Ceara Conway: Roots and Wings
Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman
12/09/23
•81m
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Ceara Conway is an Irish contemporary vocalist and visual artist, and this episode features music from her album CAOIN as well as excerpts from some of her other projects. I find Ceara’s curiosity about so many important topics around arts and culture really inspiring and this conversation circled around to her explorations of different languages and cultures as well as her rootedness as an Irish speaker. She has had many interesting commissions dealing with history, illness, grief, and the natural world. She uses traditional and contemporary song, performance and visual art to explore social issues such as the ecological crisis, migration and feminist concerns. She also spoke to me about some of her roles working with the Clare Arts office with artists with disabilities, and how she started her career as a glassblower in Rome and how her upbringing has helped her navigate the world as a freelance artist. Like all my episodes, this is also a video and the transcript is also linked to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/ceara-conway
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https://www.cearaconway.ie/about photo: Julia Dunin photography
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Timestamps
(00:00) Intro
(02:36) Ceara’s background, the album CAOIN
(17:03) Anach Cuain
(18:10) more about CAOIN An Caoinea
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(20:52) singing in different languages, Oumou Sangaré
(23:56) Ceara’s childhood
(27:56) support this independant podcast!
(28:35) glassblowing, start in art and music, Matthew Noonan
(33:03) books
(35:28) Veriditas project
(41:23) Plant Chant
(43:01) Clare Arts Office Embrace arts and disability program
(49:18) CAOIN, intro to Seoith í n Seothó
(51:59) Seoithín Seothó
(56:00) Georgian song, choirs
(1:01:40) Dochas
(1:06:17) Hanna Tuulikki, corncrake
(1:09:05) Time to Say Goodbye
(1:13:14) Irish language
(1:16:50) new projects
Previous Episode
EmmoLei Sankofa: Morse code and Living Creatively
December 2, 2023
•83m
Like all my podcast episodes, you can watch the video on my YouTube and the transcript is linked here as well: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/emmolei-sankofa
EmmoLei Sankofa https://www.e-sankofa.com/ is a an American composer, producer, musician, and artist whose work spans music, visual media, and fine art. Detailed show notes below with timestamps!
You can sign up for my weekly newsletter https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletterto get access to Sneak Peeks for upcoming guests on my website https://www.leahroseman.com/about where you can explore past episodes and support the show through my Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman
My socials are in my Linktree: https://linktr.ee/leahroseman
In this episode we focused on EmmoLei's original music for Hulu's The Other Black Girl, the film score for Three Ways and her project Geometry, and we talked about her unique use of Morse code in her compositions, and the benefits of limitations in creative work. I asked her about her experiences in HBCU marching band culture, at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and being part of a positive community of mentors and peers through the Composers Diversity Collective. With her background as a percussionist and her use of Morse code, I was interested to hear about her creative process, and also about some of her visual art projects and collaborative installations. EmmoLei’s discography encompasses many albums and singles, and often integrates soul, jazz, classical, and rhythm and blues. Her single, Don’t Fight, was included on Adult Swim’s OPUS compilation album. EmmoLei has collaborated with many award-winning filmmakers, and through her creative audio company, Bèl Son, has worked with brands like Nike, Buzzfeed and Kamala Harris for the People. At the beginning of this episode, we dig into EmmoLei’s unique score for The Other Black Girl, which I watched and recommend. It’s based on a best-selling novel by Zakiya Dalila Harris, and the show is an edgy thriller that’s a social commentary with humourous twists, and shines a light on the expeirence of Black women in corporate America, specifically in the publishing industry.
Here's the link to the official Triangles Video (which is excerpted in the episode) https://youtu.be/5YGSMD547VE?si=1LS-y6EoFKP-SqGA
Timestamps: (00:00) Intro(03:01) The Other Black Girl(11:49) using Morse code in EmmoLei’s compositions(17:10) marching band culture HBCU(20:52) SCAD Sound Design Masters(23:25) please help support this independant podcast!(24:04) Mentors and mentoring, the Composers Diversity Collective(33:37) African diaspora, Sankofa(36:33) Emmolei’s instruments and creative process(44:44) visual art, trip to South Africa(56:26) Geometry, filmmaking, producing(01:00:49) Three Ways(01:04:13) The Other Black Girl, Tonality vocal group, graphic scores(01:12:23) In Pursuit of Silence(01:17:30) EmmoLei’s well-rounded musical background
Next Episode
Mohamed Assani: Sitar and Tabla, History and Innovation
December 16, 2023
•63m
This podcast is also a video on my YouTube and the transcript is also linked to my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/mohamed-assani Today’s guest is the genre-defying sitarist and composer Mohamed Assani. In this conversation a couple of compositions from his album Wayfinder are featured. Wayfinder incorporates a range of stylistic influences, including South Asian Classical, Middle Eastern, jazz, funk, Western Classical, ambient & electronic music. It was produced by Juno and Emmy nominated producer Adham Shaikh and in the show notes you’ll find links to the complete music videos and to his albums. Mohamed is also a wonderful educator, based in Vancouver Canada, also teaching online, and I’m so grateful to him for being so gracious in agreeing to demonstrate on both sitar and tabla some basics of these instruments, and of stylistic elements in South Asian music, for this episode.
I’m an independent podcaster, and I truly need the help of my listeners to keep this project going. https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Remember you can sign up for my weekly newsletter to get access to Sneak Peeks for upcoming episodes: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter
This is the final episode for Season 3, and season 4 launches January 6th, so do check out episodes you may have missed from the first 3 seasons: https://www.leahroseman.com/about Mohamed Assani website: https://www.mohamedassani.ca/about/ Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:37) Mohamed’s path in music, South Asian music and history (08:56) introduction to the sitar with musical examples (13:34) history of the sitar, the Mogul rule (20:20) tabla, rhythm in South Asian music (25:28) tabla demonstration (28:51) please support this podcast (29:31)music education (32:12) Wayfinder album, Lullaby for Guli, Transit (41:07) Solace, understanding beat cycles (49:58) the intuitive versus analytical (51:28) Shahbaz Hussain tabla player (54:06) Aga Khan 80th birthday concert (56:22) reflections on learning music and self-development
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