Culture That Made Me: Maria Doyle Kennedy on Joni Mitchell, Radiohead, and Kevin Barry
Maria Doyle Kennedy will play at Coughlan's in Cork.
Born in 1964, Maria Doyle Kennedy grew up in Dublin, Enniscorthy and Bray. After performing in several bands, she founded a record label along with her husband, Kieran Kennedy, in 2000.
She has released 11 solo albums, including in 2021. As an actress, she has appeared in over 50 films and TV series, including and She will perform at Coughlan’s Live, in Cork, on Friday, December 12. See: www.coughlans.ie.
Growing up, I was deeply moved by Billie Holiday. My dad bought me the album Billie Holiday. I was about 13 or 14. The sound she made was unlike anything I'd heard before.
It conveyed emotion beyond the words she sang. Some of her songs are literal and mostly understood as political statements, like Strange Fruit, but many of them are songs of love or loss. Her voice was so particular.
It evoked such deep feeling in me. It expressed things I didn't have the language for myself. I could listen to her endlessly.
In my teens, I searched for people to sing to me and to explain the world. I was a melancholy teenager. I was looking for comfort and knowledge beyond what I had.
Joni Mitchell was huge for me. Her voice was so pure, her lyrics so funny. They wound around things in ways I hadn't heard before.
They were unpredictable and interesting. Her harmonies and melodies were wonderful. They sent my mind off shooting in different directions.
I know every breath on her album is hilarious – “My analyst told me / That I was right out of my head / But I said dear doctor / I think that's you instead…” She goes on and on about how great it is to have two heads instead of one.
My friend Maria McKee turned me on to Patti Smith. I was in my twenties. I'd heard a bit about her story. Her songs answered a load of questions that were beyond musical notes, questions of identity and self-determination.
I went to see her play in Dublin at the 3Arena a few weeks ago. It was a magnificent gig. The woman is nearly 80 and she was ambling around the stage like a goat. She was incredible. It was very moving and uplifting. She seems unafraid and still full of protest. It’s wonderful to see somebody with that energy and passion for performing.
The first week of primary school, the nuns put on in the school hall. It was in black and white. The projector broke down after the first scary bit of the film. I was scared. It took a couple of years before I saw it in colour.
Then it made sense to me, the fear went away, replaced with the idea there were these colourful worlds out there that were reachable. You just had to be a kind, honourable person, follow the path, and you'd find your way towards friends and possibly fabulous shoes. I still watch it and dance down the road to it. It impacted me a lot, first in fear, then in hope of magical realms.
I saw two films from the 1970s in the same year. One was a Mike Leigh film, made with his then wife, Alison Steadman. Her performance is a masterclass. The other one was a John Cassavetes film also featuring his wife, Gena Rowlands, in the main role.
The thing about those films is what's not said. I came to realise how interesting and compelling that was, about what you could learn from what was going on around the people. Until then, I listened to what people said, thinking that was the message.
Those films taught me to look at what's done rather than what's said, how much is in the subtext of things.
I remember the first time I tried to listen to My Bloody Valentine. I couldn't understand it. I couldn't hear any pattern in it. I could just hear the volume and the noise. It didn't make sense to me. I went back to it a couple of years later and immediately heard this beautiful melody and completely understood it. is one of my favourite tracks now. I love My Bloody Valentine.
I loved Siouxsie Sioux, mostly for her attitude. She seemed not to give a damn. She looked so cool. There were all these images of her hanging out with Vivienne Westwood. It was beautiful to watch. I didn't ever get to see her live. My husband, Kieran, went to see her in the SFX in Dublin when she'd fallen on stage and bust her knee. She did a whole tour with her leg in a plaster cast sitting on a stool.
CMAT is kicking ass all over the world. She's a force of nature. We’re all so proud of this young Irish. She's flying the flag. She's a beautiful singer. She sounds like Patsy Cline. She’s a special singer. She gives everything in her live performance. Her lyrics are so great. Her album is fantastic.
We went to see Radiohead play in 1996. It was a secret, warm-up gig. They were playing the next day at a big festival in Fairyhouse. The Olympia was a tiny space for them; they were coming off the success of cresting a wave.
It was one of the most incredible gigs I've ever seen. I could see the band being carried by what was happening in the room. They were almost falling over. When they sang at the very end, where Thom Yorke sings, “If I could be who you wanted / All the time”, the entire theatre started singing that back to him. I couldn't stop crying. I looked around. Almost everybody around me was also crying. I'll never forget it.
Olwen Fouéré is an incredible actor. She’s beautiful to watch, always interesting, frequently challenging and unpredictable – I love when I don't know what somebody's going to do, that I don't expect them to have the same little smirk or quirk. She’s outstanding.
I’ve been an avid reader from a young age. I’ve been in situations where I would be having a cup of tea with somebody and I'd say, “Do you know what? I'm going to have to go home because I'm worried about people in the book I’m reading.”
A recent writer who does that to me is Kevin Barry. His books are all-encompassing. They take you over. He's a wonderful writer.
During the pandemic, suddenly I couldn't read. I couldn't figure it out. I became anxious. I couldn't focus enough to hold onto a story. It was such a loss not to be able to read. A friend gave me by Anna Burns.
It brought reading back to me. I was so grateful to my friend and to Anna Burns for writing it. It’s a very particular voice.
You must go into it and figure out what her voice is, what she's saying. Once you do, though, it's an immersive experience. You're in her world and on her journey.
