Saint's Day 'Rapped-up'

Rising teenage rap sensation Chipmunk will headline this year's multi-cultural St Patrick's Day concert in Belfast city centre.

For the fifth successive year, Belfast City Council has organised a spectacular carnival procession and free concert, on Wednesday 17 March.

The carnival procession, featuring hundreds of participants from all corners of Belfast, will leave the City Hall at 12 noon.

Exploring the theme of 'Spring', The Beat - who are organising the carnival on behalf of Belfast City Council - have been working with community groups from across Belfast to create their own colourful carnival pieces to take part in the parade.

Lord Mayor Naomi Long said: "Over the past number of years, St Patrick's Day has become one of the undoubted highlights of Belfast City Council’s events calendar, and this year will see the event continue to grow.

"The council has worked extremely hard to make the event fully inclusive, so that it appeals to all sections of the community, and this work definitely has paid off, to make St Patrick’s Day an occasion which can be enjoyed by all the people of Belfast, and visitors alike," said the Lord Mayor.

Eileen Branagh, Project Manager with The Beat, added: "There has been a lot of interest in the 2010 Carnival, with many new groups taking part, building on the achievements from previous years.

"Groups will be joined in the parade by a host of carnival performers, Beat's signature carnival floats, music and percussion from local traditions fused with carnival styles," she said.

The carnival will make its way from City Hall into Chichester Street and then into Victoria Street, and from there to Custom House Square.

The main concert, compèred by Pete Snodden of Cool FM, will start at 1pm. The first half of the bill will feature fast and furious traditional music from Flook and Session Beats, and an international flavour will be provided by K1, Romania's chart-topping band.

For the second successive year, the concert will have something of 'The X Factor', with a performance from Ruth Lorenzo, before chart-topping teenage rapper Chipmunk winds up proceedings.

Free tickets for the concert are available from the Belfast Welcome Centre in Donegall Place from today, (Friday 26 February).

Tickets are limited to four per person, and are only available to people over the age of 16: anyone under 16 attending the concert must be accompanied by an adult.

(BMcC/GK)