Finding my Rhythm with Soultrane:

I'd like to share my story of how I recently became involved with the Soultrane team, because it is not an ordinary story.

For me, it felt like one of those fated experiences you read about in a novel, where everything suddenly clicks into place. Hearts align, and life in that moment wants you to see something-something worthy of your attention and that somehow changes your whole focus in that moment.

For over a year, my friend had been inviting me to Soultrane events, and naturally, I just thought that it was a gig or a good night out. And while I craved to go, my personal life was just so busy that I kept pushing it down the line promising myself that I’d make it, soon.

Then one Thursday night, a feeling came over me; a certainty that this would be the night I drop everything and go down to Room Two, just have the experience and enjoy myself.

Now, I've known Siobhan, the Queen Bee and founder of Soultrane for a long time, both as a wonderful friend, and as an avid follower of her band, ManukaHunney. I'm also part of her acapella community choir. 
I always knew she was a talented soul singer, and her creative ability is, honestly, God-given, so it was really great to catch up that night.

However, the meet-up didn't go as I planned. Instead, it took a very profound turn that led me to want to jump on board and support the Soultrane mission as a whole.


It all started when I sat down beside her and her wonderful photographer, Minnie. DJ Dee, who is the master of ’real’ soul music, was deep in his vibe in the background. The surroundings had a beautifully lit and jazzy evening feel, and we were sitting by quaint little tables, polite staff, and food, if you wanted it (I had the chicken!).

I set this scene because the conversation that followed between Siobhan and I was as beautiful as the surroundings. 
It was as if all the world around us was amplifying the meaning of connection and belonging.

She told me that Soultrane was not just a gig or a series of events and workshops. It was designed to be a movement, a safe space where every colour, race and person in Belfast could come together and share a specific vibe. In this case, soul jazz and funk: a very underrepresented genre in the sense that if you could do it as authentically as Soultrane, it would honour the totality of how it's meant to feel and be experienced.


Soul music is not for the ears alone. It is something that, if done correctly, should make the hairs of your arms stand up. Make you close your eyes, connect you to the deepest, realest part of yourself and make you want to dance unprompted, untethered, and shamelessly as children do.


You see from the age of about five, Siobhan had grown up in a community, a real connected family soul-tribe that was based in Gospel. She even led the singing and felt deeply rooted in her soul. When she moved here, as we can all agree, we didn't have that same platform. 
Those roots, that movement, the playful vibe and connection forged by soul music, just wasn't there in the same way. We had branches, but nothing truly planted in the soil of our music scene here.

She told me that she'd always known the potential of Soultrane, and wished that there was more support for it here. 
People were interested, complimenting it, attending, performing, and liking it, but no one was really rolling up their sleeves as she was, to create that foundation here and give all kids especially, a legacy and a place to be. Not just out blind drunk, as the main weekend vibe, but instead loving and supporting each other by connecting through writing, dancing, and singing with a similar vision. She wants that for her own sons.


Up until now, she had worked so hard at it almost singularly doing most of the grafting that she breathed out and said to me, “I think I'm going to give up Soultrane.“


And in that moment, something took over me. My eyes searched the room. I found DJ Dee playing absolute classics, deep in the zone. 
I found random people at their tables talking (of all ages) totally unaware they were shaking their bodies to the rhythm. mouthing the words, and in that moment, I knew that this night was fated.

I felt a true, deep calling to be the one to roll up my sleeves that night because in my own soul, I knew it was worthy…deserving…beautiful.

It came from that deep well that isn't easily explained, but rather a kind of certainty that this was going to be my new job, regardless of workload. 


For this reason, I'd like to end my first blog with a gentle appeal that if any of what I've written has touched you-that you subscribe,reach out, or come down…and have your own unique fated moment with Soultrane.

Community is much more than belonging to something. 
It's about doing something together that makes belonging matter.

If we are bold and see it through, I think collectively we will witness a new era of music be reborn and guess what?

I'm here for it, because it feels good and it does good. 


“We need connection and community. We need to be known and to know others. We need to live believing this truth, that we shine brighter when hanging together than any of us would on our own.“- Maya Angelou