December 4, 2023 • 7 mins
She’s been putting out albums for over 40 years and now Kate Ceberano is headed back to town this weekend for a gig at the Perth Concert Hall, Clairsy & Lisa caught up with her on today’s show.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kate Kate is joining us now, good morning morning, good.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Morning, fine person people.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Now are you very well?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
You celebrated this year one of the most enduring and
inspirational careers in Australian music with the release of your
thirtieth album, My Life Is a Symphony. It went straight
to the top of the charts. Congratulations, thank you, A.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Bit of a labor of love.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Oh sorry, no, no, I don't tell you.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I was going to say, when when you're reaching album
number thirty, at what number do you ever get? Do
you get scared that you think, well, I don't is
are they going to buy this one?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Are they going to like this one?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Is?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
It has gone straight to the top of the charts.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I think when you're in the business as long as
I've been, I feel like the last of the Mohicans.
I just I just I just sort of feel like
I do what I do and I think you just
got to keep doing what you do and don't think, yeah,
I really think in the end that it's a career.
It's a whole, living, breathing art form really and it's
(01:09):
like anything if you yeah, you're just in it. And
the other thing. I just want to mention is that
the public that I've known for forty years as an audience,
and it's people to sing with and sing for, they're
the ones that actually put it on the charts. It's
really it's because of their commitment and their community with me,
and I have so much to love them. For Australians,
(01:31):
they just keep on coming up, they get on showing up,
they keep on buying. So I love that. I just
feel like as an Australian artist and as one of
the last of my generation of women in music, it's
just it's just a really strong, lovely handhold into Well, you're.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Very modest, there's also the fact that you're damn good
and that's why we keep coming.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And versatility, Yeah exactly. You're on stage with all on
Saturday night, which time.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
No, not my first rodeo, but I'm telling you, if
you're playing your own music in this country with an orchestra,
symphony orchestra, it's a privilege beyond belief. I mean, it's
like having someone naming a star in a galaxy. Yeah,
it's like you just you are Andromeda. You sit in
the middle of this just like you know, a world
(02:25):
of sound and inspiration around you. The other thing is
too they're so so genuinely talented. They seem to make
it effortless, and it's a lovely feeling. It's lovely feeling.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
What about all the arrangements and everything that can be
quite complex, can't it? At times when you all of
a sudden you're doing some of these teams with the symphony?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well yeah, and I think to the symphony as well,
like sometimes pop music can seem like a bit of
a dull for them.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
With three.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Actually, I don't think they do it.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I thought they do.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
No, Well, I mean you know they what they love
is when making an arranger like the chap He's done
my arrangements. He does work for the cat Empire, the Bamboos,
and he's very contemporary. He's sort of taken the spirit
of symphonic music, and he's a very symphonic trained artist.
And he's given the orchestra a gift because it isn't
just three chords, it's their whole pieces, their whole arrangements.
(03:27):
And when I asked him, you know what, he said,
how do you want to see this? And I'm like,
I want you to throw polar express in there.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I want love.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Actually, I want West Side Story, I want the whole,
I want the whole Enchilada, I want.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
That song you do from Baghdad Cafe. That's sort of
my favorite.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, Is there a particular song of yours that you
feel just is so elevated by the inclusion of the orchestra.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, well, a lot of the material, there are hips
in amongst material. But I guess the greatest privilege is
that these are all songs written by me. To have
a whole set of original music. There's one song that
was maybe not in the top charts of anyone particularly,
but they might have found it on an album within
an album. It's called Earth and Sky. And the reason
(04:16):
why I love it is it probably tells the story
of my yearning for forty years to sort of just
keep to my lane and keep walking, don't stop and
just keep on trucking and don't ask permission, just get
in there, get amongst it. And that's what I love
about the song.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Yeah, it's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Kay.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Last time we were in a room together, it wasn't
a radio interview because COVID got in the way and
all that. It was at a dock has function for
International Women's Day about four or five years ago, and
the room stopped. When you got up to seeing the
room stopped and you could hear a pin drop. What's
it like when an audience responds like that because people
were just listening to that voice.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Oh that's gorgeous. Yeah, well, I mean in way, it's
kind of it's the cinematic moment that every artist wish
just saw, don't they. It's the moment you can, yeah,
like you have one service in this life, and that's
too I guess, to give people a soundtrack to their
own internal world. And I think that's what's happening. When
(05:10):
you're doing that, something happens. There's sort of they stopped
for a minute from everything they're doing in all the
busyness of life, and they just find a moment within
themselves that they can respond to emotionally without words.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
And when it's a lunch and there's no cutlery noises,
you know you're cutting through.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Well, I know, and I've had a lot of people.
I've had a lot of people eat through myset.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Well, this is why you were awarded the Lifetime Achievement
Award of the annual Australian Women in Music Awards.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Recently. That must mean a lot to you.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It did mean a lot to me.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
It meant the world.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I mean, I come from a family of very strong
women and I've raised a free range chicken and as
a woman to go forth and go and tell the world.
But it's safe to come out. It's safe to go
out and be who you are and be powerful, be
noisy and strong and and have ambition. You know, that's
a very un Australian thing. Yeah to me, and I
(06:07):
just I love I love knowing that. Yeah, it's really good.
It's good.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Well, Kate is at the Concert Hall on Saturday night,
the perfect venue, the perfect night.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Is coming to he is coming, she is coming. I'm
bringing the.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
South and so I just thought that I want you.
