Galway Advertiser 2002/2002_06_13/GA_13062002_E1_037.pdf 

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[ents J James Kilbane - Review: The burning covers to
Burning
THERE ARE clear divisions in t h i s w o r l d about m u s i c . T h e r e a r e cover bands and there are original bands. Once in a while t h e r e is a c r o s s pollination, often w i t h little results but sometimes the crossover works. It is in this c o n t e x t t h a t Kif front man James Kilbane released his debut Burning Bushes EP. Kilbane has been putting his vocal chords to covers with Kif for many years now. While still doing the rounds he began to dip his toe in the original waters and liked the sensation. Through live outings in Cuba*. Kings Head, and other venues a fan base started to emerge. Burning Bushes starts with the title track belting out with a easy-listening guitar riff. The track bears an uncanny resemblance to the works by 80s Irish heroes Something Happens. Kilbane sounds like the Tom Dunne in his glory days, when the Dubliner made records and didn't spin them. There is a slight country twang running through the EP and this is more noticeable in the follow up track 'Taken'. With the country overtures comes a likening to the vocals of Garth Brooks. The Nashville songster has been quiet of late but it seems that his mainstream country has

Chastitute

Bushes

IN THIS week's Proust Questionnaire Mick Lally told me his idea of perfect happiness was when a show is blending beautifully with an audience. Well, after last Monday night he must be a very happy man indeed. Starring in John B Keane's The Chastitute he had the audience merrily engaged from his first line to his last. Lally is John Bosco McLaine. a man of mature years, who is determined to rid himself of the the burden of virginity. It should be explained that, according to John B, a chastitute "is a person without holy orders who has never lain down with a woman ... a rustic celibate by force of nature. Free-range sex is absolutely taboo!" John Bosco is doing his level best to graduate beyond the level of the chastitute. But the two things which militate against his endeavours with the opposite sex are "missionaries and townies". The late, and sorely missed, John B can take a simple bachelor farmer and surround him with ordinary decent characters and yet fill them all with dialogue that flirts with the outrageous and have an audience screaming with laughter - and for more. However to pull it off without descending into crude farce needs a cast who have a deft touch with the wit and know that the arch of an eyebrow can do far more than a look of

outrage. The current cast of The Chastitute are more than able for John B's brand of humour. In the programme notes we are told that me action takes place in various locations, including John Bosco's mind. Enda Oates and Nicholas Grennell did a fine job of (almost) upstaging I alls s John Bosco as the two missionaries who pop up at most inopportune moments. As for the rest of the action, Derry Power as Mickey Molloy the Matchmaker obviously relished die very non-PC language when referring to women as fillies and mares. Mary McEvoy delighted the audience as the frosty housekeeper who has a secret side. While Eamon Draper as the local priest tries to keep John Bosco on the straight and narrow, John Olohan, playing the slimy Sylvester, does his best to make him fall off it. You could be forgiven for thinking, just for a moment, that you were watching a more humorous episode of Glenroe, as most of the cast hailed from the countryside soap - including McEvoy, Eileen Colgan, Maureen Toal, and Oates. Nevertheless this does mean that there is a sense of familiarity and ease among the cast that translates to their characters. Michele Vino

The Freewheel in' Rota
flowed into the listening range of this Galway-based artist. While this may not be a purely down South sound it has the background, while the foreground is filled with catchy vocal harmony that make for an almost pop like sound. Not unlike The Eagles at their most commercial. ' C o l d ' goes by with chunkier guitar riffs. "Another lonely day had come and gone/when trouble starts brewing/it's always you that holds the gun", laments Kilbane as he muses over the battles of mind, body, and spirit that life in the west can bring. The concluding track after going away from ' C o l d ' borrows a bit from Elvis. 'Devil In Disguise' is only close to the track that The King recorded in the title. Kilbane again unmasks the emotions involved in dealing with the various characters that frequent our lives - "but it's all up in the air", he admits before the chorus admits that the muse in question is "the devil in disguise". This is an impressive debut from Kilbane. It has a retro, even timeless, quality. Each song tells a story of life, love, and other catastrophes. It is a truly Tribal effort with the tracks mastered in Oughterard and cover photos by Galwaybased photographer Dave Hopkins. This is a driving EP, each track going the mile to tell the story of James Kilbane, flashing by burning bushes as he passes. A very mature recording watch this artist rise as the year passes. Burning Bushes is available at Zhivago Records and other record outlets in Galway. Kevin McGuire EVERY GALWAY Arts Festival the organisers promise us will bemore fantastic, more dramatic and more incredible. Last year there was Storm and the year before that there was Cookin', this year one of the acts that can certainly be put into that category will be Rota from the Brazilian dance company Companhia de Daoca Deborah Colker. This isn't just dance, this is dance theatre spectacle. We might think we are used to modem dance, but these dancers take it to a new level - literally. For part of the performance will be taking place on a giant wheel. Being from Brazil, the company use their country's renowned colourful exuberance to good effect. In the first half we are promised glorious colour, high jinks, and incredible energy. There is also that wonderful South American sense of humour and fun. so one minute the dancers will be executing a perfect ballet move and even before it is finished will have turned it into something completely strange and ridiculous. Into this stew of modem meets classical they have added elements of Brazilian street fighting and Indian dance. The music too will be subject to juxtaposition giving us a curious mix of classical concert hall and grungy rave - Mozart meets Chemical Brothers. They even manage to throw in Miles Davis.
T h e vital force b e h i n d Rota is D e b o r a h C o l k e r . s h e set u p h e r d a n c e c o m p a n y 1994. By in 1996 they had their o w n

