Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The last word with Life Pharmacy. Over 100 local pharmacies nationwide that are always here to help. Life Pharmacy. Live better together. Our guest for the Culture Club today is Jess Cav, who's one of the musicians performing live in Kishok in Embodied Manifesto, which the Catherine Young Dance Company has been touring nationally since the 18th. of April.
The final two performances are at the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire tomorrow as part of the Dublin Dance Festival and in Glore County Clare on Saturday. So, further information from CatherineYoungDance.com but let's get a brief taster of the music featuring Jess on vocals which soundtracks the dancing in Kishok.
OK, Jess, thanks for joining us.
Tell us all about this.
Chapter 2: What is Kishok and its significance in the dance festival?
What is this?
So Kishonach is this wonderful piece, a dance piece by Catherine Young. Kishonach means a mess, but it also means a path over uneven terrain. So the show inherently is about finding our way back to our initial wisdom as we are in this world. There's a lot going on. It's it's a bit of a mess. And The show is a start in this place of disconnect.
And as we continue on with the show, we come to a place of restoration and a place of connection. So it's a beautiful piece.
What type of dancing? Is Irish dancing?
It is contemporary dance, but it does lean a lot with some folk. And there will definitely be lots of dancing in it that will be familiar for sure.
Was the music written specifically for this?
Yes, it was. Yeah. So there's two singers on it. So there's myself and there's another wonderful singer called Michal O'Doul, who is a Shanno singer and a fiddle player. And then the musical director is Martin Scherer. So we have a full live band, which is amazing. And also Sennan Brennan from Kiela is in it. We'll give you an idea of what kind of music it is.
So it's it's kind of a mix of folk and modern and I guess world and music. And one of the things I love about it so much is that I don't really have any lyrics. So when I improvise, I can really, really go for it, you know, and it changes every night depending on the kind of vibe with the dancers and kind of where we are at. So it really, really moves.
So every night is a little bit different, which I love.
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Chapter 3: How does Jess Kav describe her experience with contemporary dance?
And I really, really love that.
Tell us a bit more about your career because you write your own materials, do you as well? Yes, I do. And you do spoken word. Tell us a bit about how all that has gone for you.
It's going really well at the moment. I took a bit of a step back, just trying to figure out what the next step is. I kind of released some music and it didn't go as well as I liked. And I found that the streaming service system and the kind of the current kind of systems of in the music industry are kind of difficult for me.
So I ended up writing this body of music and I wrote a play around it called Fermented Dreams. So I did that in 2024. And since then, I've been enjoying writing music. I got the Arts Council Music Bursary. So as I say, I've been kind of paying myself to fail, if you will, and experimenting with different things. But I'll have my music out pretty soon.
Yeah, but you've also worked, haven't you, with South Dublin County Council sort of in community activities.
Community arts, yeah. I love community arts. One of the things I love about community arts is, you know, I really see... people's confidence in real time, which I think is fantastic. So when you work with kids and they come in and sometimes they seem a little bit nervous or their confidence is quite low, you know, by an hour or two hours, it's like they change completely.
And to see that is just so rewarding. I love it so much.
OK, let's get your choices for the Culture Club and find out more. First single that you have a memory of or first piece of music. What is it?
I can't believe I've put this down. But it was true. It's definitely like Eminate, which was, you know, the time of like R&B, Brit, you know, you had like Eminate, you had Damage, you had another level. And that's what I was growing up in at the time. So this my first single that I bought on tape in HMV was I've Got a Little Something for You by Eminate.
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Chapter 4: What unique aspects does Jess Kav bring to her music performance?
I just loved pop at that age when I was about eight or nine. Yeah.
OK, now your favourite album is one that we've had before from a number of guests on the Culture Club. And this is one that was probably out way before you were born. Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life. Tell us why you've gone for this.
So I was in a gospel choir with Sean Gilligan and Maureen Gilligan's drama group, drama show when I was, God, maybe about 14 or 15. And we had a gospel choir and it was kind of like we used to do some gigs and it was great. This is all kind of based in Kulak and It was one of my absolute joys at that age. And of course, we had seen Sister Act Two and that was the thing that we loved.
