Kaïa Kater, Feb 21, 2024
Live video for "Fédon" from 'Strange Medicine' ...
Mason Jar Music - video
Kaïa Kater - vocals and banjo
Andrew Ryan - upright bass and harmony vocals
Alec Spiegelman - clarinet and effects
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post combines my interest in documenting banjo music-particularly contemporary banjo music performed by people of Black ancestry- with my interest in documenting contemporary natural hairstyles that are worn by females of Black ancestry.
This pancocojams post presents information about Caribbean-Canadian singer, songwriter, and banjo player/guitar player Kai Kater.
This post also presents ten* YouTube videos that showcase Kaia Kater's musical artistry and also showcase
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Kaia Kater for her roots music and thanks to her (or her hair stylist/s) for her various natural hairstyles. Thanks to all those who are also featured in these showcased videos. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-
*I started this post by planning on focusing on five different natural hairstyles that Kaia Kater has worn in YouTube videos or sound files of her music. I raised that number to seven, then eight, and I now am highlighting ten different hairstyles that Kaia wore in those videos/sound files. I know that there are hairstyles that aren't included in this post. Thanks, Kaia, for the expressions of creativity that you share through your music as well as through your hairstyles.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT KAIA KATER
https://www.kaiakater.com/about About Kaia Kater
" Bio
2025 JUNOS Contemporary Roots Album of the Year Nominee
2025 International Folk Music Awards Nominated
Montreal-born Grenadian-Canadian Kaia's jazz-fueled voice and deft songcraft have garnered acclaim from NPR's Tiny Desk, The Guardian, Rolling Stone and No Depression. Through her artful banjo playing and lush songwriting, Kaia draws on influences rooted in Quebec, the Caribbean, and Appalachia, all of which reflect the diversity of her background; her ties to the Canadian folk music scene; her college years spent soaking up Appalachian music in West Virginia, her father’s experience growing up in Grenada, and her recent work in film composition.
Kaia Kater’s new album, Strange Medicine (coming May 2024 on Free Dirt Records/ acrönym in Canada) was created during a period of deep self-reflection and reinvention. Taking the helm as co-producer, alongside Joe Grass (Elisapie, Barr Brothers), the album finds Kater expanding her creative scope with cinematic arrangements, and working with guest artists such as Taj Mahal, Allison Russell and Aoife O’Donovan. The album celebrates the power of women and oppressed people throughout history, while also sharing meditations on her own life.
Kaia released her first EP Old Soul (2013) when she was just out of high school. Since then, she’s gone on to release several albums, Sorrow Bound (2015), Nine Pin (2016) and Grenades (2018) and Strange Medicine (May 2024). For the JUNO-nominated and Polaris Music Prize long-listed Grenades, Kaia leaned into a wide array of sounds and styles in order to convey a broad range of emotions and topics, most notably her Caribbean ancestry and her father’s experience as a refugee in Canada.
In 2020, Kaia took part in the Slaight Music Residency at the Canadian Film Center, leading her to write original music for The Porter (BET+ 2022), for which she garnered a Canadian Screen Award. She also wrote and performed music for the new film, My Dead Friend Zoe (March 2024).
“...One of the most remarkable Canadian folk records in some time...Kater's music is somehow ancient and brand new at the same time.”
-Tom Power, CBC Radio 2
SHORT BIO
Grenadian-Canadian Kaia Kater's jazz-fueled voice and deft songcraft have garnered acclaim from NPR’s Tiny Desk,Rolling Stone and The Guardian. Her new album, Strange Medicine (May 2024), celebrates the power of women and oppressed people, while also sharing meditations on her own life. Kaia is equally recognized for her film work, winning a Canadian Screen Award for 'The Porter' (CBC/BET+), and contributing to the new film, My Dead Friend Zoe (March 2024) as a songwriter and singer.
[...]
“...plaintive, mesmerizing ... writes and performs with the
skill of a folk-circuit veteran...”
— Rolling Stone"...
