His Name Is Luka

Through the Luka glass…

hen you’re just 14 and your big brother takes you out on the road as their support act, it’s perhaps inevitable that music will become your life.

Especially when that big brother is Christy Moore.

For Luka Bloom – aka The Artist Formerly Known As Kevin Barry Moore – it has led to a life on the road, moving from his native Kildare to the United States in the 1980s and then back home, to County Clare, his current home being a source of inspiration for many of his songs.

Of course, the biggest inspiration has been Ma Moore, Nancy, who became a widow when Luka was barely a year old, and went on to raise six children on her own. Besides food on the table, Nancy made sure all her children got singing lessons.

Anne Rynne, Luka Bloom, Mick Devine, Quentin Cooper, Trish Dillon, Davoc Rynne, Christy Moore, Eoin O’Neill, Conor Byrne

And it seems to have worked – in 2016, Luka’s older sister, Anne Rynne, released her self-titled debut album. At the tender age of 68. Three years before that, her whistle player son, Davoc, released his debut album, The Humours Of Ennistymon.

Christy and Luka have been pretty busy too.

Bringing his Wave Up To The Shore tour to The Whale on Saturday, September 30th – marking 50 years of singing with 50 beloved old songs – we managed to get the notoriously shy Luka Bloom to list the songs that inspire him.

And tell us a little bit of growing up one of the musical Moores…

Nancy on The Late Late Show 1988

It was back in October 1965 that our father died, too young, leaving our mother, Nancy, to rear the 6 of us alone. It was an enormous challenge for her, and often, for us.

But we sang.

We had some fun, and also sang our version of the blues. Perhaps of an evening, our mother might sing Can’t Help Fallin’ For That Man Of Mine, Christy might sing Spancil Hill, Eilis might sing My Lagan Love, Anne might sing Blackwater Side, Terry, The Butcher Boy, Andy, Banna Strand, and I might try Bold Robert Emmett.

Luka meets his biggest fan…

Sometimes it was good fun. It was always healing. It still is.

We are still here and still singing.

I’ve never had a ‘career’. This singing is life to me. It’s all I know, apart from riding a bike, and jumping into the sea.

And it’s enough.

Looking forward to Greystones.

And here are the songs that can still make Luka Bloom break down and cry…

James Taylor Fire and Rain
What did a 16 year old kid in County Kildare know about Fire and Rain in the early 1970s..?
Enough to sing this song….

Ewan MacColl The Joy of Living
There are very few songs that have everything.
So sad, and yet a celebration.
As good a song as ever was written.

The Pogues Rainy Night In Soho
When I toured North America with the Pogues in 1988, it was clear that I couldn’t even spell the word fun.
The most exciting and terrifying time on the road, ever.

U2 Bad
Train leaving Penn Station, in New York, at midnight. Going home to Washington DC after my residency in The Village. 4-hour train ride; utterly drained, and alone.
It was not an easy night.
My tape player also had radio. I put on the headphones, and tuned into WFUV. The opening strains of Bad flowed into my ears, and somehow calmed and sorted the head out for the journey.
I get a warm feeling still, every time I hear it.

Iarla Ó Lionáird Aisling Gheal
I’ve no words to explain what this song does, or means for me.
It is just a bit perfect, in every way.

Bob Dylan Every Grain of Sand
For feck’s sake, like…

Luka Bloom plays The Whale on Saturday, September 30th, tickets here. You can find out more about the lad right over here.