p r e m i s e s w i t h a s t a g e a n d a w o r k s h o p for building their astonishing sets. All this w a s taking place in down-town R i o d e J a n e i r o . C o l k e r d e s c r i b e s it a s " a s p a c e for t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f n e w d a n c e r s , b u t a l s o t h e p l a c e w h e r e m y g r o u p a n d I test our limits". J u d g i n g from the photographs and v i d e o e x t r a c t s that I ' v e s e e n , t h e s e l i m i t s are far b e y o n d w h a t a n audience m i g h t logically expect,

which they are required to do all those things high on the wheel and without a safety-net. In Rota Colker is engrossed with the ideas of lines circles and maps. She and her dancers explore the concept of the occupation and exploration of space. To achieve this they blend the more high brow with the everyday, and then throw it completely on its head. The first act is split into four movements. Allegro. Ostinato.Vigoroso and Presto. "I use the classical ballet vocabulary", said Colker then playing with everyday movements and gestures. The second act with that infamous wheel was inspired by entertainment parks and at the same time by astronauts and the Earth's rotation. "Rota is motion in search of entertainment, joy and movement." It is not surprising that Deborah Colker picked up the 2001 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. Michele Vine

even

from highly trained they

d a n c e r s . It i s n ' t j u s t t h e fluidic g r a c e or t h e h i g h - o c t a n e s p e e d at w h i c h a c h i e v e t h e i r m o v e m e n t s , but t h e w a y i n

Proust Questionnaire Mick Lally - actor
What is your idea of perfect happiness? When a show is blending beautifully with an audience. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Tom Paine. Which living person do you most admire? Mary Robinson. W h i c h is the trait you most deplore i n yourself? An amazing capacity for laziness. What is your greatest extravagance? Drinking loo much. What is your favourite journey? Journey to Galway from Dublin. O n what occasion do you lie? To get out of embarrassing situations. Which living person do you most despise? I dislike Gerry Adams. What or who is the greatest love of your life? Peggy. When and where were you happiest? Galway in the carry years with Druid. Which talent would you most like to have? Music, definitely music. What is your current state of mind?
Very s t a b l e . What do you consider

Ceol na Mara play for Ireland

your greatest

Managing to to make a living out of something I love to do. If y o u w e r e to die and come back as a p e r s o n o r a thing, what do you think it would b e ? A dog. W h a t is your most treasured possession? A record called / Must Be Talking To My Friends by Michcal MacLiammdir W h a t do you regard as the lowest depth
of misery?

Hunger. W h a t is your favourite occupation? Listening to music. W h a t is t h e q u a l i t y y o u most like in a man? Softness. W h a t is t h e q u a l i t y y o u m o s t like in a woman? Softness.
W h o a r e y o u r favourite writers?

Brian Friel and Tom Murphy.
W h a t is y o u r m o t t o ?

Ceol n a M a r a , t h e m u s i c y o u t h e d u c a t i o n g r o u p , b a s e d in F u r b o , C o G a l w a y , w h i c h t o o k p a r t i n t h e r e c e n t E u r o p e a n Y o u t h F e s t i v a l 2 0 0 2 i n S w i t z e r l a n d and E x p o 0 2 . C e o l na M a r a , u n d e r the direction of J i m H o r g a n were representing Ireland at the events.

Ni bhcidh ar Icithidi aris arm Michele Viney