion really a force for good or bad? We’ll hear from Rupert Shortt and join Debbie Lewer as she takes a look at art vs. fascism.
Ideas about words
If literature’s your inspiration, we’ve got Rachel Mann on the poetry of Christina Rosetti, and Yvonne Battle-Felton (pictured at the top of the blog) with her novel Remembered, which explores the long shadow slavery’s legacy still casts on families to this day.
Mark Oakley is joining us to talk about the literal art of preaching, alongside storyteller, poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama and Muslim spoken word artist Muneera Pilgrim.
Elsewhere, we’re delighted to welcome back festival favourite poet Anthony Wilson and give a Greenbelt debut to the raw young talent of protest poet Matt Sowerby. There are plenty of collaborations too, from the storytelling observations of Riding Lights’ founder Murray Watts with Yours Truly (featuring Andy Harrison) to Stewart Henderson, Yvonne Lyon and Carol Henderson with their musical-poetical collaboration Vesper Sky.
We’re looking forward to a session from Muslim thinker and storyteller Abdul-Rehman Malik, and a session on great Anglican Women Novelists, hosted by the brilliant writer Francis Spufford, promises to be another highlight.
More great theatre and comedy
We’re already excited by the promise of Chicago street dance from Amirah Sackett and the wistful beauty of Ghost Caribou presented by Thingumajig Theatre. And there is Memory Collectors presented by Same Difference Arts and the outdoor installation piece Life Boat presented by The Institute for Crazy Dancing.
Meanwhile, if you’re after great late-night comedy then try the edgy and irreverent Elf Lyons and the returning Bilal Zafar.
More worship and spirituality
There’s a whole host of new names joining our programme, including L’Arche, Nicola Slee, Catholic Mass with Student Cross, Sing Peace!, The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Young Friends with a Quaker Meeting for Worship.
We have traditional Pakistani Sufi devotional music from Hamza Akram Qawwal & Brothers, nature connection gatherings in The Grove (more on this programme soon), The Chapel, for quiet prayer and reflection, and a Mass for Hard Times inspired by the poetry of RS Thomas and brought to us by the King/Cave project and Mark Oakley.
For more communal worship, we have the music of St Martin-in-the-Fields Sacred Singers, the chants of Taize, Wild Goose Resources Group Big Sing, the inclusive worship of Out at Greenbelt (formerly OuterSpace), and the Goth alternative Eucharist and all-age picnic.
And there’s still more to come … we’ll be blogging more in the weeks to come about our Greenbelt favourite homegrown shows and spaces – like Martyn Joseph‘s The Rising, Cole Moreton‘s The Daily Mirror, the Old Plough Folk & Acoustic Club, Tenx9 storytelling and the return of the Roots Stage.
Plus, there’s lots more to say about workshops, panels, visual arts and our youth programme for 2019. And don’t forget our great children and families lineup already announced and all the headliners already on the bill.