Landless
listed by The World's Music at Oxford
The World's Music at Oxford's 2026-27 series begins with darkly ethereal and deeply moving Irish a cappella harmonies. The Dublin-based quartet of Lily Power, Méabh Meir, Ruth Clinton and Sinéad Lynch have been singing together as Landless since 2013, carrying traditional music with them into strange and beautiful directions. Their voices combine as one instrument in breath-taking tight harmony, or else twist around in intricate polyphony, transforming centuries-old ballads and contemporary folk songs into powerful, atmospheric explorations of love, loss and lore. Theirs is a sound stripped right back as to just leave its fundamental core: raw, unaccompanied human voice, only occasionally joined by sympathetic and sparse instrumentation. Centring their most recent album around female perspectives, stories and agency, Landless ground their repertoire in the traditions of Irish music while extending their reach to Scotland, England, and even Slovakia.
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The Inflatables!
band · ska · reggae · soul · 2-tone · oxford, uk
Oxford's veteran ska, reggae and soul covers band, formed in 1980 at the height of the 2-tone craze, originally under the name the giant inflatables. Still active with original members in the lineup, they've spent four-plus decades building a loyal crowd across oxfordshire's pubs and festivals with high-energy sets of classic ska and reggae. A dependable, floor-filling live act.