Its going to be a busy September for singer, songwriter and now actor and playwright Jess Kavanagh, who is previewing her new production Fermented Dreams with a performance on Monday September 9 (that’s tonight, folks) as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival.

That’ll be followed by full-scale performances, on Tuesday 10, Wednesday 11, Friday 13 and two shows on Saturday 14 September. A mere seven days later, she is set to play a Leonard Cohen tribute show – to celebrate what would have been his 90th birthday on September 21 – featuring with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at 3Arena, in a show which also includes vocal performances from Mick Flannery, Suzanne Savage and Pheilim Drew.

Jess is best known as a singer, songwriter and performer – she was lead vocalist with the Dublin outfit Barq, in which guise she appeared on the cover of Hot Press back in 2018. She was also part of Sister Fenix, a duo with Senita Appiakorang – which is currently on hiatus.

Jess has been especially busy rehearsing Fermented Dreams. It's a darkly comedic show that will be premiered at Bewley’s Cafe Theatre, as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival 2024.

So what exactly has the month in store for this wonderfully vivacious artist? I wanted to find out...

Tell us a bit about what you have planned for the Dublin Fringe Festival!

It’s a musical play titled Fermented Dreams, about a character called Noelle. I've taken a body of musical work that I wrote at the beginning of this year, and I've written a script around it. I think the world is very interested in the hopes and dreams of young people. But what about someone like Noelle, who has just turned forty?

So that’s the hook!

I think the hope that comes from your 30s – and your 40s, your 50s and your 60s – is incredibly interesting. And so that's something that I've been really enjoying, investigating that. Fermented Dreams is about a renegotiation of Noelle's dreams, as she reaches middle age, and – more widely – about how we negotiate our hopes and our dreams as we reach a certain age.

 

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That's exciting – I'm fascinated to hear the music...

I'm extremely happy with the music. We started rehearsals this morning and it sounds absolutely fantastic. And the music has really strong narrative to it. That's one of the reasons why my instinct was to turn it into a really good musical play: there’s such strong storytelling elements in the songs. In a wider sense, Fermented Dreams is about the idea that the revolution starts with you. It’s about practicing getting your jumps in a row a little bit. And practicing self-forgiveness and self-compassion. And to be able to forgive and be compassionate, out there in the wider world.

Your mother is Irish-Nigerian. Have you had any struggles with your mixed identity?

I got some weird comments growing up for sure, especially when you are light-passing – people perceive you as 'white passing’. And so, at times, it's been hard to be taken seriously with my voice, because people assumed it was more mimicry than actually who I truly was. You get a lot of: “Do you realise you sound like a Black person.” That's been hard. That made it more difficult to take myself seriously as an artist. It can be very hard to know where you fit as a mixed person. But time passes, and you get to a point where it's like: I have to stop giving a shit.

So what were your musical influences?

I grew up listening to soul music and hip hop music. My mom was really into trad music as well. She was a tour guide, so she would bring people on tour around Ireland, telling them about Irish history as a black woman, in Dublin and Ireland, in the 90s. I think she found it very difficult when people didn't perceive her as somebody who was Irish.

Is she musical?

She would never perform or sing in front of anybody else – but I have her voice. Because of the kind of music I was raised on, I always wanted to be performing, like Aretha Franklin. I have a big voice. It's strong. It kind of lends itself to rock music – or to musical theatre. It's big and it's belt-y.

You’ll have an opportunity to demonstrate that both in Fermented Dreams and at 3Arena. What's your favourite Leonard Cohen song?

I'm gonna be a basic-ass bitch and say ‘Hallelujah’. It was my friends in college who got me into Leonard Cohen. I ended up buying Leonard Cohen's poetry book, The Book of Longing. I actually got more into his poetry than I did into his music. So I'd also have to go with 'Tower of Song’. That was amazing. I was in my early 20s, and Lisa O'Neill used to get me up, and I'd do backing vocals on 'Tower of Song’. So I have really, really positive memories of that song.

Leonard Cohen was hugely popular in Ireland. Is it part of the RTE Concert Orchestra’s role to keep that memory alive?