****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS OF KAIA KATER'S MUSIC THAT ALSO FEATURE EXAMPLES OF HER NATURAL HAIRSTYLES
SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - Sun to Sun
Kaïa Kater, Jul 31, 2015
Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises
Sun to Sun · Kaia Kater
Sorrow Bound
℗ 2015 Kingswood Records
Released on: 2015-06-16
Music Publisher: Kaia Hurst Kater (BMI)
Auto-generated by YouTube.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #3 - Kaia Kater - En Filant Ma QuenouilleBeehive Productions, Nov 10, 2015
Kaia Kater - En Filant Ma Quenouille
Filmed and multi-tracked by Beehive Productions in Saranac Lake, NY, July 2015
Captured with Peluso Microphones
Part of the "Ear to the Ground" series featuring sessions and interviews exploring the artists and places that make up Roots Music Culture
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #4-Saint Elizabeth · Kaia Kater
Kaïa Kater, May 12, 2016
Saint Elizabeth · Kaia Kater
Nine Pin
℗ 2016 Kingswood Records
Released on: 2016-05-13
Music Publisher: Kaia Kater
Auto-generated by YouTube.
SHOWCASE VIDEO #5 -Nine Pin
Kaïa Kater, Aug 23, 2016
From the album "'Nine Pin" (May 2016) more info: www.kaiakater.com
Kaia Kater - Banjo, vocals
Chris Bartos - Electric guitar
Brian Kobayakawa - Upright bass
USA - Kingswood Records
UK - Proper Distribution
SHOWCASE VIDEO #6 - Grenades
Kaïa Kater, Oct 19, 2018
From Kaia Kater's album Grenades (Smithsonian
Folkways/acronym Records) on 10/26/2018 and 1/11/2019 (Europe).
Kaia Kater - vocals
Alyson McNamara - organ
Aaron Goldstein - pedal steel
Anna Ruddick - electric bass
Brad Kilpatrick - drums
Mitch Fillion (Southern Souls) - video
Aaron Goldstein (Baldwin Street Studio) - mixing & audio engineer
Free Dirt Records, Jan 12, 2024
"The Internet" is Kaia Kater's new single out now
on Free Dirt ~ https://lnk.to/kaia-kater-internet
"This was a quick write, a couple of verses in a notebook over a glass of wine during the pandemic about how weird it is to talk to people through a screen. I was listening to Kate Bush’s 'Hounds of Love' on repeat at the time and was heavily inspired by her song “Watching You Without Me” about the qualities of being an observer. I took the bridge of the song in a similar direction as her song, full of barely intelligible words, like the ones you might hear when you’re losing your internet connection with someone: Can you hear me? Can you see me? Don’t ignore me." - Kaia
Produced by Kaïa Kater and Joe Grass
Engineered by Gautier Marinof
Mixed by Ryan Freeland at Stampede Origin
Mastered by Richard Addison at Trillium Sound
Recorded at Studio Mixart
Written by Kaïa Kater-Hurst (SOCAN)
I can only talk to you
through the Internet
In bits and in bytes and right angles
Carved up my life just for the Internet
You take the leg, the wing, the shoulder and sing:
“All Hail To Our God The Internet”
I spilled my drink onto the Internet
Everything twitched and was gone
Who am I now without the Internet?
I’m not the saint, the fiend
the stupid machine
“Liking” likes, like I should like the Internet
I spy the satellites of the Internet
Above me like human-made stars
Concentrically circling the internet
But never enough
To touch
To feel any rush
Out beyond the pull of The Internet
Oh how I long
to just
feel any rush
Out beyond the pull of The Internet
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #8 - Kaia Kater covers "Undone in Sorrow"
Salt Lick Sessions, Jan 14, 2024
"Undone in Sorrow" written by Ola Belle Reed
(popularized by Crooked Still)
Kaia Kater, vocals and banjo with Andrew Donavan Ryan, bass.
SHOWCASE VIDEO #9 -The Witch
Kaïa Kater, May 1, 2024
Live video for "The Witch" from 'Strange Medicine'
coming May 17 on Free Dirt / acronym: https://lnk.to/kaia-kater-strange-med...
Mason Jar Music - video
Kaïa Kater - vocals and banjo
Andrew Ryan - upright bass and harmony vocals
Alec Spiegelman - saxophone and effects
Jackson Hillmer - drums
SHOWCASE VIDEO #10 - Kaia Kater wins Contemporary Roots Album of the Year | 2025 JUNO Awards Gala
The JUNO Awards, Apr 8, 2025 #JUNOS #roots #Kaiakater
Kaia Kater wins Contemporary Roots Album of the Year at The
2025 JUNO Awards Gala Presented by Music Canada
#Kaiakater
#roots
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