We just wanted to do a happy day and all that kind of stuff. And I remember my mother at the time, my mother was big into her soul and she was a massive, massive music fan and a huge influence for me as well. And she kind of, I don't know, scolded me one day and she was like, you need to
stop doing Happy Day and you need to do these songs and she showed me Songs in the Key of Life and the first song in Songs in the Key of Life which is Love's in Need of Love Today and it has this kind of beautiful vocals on it and I became obsessed with it and of course then I robbed it off her and ruined the CD and But it just became something that I lived in.
And one of the things that's kind of consistent with everything that I've kind of put up on that I've kind of offered today has been that like it's stuff that I get to come back to all the time. And as I grow, it kind of almost grows with me and I get to kind of find new and different things. And. It's one of those albums that's just stayed with me for years. I'm constantly inspired by it.
And it's so lyrical, which I love. And like Catherine as well, you know, Stevie Wonder is not necessarily known for this in the mainstream, but like he's such an incredible social commentator.
And we'll talk more about that in a moment. But let's hear a little bit from Songs in the Key of Life, Sir Duke. Yes.
Music is a world within itself With a language we all understand And clap their hands. Bye. Bye.
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Chapter 5: What was it like to tour with Billy Idol as a backing vocalist?
So once again, he kind of starts kind of getting into it and it's kind of groovy and it's kind of fun and it's funky. But then he kind of hits you with some knowledge. And I love that about Stevie Wonder. He's amazing.
Okay, it strikes me that he probably blazed a trail. The Prince was able to then come in afterwards doing all his own instruments and things like that as well.
Absolutely, 100%, yeah.
Okay. Did you ever see him in concert?
No. Oh, no, I did. Yes, I did in the O2 in 2010, I think. So it was a good while ago. But he's been doing songs in the Key of Life. I think he did it in Hyde Park about two years ago and I missed it and that will probably haunt me forever. Okay, best gig you were ever at?
So when I think of live music and when I think of live music excellence, I always think of Wallace Bird, who is one of our own. She's absolutely incredible. As far as I'm concerned, I think she's one of the best artists and certainly one of the best live artists to ever come out of Ireland. And I've been lucky enough to be seeing her perform live since possibly like 2004, 2005.
And the first band I was in, the first original band was a funk band called Creamy Goodness. And nobody knew where it put us because we were a funk band in Ireland in 2005. But they were at Ballyferm at Rock School at the same time that Wallace Bird was at Ballyferm at Rock School. So I got to see her really, really young.
And I remember just kind of sitting and looking up onto the stage and just thinking this person is like my idol. And even though she's my friend, I think I still see her as an idol as well. But one of the gigs that I always think of when I think of Absolute Live Excellence is she did a couple of gigs in The Ambassador and they just blew my mind. And I still consider them some of the best.
That was from back around 2017, was it? Around that time, yeah. Well, I don't think, maybe it wasn't that year, but actually it's, we don't have from The Ambassador an example of Wallace Bird live. This is from live in Vienna in 2017, which is why I used that year. And this is the track called Love.
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Chapter 6: How has Jess Kav navigated her music career amidst industry challenges?
There is no spoon.
Let's get a clip where Neo is offered the choice between the blue pill and the red pill. There we go.
It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. What truth? That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance.
After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill. The story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill. You stay in Wonderland. And I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I'm offering is the truth, nothing more.
The Matrix. You always gave us Sinners, though.
Yes, I watched Sinners recently and I just thought it was absolutely incredible as well. It's great fun, actually, isn't it, The Matrix? It's so, so fun. Sinners is incredible. And, you know, I don't want to give too much away, but like, you know, also because I'm mixed race as well. So my grandfather is Nigerian. And so to see a light passing through
character as well, being represented and to kind of show the complexity of that identity was really lovely. And to see that actually in mainstream movies was great. So that was lovely. I felt very seen. Okay.
Play, theatre show, musical, anything to offer us?
Yes. So I started off in drama school when I was younger, as I said, that gospel choir was a part of a stage school as well. So I was in musicals before I was in live music. And I went over to visit a good friend of mine, Steph McKeown, who back in the 2010s, 20-teens maybe, and she got cheap tickets to go see Gypsy with Imelda Staunton.
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