FEATURE:
Emerald Gems
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush made her first appearance on Irish television on The Late Late Show in 1978
last year when I discussed the Irish influence in Kate Bush’s work. I am going to do one or two features regarding the impact of Bush’s music on the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community through the decades as it is Pride Month. As I have been thinking about her family and their importance regarding the music and a constant sense of support, it takes me to Ireland. Her mother, Hannah, was born in Waterford and helped introduce her daughter to Irish music and culture. I will sprinkle in a few songs through this feature where the spirit and influence or Ireland are clear. Though Bush travelled to Ireland to record with musicians there for Hounds of Love, I don’t think there is any footage from that time. Of course, she spent quite a bit of time in Ireland and had that familial connection. One other reason why I want to revisit her Irish roots is because, when people describe Bush, they think of her as English. Whilst there is an obvious Englishness to Bush, I think the Irish influence is equally powerful. I want to bring in an article that highlights Bush’s Irish connection and whether, truly, she is English or Irish:
“Bush acknowledged her Irish roots by integrating Irish traditional musicians and instruments into ALL her 1980's albums. Her 1980 hit 'Army Dreamers' gives the first strong hint of her Irish roots. Her lilting vocal is accompanied by her brother Paddy's mandolin playing and Stuart Elliot's bodhrán thumps. 'Violin' from the same Never for Ever album features legendary ex-Bothy Band fiddler Kevin Burke as the titular violinist.
The list of famous Irish traditional musicians that play on her subsequent albums is like a who's who of Irish folk music. The contributions of Donal Lunny (Bothy Band, Planxty, Moving Hearts), Liam O'Flynn (Planxty), John Sheahan (The Dubliners), Seán Keane (The Chieftains), Davy Spillane (Moving Hearts) and very characteristic arrangements by Riverdance composer Bill Whelan connect her to almost all the major Irish folk bands of the 60's, 70's and 80's and the Riverdance boom of the 90’s.
It's hard to tell from the sleeve notes how much of the Irish-style music is arranged/composed by Kate or Paddy Bush and how much is Whelan’s, however one thing that's unmistakable is the instrumentation and melodic content are like an angular, experimental precursor to Riverdance.
Besides the tracks featuring Irish musicians it's novel to hear Bush occasionally bring out a lilting almost-Irish accent on tracks like 'Suspended in Gaffa', 'Army Dreamers', ‘The Red Shoes’ and 'The Big Sky' (where she sings some 'diddely dyes' for good measure). 'The Big Sky' also represents a direct lyrical reference to Ireland 'That cloud, that cloud looks like Ireland'
An Irish lilt is also very discernible in the spoken-word segment on 'The Jig of Life' written and narrated by Bush's brother John Carder Bush. Though he was born in England, there's an unmistakably Irish cadence to his narration.
For reasons that perhaps only Bush herself can explain 'The Sensual World' was the last original studio album by Bush to feature any Irish trad musicians.
Her final nod to her Irish heritage thus far is her recording of 'Mná na hÉireann' at the invitation of Donal Lunny for his Common Ground project in 1996. Learned phonetically due to her lack of Gaelic and coloured by a lush orchestration, this is not a recording for sean-nós purists. Nevertheless the impassioned beauty of Bush's voice on this recording is undeniable”.
I am fascinated by the Irish roots that run through Bush’s music. I think there has been the odd podcast/video dissecting that side of her career. I don’t think we can ever see Bush as purely an ‘English’ artist. Though she was born in Kent, there is something hugely powerful and important regarding her Irish side. It is not like she has subtlety and occasionally sprinkled the country into her songs! From Never for Ever’s Army Dreamers to Hounds of Love’s Jig of Life and The Sensual World’s title track, The Emerald Isle is a hugely source of wonder and creativity. I found an article from the Irish Examiner. Del Palmer (who has worked with Bush since before her debut album in 1978) discussed working in Ireland for Hounds of Love:
“The making of the record was a plunge off the deep end, too – one that saw Bush travel to Ireland to reconnect with her Celtic heritage. The journey would take her from U2’s Windmill Lane stomping the ground to her roots in Waterford and finally the furthest reaches of the Dingle Peninsula.
There, between the grey sky, the choppy sea and the sheep hugging the hills she must have felt she’d arrived at the edge of the world (not by coincidence, surely, the first track of the side-b suite, ‘The Ninth Wave’, is titled ‘And Dream Of Sheep’).
“There were no roads - just tracks,” recalls Del Palmer, Bush’s musical foil across the span of her career and her partner for some 15 years.
You couldn’t make a phone call on a Sunday because the phone-master was away. They used to have wind-up telephones. It was very different.
Bush’s family hail from around Dungarvan and Palmer’s from Cork (he has since become an Irish citizen). With Bush at the peak of her fame, their odyssey into the far south-west of Ireland was, Palmer recalls, enormously liberating.
“We loved it. One night we had to sleep in the car. We couldn’t make a phone call we needed to because it was a Sunday. And it was no problem. It was a Volkswagen Golf — nothing fancy. I can’t think of many other countries where you’d be fine about sleeping in a car.”
By the time of Hounds of Love, Bush had come to a critical juncture. Her previous album, The Dreaming, had not been well reviewed (it was regarded as too experimental).
So a lot was riding on the new LP. Adding to that, both she and Palmer were determined to connect with their Celtic heritage.
“We were recording in Windmill Lane. Dónal Lunny was involved, John Sheahan [The Dubliners], Paddy Glackin [The Bothy Band]. Kate wanted to get back to her roots. On one occasion they had done a piece for Hounds Of Love called ‘The Jig of Life’.
They were all around her and played the piece and she was reduced to jelly. It just blew her away, she got so emotional. Irish music is for her and her family a very intense relationship.
There was also a trip to Waterford to meet Bush’s family.
“We went to look them up and they seemed to come out of the woodwork there were so many. ‘This is cousin Mick, this is cousin Johnny…’ There were thousands of them. They were so friendly”.
I will move on from familial elements and connections in Kate Bush’s music. I am particularly interested in how various nations and cultures have inspired her. I think that Irish instruments and sonics have not been hugely integrated into mainstream music. Of course, we have celebrated Irish musicians; though how many non-Irish acts take guidance from the country? With Kate Bush, she proudly wore her D.N.A. and love of Ireland into her music. Some of my favourite songs from Bush incorporate Irish tones and elements – The Sensual World (song) is heightened and elevated to glorious heights because of the importance of Milly Bloom’s soliloquy from James Joyce’s Ulysses and the use of musicians Davy Spillane, John Sheahan and Dónal Lunny. I will leave things there. In terms of nationality-specific features, I have covered Australia and Japan. From growing up in a household when Irish voices and sounds would have ricocheted from the walls, through to Bush travelling to Ireland and working with musicians there, one cannot deny the prominence and place the nation holds in the Kate Bush story. The Irish elements of Bush’s music contains…
SO much richness and beauty.