Max HeyraudTo commemorate International Women’s Day, we look at some of Ireland’s most pioneering female dance music performers. From record-breaking contemporaries to cornerstones of the Irish dance music industry, we feature a range of female-identifying artists that you absolutely must check out.
Jenny Greene is one of the most recognizable and well-known Irish DJs of today. Jenny hosts the most popular dance music program on Irish radio every Saturday night on RTE 2FM. Since its debut, her Electric Disco show and tour have had a significant impact on Irish dance music. Greene is also a Guinness Book of Records holder, having broken the record for the World’s Longest DJ performance at the age of 21.
Dublin’s Saoirse Ryan, better known as Saoirse has been one of the most formative Irish DJs within the last decade. The trUst label boss and Body Movements festival founder began working in the seminal Dublin record shop Abbey Discs; since then, she has gone on to feature on Boiler Roomwell, Resident Advisor’s mix series alongside holding a BBC Radio 1 residency, and featuring on the world-famous, Essential Mix.
Kelly Anne Byrne has a career spanning two decades, routinely performing at Ireland’s most prestigious festivals such as Electric Picnic, Longitude, Body and Soul, All Together Now, and Forbidden Fruit, to mention a few. Her radio show, The Beat Goes On, has been in the vanguard of Irish dance music broadcasting, airing on TXFM, The Face Radio, and live from New York. A support set for the seminal Chic would be a career high point in 2015.
Americhord is a highly regarded Irish producer whose genre-bending dancefloor tools who is best known for her music released via D1 in the early 2000s. Maura O’Boyle, also known as Americhord, has held down residencies in Dublin venues such as Phunk City, Static, and Bleep. O’Boyle’s music was first released under the moniker Mcut on the Law & Auder and Front End Synthetics labels, and with Americhord, she fluidly flows from techno to electro to electronica.
One of the newer names on the list, Jazzy commands a serious amount of respect for her recent accolades which include a nomination for Best International Song at the Brit Awards, being the first Irish woman to hit number one on Spotify alongside reaching number three in the UK Official Singles Chart and racking up over 75 million streams for her track ‘Giving Me’. Jazzy is leading the way for Irish contemporaries.
Dance music presenters don’t get any more iconic than Dublin’s Annie Mac. Her former Friday night program on BBC from 7pm to 9pm was frequently broadcast to over a million people, with the legendary position of ‘officially starting the weekend’. She has played a prominent role in the dance music industry, consistently promoting female and LGBTQ+ performers and fighting for good, inclusive change. A respected DJ in her own right, she has played on some of the most decorated stages in dance music.
Cork native, Kerrie, has one of the most decorated CVs in Irish techno, with a Tresor residency, two EPs on James Ruskin’s Blueprint, appearances at Berghain, and a forthcoming EP on Tresor. It’s safe to say that the now Manchester-based DJ, producer, live-act, and label owner is at the forefront of Irish techno. Kerrie’s purist approach to her artistry has earned her prominence among techno’s most influential figures, as she goes deeply into the art of playing records and live on hardware.
Aoife Nic Canna has had a long and illustrious career as a DJ, performing everywhere from the legendary ‘Hacienda’ in Manchester to the Cosmopolis event in Lisbon and frequent appearances in Zurich. Electric Picnic, Body&Soul, KnockinStockin, and Valentia Isle Festival are among the many Irish festivals that followed. Aoife has also dabbled with radio, with her first project, ‘The Urban Soul Show’, airing on Jazz FM and later PowerFM. She had previously presented a music program ‘Club Cheol’ and an Irish show ‘Ar Muin na Muice’ on NearFM.