Other Voices is a live music series which broadcasts on Irishpublic service broadcasterRTÉ2. The show first aired in 2003. It is currently Ireland's leading live music series which focuses mainly on alternative music from Irish and international artists. Each December over three days a season is filmed in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland during the Other Voices Music Festival. Season 16 started broadcasting on 22 February 2018.
Shilpa Ganatra, writing in the Irish Independent in 2008, said: "Explaining Other Voices to a foreigner would sound like a flu-induced dream. I was in a pub in this tiny fishing village in the west of Ireland, where Ryan Adams was being filmed playing in front of 80 people in a tiny church. He was in the pub afterwards, and so was Paul Noonan from Bell X1 and Sinéad O'Connor, and Fight Like Apes were telling us about the most sordid website in existence". The series was originally titled Other Voices: Songs From a Room; however, this was shortened as the series progressed. The sixth series was recorded in November and December 2007, and began broadcasting on 13 February 2008. It brought about a slight change of format, with the introduction of a second host in Jenny Huston and acoustic performances being filmed outside the Church of St James, in various places around Dingle. The seventh series was recorded in Saint James's Church in Dingle from 5–9 December 2008 and aired in January 2009. It was presented by John Kelly and Annie Mac. Emilíana Torrini and Duke Special performed on the Friday, whilst Billy Bragg, Liam Finn and Colm Mac Con Iomaire performed on the Saturday. The Sunday line-up consisted of Elbow, Richard Hawley and James Morrison, whilst the Monday line-up consisted of Lisa Hannigan, Steve Reynolds and Mick Flannery. Kíla, Imelda May, Eric Bibb and Jape performed on the final night. The eighth series was recorded in Saint James's Church in Dingle from 5–9 December 2009. It was presented by Annie Mac. Snow Patrol, Richard Hawley, The xx, The Temper Trap, The Magic Numbers, Imelda May, Brett Anderson and Speech Debelle are amongst the performers. A three-song acoustic performance by Florence and the Machine was recorded for the show in a separate venue due to the artist having other tour commitments. A performance by Snow Patrol involved the first ever use of optical burst switching for a live performance. The series was broadcast on RTÉ Two from 3 February until 10 March 2010. Other Voices NYC, broadcast over Christmas 2011, centres on East Village, New York City, featuring Gabriel Byrne, Glen Hansard, Roddy Doyle, Damien Rice and Joseph O'Connor amongst others.
The success of the television series has led to the release of a number of CDs featuring live recordings from the series. In more recent years, Other Voices live content has been made available to stream on Spotify and to purchase on Apple Music. The move to music streaming and download services came as the CD series was discontinued.