Yes, very much so. I am a huge fan of Brian Connor, who put the shape on everything with Elizabeth Larragy – I worked with him already in a performance with Eleanor McEvoy. He's put so much gorgeous detail in it. The weaving of poetry and music in the show is incredibly beautiful. Leonard came from a family of tailors. Leonard Cohen treated his songs like a tailor would: he stitched together his songs very mindfully. I think it took him seven years to finish ‘Hallelujah’. I'm actually writing a song called 'Sew' at the moment, I am fascinated with seeing music as something more like a weaving and a sewing. It allows you to approach creativity in a beautiful way.

What part of Leonard Cohen's writings resonates most with you?

In college I would get into bed and read The Book of Longing. I found the poems so relaxing, it became a ritual of mine to read before bed. The ones that stood out for me were about love, and about longing. I was 21, and of course I fancied someone that didn't fancy me back, so it was deep and unrequited. Reading it made me feel very seen!

Among many other well-known artists, you worked with The Waterboys. What was that like?

Working with The Waterboys was absolutely incredible. It brings me unimaginable joy to be around them. We had Leonard Cohen's old tour manager Mike Scoble as part of the team. It was so joyful.

Is there any advice you'd give to aspiring mixed race artists?

I would say: really embrace the individuality and the hybridity of your existence and enjoy the fact that you are. When you’ve been created by the mixing of cultures, and the mixing of ethnicities, it really gives you a very good perspective that is different from people who grew up in mono-racial households. Pour that into your art and don't worry about being misunderstood. Once you create something and its out in the world, you can no longer control how people perceive you. So, pour those feelings into your art. Don’t fear how it's perceived. Do it for you – and your process.

Jess Kav at We Shall Overcome in Athy Library, Kildare celebrating Brigid 1500 with Hot Press and Kildare County Council. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

How important is it to feel supported in what you do?

I’m lucky in that I have that support. I feel really supported by the people who I'm writing with right now, Shout-out to Laura Sheeran, otherwise known as Persona, the amazing artist who's directing Fermented Dreams. I feel very supported by my co-writer Geoff Warner-Clayton: I steal him away when I can, to write music with me. And I feel very supported by my fiancé, Paul Brennan, who is rock climber, and other such Bi-wife energy stereotypes. He's brilliant! He's a geologist and we've been together 11 years.

Do you feel Ireland is progressing well, in terms of Black Lives Matter – or has it gone backwards since 2016?

We are at a precipice, and to be honest I'm scared. Communities that don't have resources, they have been promised some semblance of social mobility, and they've been given nothing for years. Not only that. You have people who do find a way out and they're trying to come back to their communities, and they can't afford to, because everywhere around is too expensive to rent. But as much as I have empathy for that, I'm ready to support my people.

What do you think of the fact that anti-immigration sentiment has become more visible?

Anti-immigrant communities are being targeted from overseas – so we know that there's money coming in from America (to create division).

Has the media played a role in stifling voices that need to be heard?

There's this kind of line that's used a lot in in Irish media, which is, like, you know, we can't have you on talking about your pro-Palestinian beliefs, because then we have to have somebody pro-Israel or pro-genocide on the other side, which is, of course, bullshit, right? There's no legislation in Ireland that says that if somebody goes on with a viewpoint, that one has to have somebody for the opposing viewpoint. I arranged a song called 'Sassy Mouth', which was to do with the Repeal campaign. I was told by a radio station that I couldn't perform it, because if I performed it on radio, then they were obliged to have a 'pro-lifer' on to say their piece.

That’s crazy. Have you any other complaints about the Irish music scene?

There's not enough support for independent artists. And then – for female independent artists and even more so female independent artists of colour – it’s little to nothing. We need to change that.

• Fermented Dreams previews, as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival, on Monday 9 September in Bewley’s Cafe Theatre, with performances to follow on 10, 11, 13 and 14 September, at the same venue. Tickets can be found here. 

The RTÉ Concert Orchestra perform the Songs of Leonard Cohen – 90th Birthday Celebration takes place at 3 Arena on September 21. Special guests include Mick Flannery, Suzanne Savage, Pheilim Drew and Jess Kav, with Gavin Moloney as conductor.