She's a great thing and she's a great artist.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Also, Oh that's great.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Can I just saw And also that Kate's released her
memoir this year, Unsung, so you know.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
It's doing great.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
It's all out there, and you know, I don't want
to say the words of the perfect Christmas.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Christmas A memoir always is the perfect gift.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
So Kate, lovely to talk to you. Have fun on.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
They Okay, good on you guys.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Thanks for having the Aliah,
Kate Kate is joining us now, good morning morning, good.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Morning, fine person people.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Now are you very well?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
You celebrated this year one of the most enduring and
inspirational careers in Australian music with the release of your
thirtieth album, My Life Is a Symphony. It went straight
to the top of the charts. Congratulations, thank you, A.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Bit of a labor of love.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Oh sorry, no, no, I don't tell you.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
I was going to say, when when you're reaching album
number thirty, at what number do you ever get? Do
you get scared that you think, well, I don't is
are they going to buy this one?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Are they going to like this one?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Is?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
It has gone straight to the top of the charts.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I think when you're in the business as long as
I've been, I feel like the last of the Mohicans.
I just I just I just sort of feel like
I do what I do and I think you just
got to keep doing what you do and don't think, yeah,
I really think in the end that it's a career.
It's a whole, living, breathing art form really and it's
(01:09):
like anything if you yeah, you're just in it. And
the other thing. I just want to mention is that
the public that I've known for forty years as an audience,
and it's people to sing with and sing for, they're
the ones that actually put it on the charts. It's
really it's because of their commitment and their community with me,
and I have so much to love them. For Australians,
(01:31):
they just keep on coming up, they get on showing up,
they keep on buying. So I love that. I just
feel like as an Australian artist and as one of
the last of my generation of women in music, it's
just it's just a really strong, lovely handhold into Well, you're.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Very modest, there's also the fact that you're damn good
and that's why we keep coming.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And versatility, Yeah exactly. You're on stage with all on
Saturday night, which time.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
No, not my first rodeo, but I'm telling you, if
you're playing your own music in this country with an orchestra,
symphony orchestra, it's a privilege beyond belief. I mean, it's
like having someone naming a star in a galaxy. Yeah,
it's like you just you are Andromeda. You sit in
the middle of this just like you know, a world
(02:25):
of sound and inspiration around you. The other thing is
too they're so so genuinely talented. They seem to make
it effortless, and it's a lovely feeling. It's lovely feeling.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
What about all the arrangements and everything that can be
quite complex, can't it? At times when you all of
a sudden you're doing some of these teams with the symphony?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well yeah, and I think to the symphony as well,
like sometimes pop music can seem like a bit of
a dull for them.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
With three.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Actually, I don't think they do it.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I thought they do.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
No, Well, I mean you know they what they love
is when making an arranger like the chap He's done
my arrangements. He does work for the cat Empire, the Bamboos,
and he's very contemporary. He's sort of taken the spirit
of symphonic music, and he's a very symphonic trained artist.
And he's given the orchestra a gift because it isn't
just three chords, it's their whole pieces, their whole arrangements.
(03:27):
And when I asked him, you know what, he said,
how do you want to see this? And I'm like,
I want you to throw polar express in there.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
I want love.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Actually, I want West Side Story, I want the whole,
I want the whole Enchilada, I want.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
That song you do from Baghdad Cafe. That's sort of
my favorite.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Yeah, Is there a particular song of yours that you
feel just is so elevated by the inclusion of the orchestra.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, well, a lot of the material, there are hips
in amongst material. But I guess the greatest privilege is
that these are all songs written by me. To have
a whole set of original music. There's one song that
was maybe not in the top charts of anyone particularly,
but they might have found it on an album within
an album. It's called Earth and Sky. And the reason
(04:16):
why I love it is it probably tells the story
of my yearning for forty years to sort of just
keep to my lane and keep walking, don't stop and
just keep on trucking and don't ask permission, just get
in there, get amongst it. And that's what I love
about the song.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
Yeah, it's wonderful.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Kay.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Last time we were in a room together, it wasn't
a radio interview because COVID got in the way and
all that. It was at a dock has function for
International Women's Day about four or five years ago, and
the room stopped. When you got up to seeing the
room stopped and you could hear a pin drop. What's
it like when an audience responds like that because people
were just listening to that voice.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Oh that's gorgeous. Yeah, well, I mean in way, it's
kind of it's the cinematic moment that every artist wish
just saw, don't they. It's the moment you can, yeah,
like you have one service in this life, and that's
too I guess, to give people a soundtrack to their
own internal world. And I think that's what's happening. When
(05:10):
you're doing that, something happens. There's sort of they stopped
for a minute from everything they're doing in all the
busyness of life, and they just find a moment within
themselves that they can respond to emotionally without words.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
And when it's a lunch and there's no cutlery noises,
you know you're cutting through.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Well, I know, and I've had a lot of people.
I've had a lot of people eat through myset.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Well, this is why you were awarded the Lifetime Achievement
Award of the annual Australian Women in Music Awards.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Recently. That must mean a lot to you.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
It did mean a lot to me.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
It meant the world.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
I mean, I come from a family of very strong
women and I've raised a free range chicken and as
a woman to go forth and go and tell the world.
But it's safe to come out. It's safe to go
out and be who you are and be powerful, be
noisy and strong and and have ambition. You know, that's
a very un Australian thing. Yeah to me, and I
(06:07):
just I love I love knowing that. Yeah, it's really good.
It's good.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Well, Kate is at the Concert Hall on Saturday night,
the perfect venue, the perfect night.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Is coming to he is coming, she is coming. I'm
bringing the.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
South and so I just thought that I want you.
She's a great thing and she's a great artist.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Also, Oh that's great.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Can I just saw And also that Kate's released her
memoir this year, Unsung, so you know.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
It's doing great.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
It's all out there, and you know, I don't want
to say the words of the perfect Christmas.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Christmas A memoir always is the perfect gift.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
So Kate, lovely to talk to you. Have fun on.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
They Okay, good on you guys.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Thanks for having the Aliah,
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