Ep 63 Karan Casey

<p><strong>Karan Casey</strong></p> <p><strong> </strong><em>Does Singing Songs Make a Difference?</em></p> <p>This episode is a recording of Karan Casey’s keynote presentation at the close of the conference of the European Music Therapy Confederation in Edinburgh, 8-12 June 2022. Karan talked about songs and social justice, arts practice research, and about her own life and experiences as a performer and campaigner on social issues. She performed a number of songs as part of the presentation, and took engaged in further conversation with Luke Annesley to explore these issues further. It was an inspiring ending to a varied and exciting conference.</p> <p>About Karan:</p> <p>Singing songs charged with a sense of social responsibility in a career spanning over 25 years Karan Casey has released eleven albums as well as contributing to numerous other artists’ projects – appearing on more than 50 albums in total. She has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Japan, performing with her own band as well as collaborating with such diverse musicians as Maura O’Connell, James Taylor, Bela Fleck, Boston Pops Orchestra, Kate Ellis, Niall Vallely, Pauline Scanlon, The Chieftains, The Dubliners, Peggy Seeger, Karen Matheson, Mick Flannery, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Tim O’Brien, Solas and Lúnasa. </p> <p>In 2018 Karan helped found FairPlé which is an organization aimed at achieving fairness and gender balance for female performers in Irish traditional and folk musics.</p> <p>Karan tours with her band Niamh Dunne, Sean Óg Graham and Niall Vallely.</p> <p>Karan’s most recent album <em>Hieroglyphs That Tell the Tale</em> was released on the Vertical Records Label. Her song “Down in the Glen” was nominated for Best Original Folk Song at the RTE Folk Awards 2019 and she completed a <a href= "https://ulir.ul.ie/handle/10344/9009">PhD in music in 2019</a>. Karan has recently performed her new show with Director Sophie Motley called <em>I Walked into My Head</em> which was premiered at the Kilkenny Arts Festival 2021.</