Life is a ‘Kabarett’

Life is a ‘Kabarett’ Camille O’Sullivan (Irish Times March 29^th 2003)

Looking back on my childhood, I suppose all the clues were there. There was a great love of music, dance and art from my parents. It’s no surprise that I perform Cabaret songs. I had tried other lives for size -Painter, Actor, Singer, Architect.

Growing up in Cork, my sister and I listened to my parent’s very eclectic vinyl collection. This included Deep Purple, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Debussy, Gershwin and French singers Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg. My mother is French so it was quite normal for us to not regard these songs as foreign or exotic. At that stage I was too in love with John Lennon for Brel to make an impact. But that fateful day came when I was six years old. I realised than how important he was to my parents and the world in general when I glued two of their records together, one of which was Brel’s precious ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’.

It seems natural that I now perform his songs amongst others. Though not formally trained, I had acted and sung throughout my college years, Cabaret was to be a big discovery for me. It was as an Architecture student living in Berlin that I first visited it’s late night smoky ‘Kabarett’ clubs. Here the performers ranged from the camp transvestite to the sophisticated torch singer. They encouraged reaction from the rowdy audiences, then silence would descend as a sad tale was sung. I loved the emotive quality -it ranged from funny to desolate to harsh, sometimes creating a dangerous, uncomfortable atmosphere, othertimes sheer elation. Compared to the songs I had sung (Gershwin, Porter) where lyrics were almost secondary to the melody’s beauty, this was where theatre met music, singing a narrative. Here were songs/stories with wonderful characters created by German composers Kurt Weill, Hans Eisler and Friedrich Hollaender.

When I returned to Dublin I began performing their work in the now sadly deceased Da Club. Coincidently it was there that I saw the late great Agnes Bernelle- one of the finest Kurt Weill performers,who had settled in Dublin from her native Berlin. A mentor to me. I will always remember her telling me ‘It is not how well you sing it, that is not of importance, it is the story, you must tell the story.’ I was relieved, in a sense a trained voice would never be able to capture the essence of those songs. But an actor who could sing might. We smoked happily into the night.

Whilst Cabaret is an accepted way of continental European life, it is not part of Irish tradition (although we have a tradition of storytelling for example Luke Kelly’s ‘Ragalan Road’). When one mentions Cabaret, people suspiciously think of dodgy Holiday camps. A popular image also is the Americanised pastiche of decadent Berlin with it’s sexy image of bowler hat, stockings ala Liza Minnelli, made so memorable in Kander and Ebbs musical film ‘Cabaret’.

The reality of the German and French tradition is quite different. Cabaret emerged in Paris the late 19^th century with artists performing for each other and later for audiences. The combination of poetry, politics, satire and song created the ‘Chanson’, which simply means ‘song’ in French. This is a distinct style of song, which is poetic, and often passionate. Famous chansoniers include Edith Piaf and Belgian Jacques Brel.

During Germany’s Weimer Republic(1918 –33) ‘Kabarett’ blossomed in reaction to strict morality laws using witty satire and humour. It was regarded as a modern art. Delivered in a direct in-your-face manner, these artists mocked the bourgeois and sang about social issues, sexuality, feminism, and politics. They regarded ’Kabarett’ as a conscious for German social democracy. Many were Jewish composers such as Hollaender, Eisler, Micha Spoliansky who later became targets of Nazism when Hitler came to power and closed the venues down. The most memorable songs from that era are from Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s ‘The Threepenny Opera’ which includes the harsh classics ‘Mack The Knife’, ‘Alabama Song’ and ‘Pirate Jenny’. Weill and Brechts work have influenced and been covered by David Bowie, Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave and Elvis Costello. These old and contemporary storytellers now form my repertoire which I sing in French, German and English.

If French chanson is passionate, romantic, then in contrast German cabaret songs are harsh, darker, bittersweet with haunting discordant melodies. Yet both connect theatre and music- the important thing is telling a story through.

I like to interpret different characters, for example from an exuberant vamp to forlorn lover. I like truth and love melody and storytelling. Being an expressive performer both emotional and physical, I find performing live a roller coaster of emotions- exhilarating, cathartic and somtimes draining. There is something very special in being a few feet away from the audience, involving them in a direct manner, displaying vulnerability, anger, passion and humour. It is not a passive night out! Though written by others, you must make the song your own. Be true. You want the audience to relate to those songs.

There are lovely intimate Dublin venues such as the Cobalt Café, Bewley’s Grafton St, the Sugar Club and the Helix where an audience of young and old, lit by candlelight, drink wine, sitting in a surreal atmosphere - listening to the lyrics and the sound of the accordion. They watch in silence, engaged.

Debut Album ‘A Little Yearning’ out now

Whelan’s Mon 21^st April

For Info on Nationwide Tour April & May