Mull It Over 045: with Charlotte Dryden
Charlotte Dryden, CEO of the Oh Yeah Centre in Belfast curates a wonderful playlist for the new 'Mull It Over with...' series.
I’m delighted to introduce the brand new Mull It Over with… feature this week on the newsletter, and what better way to kick it off than with a special selection carefully curated by Charlotte Dryden, CEO of Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre? Trick question - there’s no other way, as Damon Albarn would yowl.
Charlotte has been CEO for the vital Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast for nearly a decade. Stepping into the shoes of former CEO and co-founder Stuart Bailie in 2016, Charlotte has overseen massive change for the little-engine-room-that-could for Northern Ireland’s grassroots music scene - from nurturing young artists, providing recording space and industry guidance and safeguarding to hosting the biggest party in the calendar year for Northern Irish music , the Northern Ireland Music Prize.
(of which you can read a slightly impaired 2024 Mull It Over review for below) -
Charlotte’s love affair with music began at university in London in the early 1990s, when the buzz of live gigs - from warehouse raves to Brit‑pop hotspots, sparked a lifelong vocation. She returned to Northern Ireland in the late 1990s and became deeply embedded in music journalism, writing for outlets like The Fly and BBC Radio Ulster before steadily moving into promoting and event-run work across Derry and Belfast. Now, she gets emails from people like me trying to do something similar in the very different landscape of 2025. I’m willing to bet the subjects of her own work weren't always as accommodating as she so kindly was to me.
And she isn’t just the boss, Charlotte has a genuine passion for music that is evident in the intimately small world of local music in Northern Ireland, where you can rub shoulders with her upstairs in a dingy club, drinking a lukewarm pint watching the latest, best offering our small but prolific scene has to offer. I know, because it’s basically how I hounded her to do this feature. A CEO more likely to be found on the middle floor of the Ulster Sports Club, catching a Robocobra Quartet show than, say, caught on the jumbo-tron at a Coldplay concert.
So, thanks Charlotte for taking the time to put this playlist together for Mull It Over, and I’ll see you at one of the bands playing in the town before long. Keep up the amazing work you and all of your volunteers do at the wonderful, wonderful Oh Yeah Centre.
“A selection of tracks from new Irish artists I've been listening to loving right now. Irish music, North and South is currently at its best. I'm also very excited about the latest Pulp album and Little Simz just gets better and better. Annie Lennox is an absolute hero and her recent donation of the handwritten lyrics of Sweet Dreams ( a classic from my childhood) to raise money for Medical Aid for Palestine - further cements my admiration of her.”
Charlotte Dryden