Maria Doyle Kennedy - Live at Levis'

Movie star plays intimate gig in rural bar

Singer Songwriter and Actress Maria Doyle Kennedy

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Our ideas of places we have never visited are often influenced by how we see them in movies, in books and on TV. My first ideas of life in Ireland were formed by the movie The Commitments. In 1991, I had been through Catholic School in England and had many friends whose families had come from but never spoke about Ireland. Nobody stopped to explain how life was ‘at home’.

It was the same with the Italians and the Spanish at my school. I felt I was stepping into a thriller set in a dark, foggy small town where everybody is hiding a secret from the outsider. One time I went to a friend’s house after school and Gay Byrne’s Late Late Show was on the TV. His mother turned it off, telling me “That’s just something Irish.” She was born in County Mayo.

And then The Commitments. It was shot in Dublin with an Irish cast at a time when Ireland was poor, poorer than most of Europe with 19% unemployment, large waves of emigration across the narrow stretch of water to England or the wider ocean to North America. What the movie showed us was that young people in Ireland wanted what we wanted: to escape, to have sex and to listen to great music.

According to the movie’s lead character, what disaffected Irish youth needed was soul. One of the breakout stars of the movie, Maria Doyle Kennedy continues to deliver soul, insight and melody with one of the best voices in music and a talent for a lyrical melody and melodic lyrics that stick in your mind.

Just before Christmas 2024 Maria Doyle Kennedy played a gig at Levis Bar in Ballydehob accompanied by her husband and long-time creative collaborator Kieran Kennedy. The place was packed. Stools and bar stools were shifted and dragged around to make room, a sign was put on the door sending patrons to the back door as a real-life movie star shared a space the size of a large living room with a small crowd of West Cork locals.

As an actress Kennedy has had big roles in movies and TV from The Tudors and Downton Abbey to Dexter and Orphan Black. Despite this success, Kennedy says that she does not miss acting when she isn’t doing it but “could not pass a single day without singing.” And when she starts, you realise why. Her songs and her voice come from her soul.

This isn’t the fake soul of pained expressions on TV talent shows, or Aguilera style meaningless runs or Mariah’s notes for the auditory range of dolphins: this is the soul of telling a story, of expressing an emotion and of telling a truth.

Maria Doyle Kennedy at Levis’ Ballydehob

There is nowhere to hide in Levis’. The performer stands at a shop counter or sits at a piano, elbows touching the patrons, never more than 30 centimetres away from those watching. The artists looks into the whites of the audience’s eyes and the bloodshot reds, the tired yellows, and the jealous greens.

Kennedy sung songs from across her career. There are folk infused ballads and foot tapping barnstormers, trips into trip-hop and even the Bond theme that never was: “The Ladies of Bohane” from 2017’s Maria DK album. The Kennedys are serious songwriters who are experts at their craft, and it is astounding that their material is not picked up by other artists.

There are no showbiz anecdotes here. In their place Kennedy tackles social and political issues with strong support for the Palestinians in the face of genocide and she talks about the story behind the song Colour Code / These Streets Are Always Blue which ends with her listing names of people of colour whose lives were ended by Police brutality.

Out here in West Cork at the end of Europe, it is easy to feel insulated from social issues. The world’s problems can seem abstract, but Kennedy forcefully brings home the threats, the obstacles and the violence faced by others that we must never forget or ignore. Her music and artistry deliver a plea for social and political justice in a way that journalists and politicians can only dream of.

But in case you think that this gig was a case of big star takes herself seriously, sings, pouts and leaves, then pick up a cloakroom ticket and check that preconception at the door because Maria Doyle Kennedy is authentically herself and the causes she espouses are genuinely meaningful to her

She is also great fun, encouraging a singalong and even mocking her own lyrics. She once wrote the line “where does the North wind come from?”. But instead of sounding wistful, the line elicited the response “The North” from live audiences and she encourages us to do the same.

Her husband, Kieran, plays guitar, manages a million loops on his pedals and sits down at the piano in the middle of the room for a few songs too. There was no mention of The Commitments.

Support for this gig was provided by a local singer songwriter who really needs to be heard. I first saw Molly O’Mahony when she performed in Liz Clark’s extraordinary musical The Stonewall Builder at Skibbereen last summer. As well as being a gifted actress, Molly writes beautiful songs and, for this gig, she was performing tracks from her upcoming album and soliciting Kickstarter funding to record it.

Like Kennedy, Molly’s music is melodic and soulful. It is also shrouded in introspection, drama and reflection with hints of the melodic pop stylings of yacht rock (which is not a bad thing). ‘Let this Loving be Light’ had O’Mahony mixing Abandoned Luncheonette-era Hall and Oates with Jorja Smith and the more obvious Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee Jones influences.

Molly O’Mahony at Levis’ Ballydehob

Later in her short set Molly presented a song that I think was called Water. The lyrics were dark and desperate, run through with the drama of a Scott Walker song: “fetch me my porter, I’ll go to the water, and I’ll throw myself in.” I could imagine this song with the swell of Walker’s string section and the faint echoing of a tambourine rattling through the orchestra. A wall of sound for a wall of emotion.

It is mystifying and satisfying to stand in a small venue and experience a talent like Molly O’Mahony. She has a creative, songwriting voice that I hope will take West Cork creative talent to the rest of the world.

If you want to support Molly O’Mahony’s Kickstarter then click here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mollyomahony/molly-omahony-is-making-a-new-album/description

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