Huartan: "Being the first Irish language act to perform at AVA is deeply significant for us"

One of Belfast’s biggest festivals is back for its 12th year – and the winners of the inaugural Amhrán na Laoch song competition in 2024, Huartan are proud of their involvement…

Huartan will be the first ever Irish-language act at AVA Belfast this year.

The festival is taking place at Titanic Slipways on May 29-30. Huartan are listed on AVA’s Saturday line-up alongside: KNEECAP, Annie Mac, Interplanetary Criminal, Or:la, Cormac, Evian Christ, Holly Lester, and more.

“Being the first Irish language act to perform at AVA is deeply significant for us”, says Stephen Loughran of Huartan.

“With ourselves and KNEECAP both part of this year’s line-up, it feels like a landmark moment for the Irish language and a reflection of a flourishing city whose cultural landscape has shifted. For two Irish language acts from the Gaeilge-speaking community of West Belfast to perform there this Saturday is therefore incredibly powerful.”

“It shows that An Ghaeilge and Irish culture are rising and that more and more people are looking inwards for their cultural cues to a language, history and culture that are rich, inclusive and deeply rooted in this land and its people.”

Emerging from the Gaeltacht quarter of West Belfast, Huartan is composed of Catriona Ní Ghribín, Múlú, and Stiofán Ó Luachrán. The trio first bonded while playing traditional sessions in the Hawthorn Bar in West Belfast, where the ideas that would become Huartan were just conversations between tunes.

Since their formation, in 2024 Huartan won the Amhrán na Laoch Irish language song competition, run by Hot Press and the IBI as part of Irish Music Month, with their song, ‘Bean Udaí Thall’; also in 2024, they were awarded the NI Music Prize Live Act of the Year in 2024; and most recently, they were awarded the BBC Introducing NI Artist of the Year in 2025.

More information on AVA Belfast is available here.