Luka Bloom

Songster blooms in a new land

Michael Senft
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 25, 2006

His brother is Christy Moore, one of Ireland's most beloved singers, rivaling Bono and Van Morrison. Yet Luka Bloom needed to change his name and leave his homeland to find musical success.

Born Barry Moore in 1955 in County Kildare, Bloom struggled as a folk singer for 10 years before moving to Washington, D.C., in 1987. Taking his name from the central character of Suzanne Vega's hit Luka and the young protagonist of James Joyce's Ulysses (Leopold Bloom), he released the acclaimed Riverside in 1988.

With his ninth studio album, Innocence, in stores, Bloom makes his Arizona concert debut Wednesday at Glendale Community College. We spoke with him recently. advertisement

Question: How is the tour going?

Answer: It is great. We've been on the road for about five days, starting in Washington, D.C., and I'm in Pittsburgh now. This is my longest tour of the U.S. in 10 years, 30 shows - and I'm playing many places for the first time, including Glendale.

Q: Didn't you write in one song "I'd love to see Arizona"?

A: (Laughs) Yes. That song (I'm a Bogman) was a love song to the part of Ireland I grew up in - a boggy place that isn't much to look at. But it is my home, and I love it. Actually, I was in Phoenix once for two hours about 10 years ago - part of a whirlwind promotional tour of Borders Books.

Q: Yet you first found your success in the United States.

A: Yes. I had struggled for about 10 years in Ireland before I moved to the States 20 years ago. In a way, this tour is my thank-you to the United States.

Q: It seems surprising that you had difficulty finding success in Ireland considering your family tree.

A: I think that's why I couldn't find success over there. I needed a fresh start. But Ireland is my home, and I did return eventually.

Q: That reminds me of your immigration song, City of Chicago. It captures the search for success in a new land as well as the longing for home.

A: That is a great song, one I'm tremendously proud of. I wrote it 22 years ago, and my brother immediately learned it and recorded it. Now it's a standard. Every Irish band in the United States knows the song (laughs). It's actually part of the curriculum in Irish schools, when they study the famine and the Irish emigration to America.

(City of Chicago) is one of two immigration songs on my new CD. The other being Wherever You Go, There You Are, which takes the opposite view, telling of a Muslim man immigrating to Ireland. My country is currently dealing with immigration in the way America has for hundreds of years. I think it is one of the things that makes America great, how you welcome immigrants.

Q: Was your family musical when you were growing up?

A: Very much so - our mother played piano. I picked up a guitar at age 9 and started writing songs. I was performing at 14, and I've been doing it ever since.

Q: It is interesting that you became a songwriter, while your brother is better known as an interpreter of other people's songs.

A: I don't think he would object to that comparison. That is one of his talents, making other people's songs his own. He's such a big musical character. Where Christy was drawn to the Clancy Brothers, I grew up listening to Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. He's Woody Guthrie, while I'm Bob Marley.

Q: That explains why your music sounds more like '70s singer-songwriters than Irish folk music.

A: I've never thought of myself as strictly an Irish folk singer. My music is for all people, not just on St. Paddy's Day. Even my name - people have told me it sounds like a Jewish woman's name.

Q: So what prompted you to record a covers album?

A: I wanted to find songs that would be a challenge to perform - so I ended up making the Keeper of the Flame album, doing songs by Nina Simone, U2, ABBA and Radiohead. It's not really new for me. I covered LL Cool J's I Need Love on my second Luka Bloom album. That was an effort to find a new audience - reaching out beyond the traditional folk-music audience.

It all goes back to not being just an Irish folk singer.

Reach the reporter at Michael.senft@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8489.

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