The line-up of the night was highlighted by four main acts: Phoenix and Wolf mesmerized everyone with their heartfelt tunes – emotion could be felt throughout the room, no matter the language of the song: Harmonies in English, Brazilian and Irish were equally catching.
Later in the evening, Captain Relapse rocked the stage with their soft-rock guitar sounds and raspy vocals, which got anyone who had been too shy to dance so far up on their feet.
After more stunning short performances through which the energy did not seem to drop once, it was time for the last musical main act: Fiona O’Laughlin - known for her beautiful poetry – showed her musical side together with her band Oceana Vibes. The audience immediately caught on to the dynamic energy and it was not long before the first eager bodies created a dance floor in the middle of the room, and voices singing along to the band filled the air.
After the last set of short acts, Ligia showed the short movie: “The Butterfly Effect”, created by Banzai Zine with La Mansarda support to raise awareness of the Italian humanitarian organization “People in Cooperation” (PIC) that some of La Mansarda’s profits go to: with stunning filming and editing, the short movie explains in five minutes why helping is part of the human nature, and how a small initiative can have enormous positive consequences.
This evening had been a unique one, with the PIC founders present at the event, a whole merch stand featuring La Mansarda t-shirts and bookmarks as well as PIC shirts, with a raffle that yielded some promising prices at the end of the night – and, of course, with a creative spirit of all artists meeting at the Cobblestone to share their craft and celebrate each other.
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In the end, it is safe to say that not a single person went home disappointed that night – especially not those who made it to the very end and got to enjoy Ligia’s famous tiramisu that concluded, as it is the tradition, this end-of-the-year event of La Mansarda.
Wishing all musicians, comedians, poets, actors, dancers and filmmakers marvelous holidays – we cannot wait to meet everyone in the new year and continue to celebrate the arts together!

Main Acts Performing:

This month La Mansarda took place in Connolly Books in Temple Bar. Located and paired with The New Theatre, it is the perfect venue for spoken word, dance, and music.
The night began with a message from the current president of PIC, Andrea Mastria, who detailed the work they do, where the donations go and expressed the utmost gratitude for the help La Mansarda has been giving. I felt humbled by the amazing work PIC does. Do yourself a favour and look into them and support them!
The red hat called upon me first and to say I felt like I came home performing for that audience is an understatement. They were warm, open, and even laughed at my extremely morose dark humor.
Ruth Prithika who floored me with her classical Indian dance. Her movements to Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I Rise’ will stay with me for such a long time.
Freddy Black. To call him an icon is an understatement. Usually he performs with his band The Hotel Mosaic but even when he is on his own, his power and words have the ability to stop time (in the most metaphorical poetic of ways because well physics).
Joy and her cello. Her voice is ethereal, soulful, and I found myself hunting down her Instagram so I could get lost in her music over and over again.
The Behan Brothers - what a duo! They can play anything, sing anything and never ever fail to give the crowd a good time! Should I ever get married (unlikely) they can expect a call for my afters!
The room that night was warm. The crowd was even warmer. Electricity in the air, surrounded by shelves of books.
This, my friends.
La Mansarda.
​Is the stuff dreams are made of.

2. Mic P

Anna Deichmann (my lucky self) opened the evening with some spoken word poetry, followed by the mesmerizing Mairead Carroll whose voice sounded as gracefully as her fiddle as she was sharing her deeply touching songs. Next up was Grunkle Funge, a powerhouse of a band that filled the room with their circus funk energy. After that intense experience, spoken word artist Emmet O’Brien calmed the audience with an unusual set of his, reading poems from his books and allowing us to hear a sample of his poetry from older days. To close the evening, BailaMar Academy hosted a short workshop of Merengue, which was great fun, and humbled most of us in no time.
After this dance session, everyone had well deserved a piece of Ligia’s tiramisu, the secret highlight of every La Mansarda event. As usual, donations could be made and were distributed between the Italian humanitarian non-profit organization PIC and the artists performing on the night. At the end of the day, nobody regretted going some way for this inspiring evening of music and words.

​​By the time the first name was pulled from a hat to welcome the art to begin, a crowd had grown that lined the space from wall to wall - with an abundant energy fit for the night that was to come. Seán Healy set the tone with a beautiful acoustic performance. The enigma that is Freddy Black and The Hotel Mosaic followed - who managed to both move us with raw musical emotion and bring the crowd to their dancing feet. Poet Caoimhe Weakliam (that’s me), brought some evocative words to rest the crowd before Balfolk took over. This group joined multiple instruments in harmony whilst leading the way in a dancing session. The craic was mighty. And finally, the unbeatable Mjeam music accompanied by the band left us with some absolute groovy belters. 

Chats and sing songs were had, books were shared, art was let flow without boundaries. All the while raising money to support the local artists and a very worthy charity. The beach will have us some day, but this magical Sunday spent singing and laughing in the upstairs lounge in MVP is not one I will forget.

The evening, which featured a sparkling variety of acts, from soulful jams to beatnik slams, raised a tidy sum in voluntary donations which were divided between the performers and PIC.
​La Mansarda would like to issue a huge thanks to all who attended and donated, Connolly Books for opening its doors to community-based action, as well as the wonderful artists who performed their pieces for us. We hope to see some of you again at the next gig!

The vibes were so good, thanks to these amazing musicians, and to top it off, the tiramisu was a hit! Brace yourselves, because it's totally going to be the star of our future get-togethers. Big shoutout to Ligia, the genius behind all this fun – she rocked it as the brains and organizer of the whole thing.

A massive thanks to everyone who showed up and the performers for bringing the magic!