Luka coming Live by the Liffey

Luka Bloom is one of our own, a local lad from Newbridge who became a global minstrel, bringing his music and his thoughts on life to the world outside his home town, outside his home county, and outside his home country. He's coming to sing in the Town Hall Theatre next week, Friday 26th, for the latest gig in the Live By The Liffey series organised by Ray Kelly.

His mother many times tried to make your editor drink buttermilk as the price of playing after school with Luka's elder brother, but we don't hold that against any of the Moore family. Besides, the plant outside their kitchen door that actually suffered the stuff is long expired. This week, Luka shared his thoughts about just where he is in his own life at the moment. It seems a good place.

It's my first time to play in Kilcullen since I played Pat Keane's back room around 1980. I have changed. We all change. And when somebody says it to you, the answer should be 'Oh, thank you'.

To be honest about it, I think I'm a happier person. I hope I'm a bit more relaxed. And I'd like to think that I'm a little bit better at my job, too.

It's the kind of business in which you're always serving your time. It's a constant journey, you're always exploring and pushing out the boundaries. Sometimes you make good records, and sometimes they're not great. I never seek out a comfort zone, I'm always looking for ways to challenge myself. So that I'll be fresh, and that's what keeps me young.

The current challenge is just the same as it always was, to write a good song. That's really what it's all about, you always come back to the song. Obviously you look forward to the gigs, and I'm really looking forward to Kilcullen, but it's always about the songs, because the songs determine the gig. The song is the raw material for every gig and every record.

I'm about to launch an album to celebrate 20 years of making records as Luka Bloom, and I'm really quite thrilled about it because I recorded it in my home in Blacktrench. Once that's out I'll be hitting the road.

The focus of my inspiration has most definitely changed. When I was younger there was a lot of introspection involved, with the weight of the world sitting firmly on my shoulders. A lot of the songs that I wrote would have involved tragedy, not a lot of optimism. But over recent years I have consciously opened out, to try and write songs that reflect the nature of my life now as an optimistic person, a very hopeful person.

I haven't been writing at all for the last 18 months. I do this every now and then. After I wrote the 11 songs for my latest album I made a conscious decision to stop. I think it's very important for someone like myself to stop writing for a period of time. I like the feeling of stopping and just celebrating the songs that are already there. At a certain time my life will have shifted a bit and I go back to writing again and feel like a newcomer to it. And that's where I'm at right now, starting a whole new cycle of writing, and I'm determined that I won't do another record for at least two years.

I want to explore again what's out there, and what's within myself. The first song I've written in this cycle was a simple one last week, based on a day I spent with my entire family, including my cousins from England who came over to visit my Uncle Jimmy's grave in Meath. It was the very first time seeing his grave, and I just wrote a very simple song about the dream-like experience we all had there.

I don't know if I'll ever record this song, it might be one I'll just keep for my family. For every 10 songs I write that end up on a record, there are 10 or 15 more that are set aside. Maybe because they're too personal, or because I don't want to put them out in the public domain.

I'd like to think that I have both my old audience and new people. When I go to places like Holland or Australia I meet these young boys and girls who tell me that they grew up listening to their parents playing Luka Bloom. I suppose it's one of the joys of getting a little bit older that you come across a second generation who are coming to hear you live for the first time. But I suppose, in truth, most of my audience are ageing along with me as well.

Tickets for the Luka Bloom gig are available at Bernard Berney's Chemists.

Brian Byrne.