FEATURE:
Beyond The Dreaming
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional shot for The Dreaming in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
Kate Bush and Australia
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MAYBE this is a little under-explored…
but I think there is a nice little link between Kate Bush and Australia. One person that I will not bring up more than I have to is Rolf Harris. He was someone who fostered and provoked Bush’s fascination with the didgeridoo. He also appeared on her 2005 album, Aerial (he has since been removed from versions released after 2005). It is a shame that Harris needs to be restricted because, before the time of The Dreaming in 1982, Bush was interested in the didgeridoo and aboriginal and Australian culture. I will talk more about The Dreaming and how she, in a sense, helped bring the didgeridoo into popular culture. In 1978, when travelling to promote new music, Bush appeared on the Australian T.V. show, Countdown. The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia gives us more details:
“Countdown was a long-running popular weekly Australian music television show broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 8 November 1974 until 19 July 1987. It was created by Executive Producer Michael Shrimpton, producer/director Robbie Weekes and record producer and music journalist Ian "Molly" Meldrum. Countdown was produced at the studios of the ABC in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea. The majority of performances on the show were lip synched. Countdown was the most popular music program in Australian TV history. It commanded a huge and loyal audience.
Molly Meldrum, the program's talent co-ordinator, began appearing on-air in 1975, presenting the "Humdrum" music news segment and conducting interviews. Meldrum soon became the "face" of Countdown. He appeared regularly on-air until 1986. Another attraction to the program was the local and international acts who would host an episode - usually performing as well. During the show, Meldrum would interview them (while co-hosting) or have a chat with them before the show went out with the number 1 single of the week.
Kate Bush appeared on Countdown on 12 October 1978 for a performance of Hammer Horror and an interview.
A large number of master videotapes recorded between 1974 and 1978 were later erased and recycled during a management-initiated "economy drive" at the ABC, an action which Meldrum later criticised and said was "unforgivable". At least 100 episodes in total were erased from this period of the show's history”.
I know that there is a large Kate Bush fanbase in Australia. Although she grew to hate flying and travelling, one gets a sense that Bush enjoyed visiting Australia. One of the downsides of Bush not touring or playing much outside of Europe meant Australian fans did not get to see her live. Listen back through Bush’s catalogue and she incorporated elements of different countries and culture into her music. Aside from Irish music and references, she worked with the Trio Bulgarka (a Bulgarian Folk trio). Bush also sung in different languages and had a fascination with people from all walks of life. Whilst her ‘Australian chapter’ is quite brief, it is one that intrigues me. There is a lot of love for Bush in Australia. In 2018, as the Kate Bush News website explains, there was an event held there to mark forty years of her debut, The Kick Inside:
“Two events we’ve heard about happening in June this year. In Melbourne, Australia on 9th June, a Kate Bush event takes place at The Corner Hotel, Richmond: “Performed by: Routines, Ms45, Cynthia Gallie, Lack the Low, Lucy Dwyer, Lisa Crawley, Jules Sheldon & Laura Davidson. The debut album by Kate Bush ‘The Kick Inside’ featuring the hit song Wuthering Heights turned 40 this year. A long list of local Melbourne musicians are throwing a massive Kate Bush party at the wonderful Corner Hotel Saturday June 9th. The night will feature various singers backed by a full house band, including two keyboardists bringing the songs of Kate Bush to life – performing tracks off The Kick Inside plus hits from other records including Never for Ever, The Dreaming Hounds of Love plus lots more. Dress up and come along and celebrate everything Kate Bush!” More at this site here”.
When it comes to the didgeridoo, traditionally women have not played it in ceremony. That may not be the case in informal situations. I know Bush was keen to play the instrument herself but, because of tradition, male players had to come in. Although Harris played it on The Dreaming, Paddy Bush was skilled enough to take it over for Hounds of Love. He played the didgeridoo for The Big Sky. It was also included on the Aerial track, The Painter’s Link – though, as we know, the man who played it had his parts removed. It is interesting that, twenty-three years after The Dreaming, Bush was still bringing the didgeridoo into her work. I know that her sound has become a little more stripped on her 2011 albums, Director’s Cut and 50 Words for Snow. I hope that we have not heard the last of Bush and the didgeridoo. I want to bring in an article from Far Out Magazine, where they highlight Bush’s use and fascination with the didgeridoo.
“Bush’s experimental streak found expression not just in the lyrically diversified themes but also in the inclusion of indigenous tribal instruments. Folk instruments such as mandolins, didgeridoos, uilleann pipes were used along with a variety of polyrhythmic percussions to create a unique soundscape. To understand the speciality of such usages, let us revisit the title track of the album.
‘The Dreaming’ is a song about the destruction of lands by white settlers that belonged to the Australian aboriginal community, all in search of weapon-grade uranium for yet more destruction. The track’s title was derived from an anthropological theory named Dreamtime/The Dream which explained the religious and cultural worldview of the aboriginal people of Australia. A slightly uncomfortable fact of this song is that the infamous TV personality and convicted paedophile, Rolf Harris, collaborated with Bush on several projects after this, played the didgeridoo in the song. The didgeridoo, of course, is a long, hollow wind instrument which when played with vibrating lips produces a continuous droning sound. It’s a traditional instrument invented by the aboriginal Australians that dates back more than 40,000 years. Most commonly, it is made out of tree trunks, especially eucalyptuses, that are hollowed by the termites. Though it was primarily used in traditional Australian songs, it later seeped into popular music. Bush is largely responsible for diversifying its usage and for introducing it to the western music scene.
The singer came across the instrument during her vacation in Australia, immediately after which she started working on The Dreaming album. With the inclusion of the didgeridoo, she included the marginal culture of the aboriginals into the mainstream Western culture. So, it not just some random and innocent use to add an authentic flavour to the track; rather, a political tool presented as a voice of protest against the illegal destruction of the aboriginal-owned land”.
There was some feeling that, in a modern age, the white woman voicing the concerns of the Aborigine people seems like cultural appropriation. I don’t think that she meant any offence back when she recorded The Dreaming’s title track. She was moved by the plight of the Aborigines and, as an artist who had a platform, she wanted to voice her alarm! Also, there are hardly any Aborigine musicians in the mainstream that could have put a message of conservation and protection to the masses. Although Bush’s exploration of unusual instruments and international cultures extends beyond The Dreaming and Australia, it is a part of her sound that I really like. I hope, as mentioned, that we hear more exploration of Australian sounds in future songs. I shall leave it there. I was looking through Kate Bush’s discography and all the different sounds and instruments that she has combined. It is a vast and wonderful array. Despite the unfortunate link between Kate Bush and Rolf Harris – all their collaborations occurred before Harris was convicted of a series of sexual assaults -, one cannot ignore the importance of a song like The Dreaming and the fact that Bush was very much fascinated with the didgeridoo. Beyond the instrument, I feel Bush had a love of Australia and the people. That is very much reciprocated. Though she will never again perform live in Australia, her music has made a big impact on generations there. When thinking about how Australian elements made their way into Bush’s music through the years, it makes me realise what…
A fascinating innovator and explorer she is.