Tunes Translated

A music integration project

What is Tunes Translated?

Tunes Translated is a music integration project based at Conway Mill in West Belfast. It brings together locals, migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers through the shared language of music.

More than 120 people from over 20 nationalities have taken part since it began, and there are currently 66 regular members, ranging in age from 17 to 71, representing 16 nationalities.

If you have never played an instrument before, that is absolutely fine.

What is Tunes Translated?

Tunes Translated is a music integration project based at Conway Mill in West Belfast. It brings together locals, migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers through the shared language of music.

More than 120 people from over 20 nationalities have taken part since it began, and there are currently 66 regular members, ranging in age from 17 to 71, representing 16 nationalities.

If you have never played an instrument before, that is absolutely fine.

Music education

The project is free and open to everyone, regardless of background or experience, often the first real chance for adults to pick up an instrument.

Integration

A space where locals and newcomers meet, play together, and discover each other’s musical traditions naturally, not forcedly. The exchange runs in both directions.

Wellbeing

Participants speak of weekly sessions transforming not just their playing, but their confidence, sense of belonging, and mental health.

What happens at a session

Every week the group meets at Conway Mill for two hours. There is always time for a cup of tea and a catch-up first, and then the group splits into four instrumental classes: bodhrán, fiddle, DADGAD guitar, and tin whistle, plus mixed instruments. Classes are broken into beginner and improver levels where needed, and new members are welcome to join at any time.

The tunes are a mix of Irish traditional music and music that participants bring from their home countries. On any given evening you might move from a reel to a Persian melody to a Ukrainian folk song. Basic vocabulary from different languages gets shared along the way too.

What happens at a session

Interested in getting involved?

The project is free and open to all.

You can follow Tunes Translated on Instagram at @tunestranslated or get in touch by filling up the online registration form.

Interested in getting involved?

The project is free and open to all.

You can follow Tunes Translated on Instagram at @tunestranslated or get in touch by filling up the online registration form.

What Participants say

I never thought I would really play an instrument. I started with the bodhrán and then I was brave enough, now I’m playing fiddle.

I thought I couldn’t do anything musical. But coming here, the enthusiasm rubs off on you.

It’s the most comfortable place for adult learners. I don’t think there’s anywhere else in Belfast that does that.

I was looking for something in the evening to reward myself and forget about the stress. I truly love the atmosphere there.

The people in the project feel like my friends and my family.

I always thought traditional music was just Irish. Now I go ‘no!’, traditional music can be Somalian or Kenyan or Eritrean. It’s just changed how I view it.

One of the reasons I started coming was because I had a stroke a few years ago. Through my rehab I was told to do something I had always wanted to do. It’s helped me find my feet in both ways.

You come out of work in the dark and sometimes you have to pull yourself to come. But you go and you’re so happy for it. You’re in a different headspace, able to detach from work and focus on the music. In the winter months especially, it’s really needed.

The project is good for my mental health. When I come here I am doing something positive and it distracts me. The community in the project helps me too.