When the label-defying musician Kinnie Starr appears at the 50th anniversary concert at the airport this coming weekend, July 29 and 30, she will also be returning to her new home town of Sechelt.
Starr was born in Calgary of free-thinking parents, part Mohawk, part Irish, and she has travelled much since then, living and working in Las Vegas, being discovered at an open mike in New York, surviving hand to mouth in Vancouver, diving in dumpsters and producing graffiti art, until she finally took her eclectic style into the recording studio to produce her first album, Tidy, in 1996. Two more CDs followed, and in 2003 she was Juno nominated for Best New Artist.
The latest CD, Anything, is her stock answer to what kind of music she plays. In the lyrics of the title song, she describes it as rock and roll/folk/hip-hop fusion. Some of the songs are pure pop hip-hop. But she's not so glacially cool that only a teenager could stand her. The original material on this CD has a sparkle and rhythm that's great for dancing. And if you are of a slightly older musical generation, you might want to think alt rock and the likes of Ani DiFranco or, going back even further in the musical memories, think about a beatnik who's in the groove. Starr is noted for her outspoken race and gender politics but she's no rapper; she incorporates her beliefs into this CD in original, melodic lyrics. In Rock the Boat, she says: "I like writing rhymes but I'm not supposed to. Writing rhyme is not what fair skinned girls do."Her lyrics are littered with earthy terminology; there's an edge to her songs, such as the raging CD opener that she wrote with drummer and co-producer John Raham. "Step back, got no more space for you. Gonna get free from that s*** you do."
In another song, Starr steps up the echo chamber, sci-fi effects to sing: "I was born to bear the flame that excites you to the game of contemplation."
A fair share of her contemplative thoughts on the human condition appear on this CD, for example, in a song that she wrote when her niece and nephew were born and she wondered if the world would be good enough for them. In Not Enough she asks, "I've got $20 in my pocket. Why does that seem like not enough?"
Starr is reportedly thrilled to be returning to the West Coast after hanging out in the music industry centre of Toronto. She's at work on new songs, a different style again, that she says are tipped towards jazz and old school Motown ballads. She's also turned writer for a native publication, Spirit Magazine.
You can hear Starr at the Sechelt 50th anniversary concert at the airport on July 29 and 30. Tickets can be had at many of the usual outlets plus the District of Sechelt office. The early bird admission of $20 gets you in for both days of music.
