{"id":1274,"date":"2019-06-07T10:00:18","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T10:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/315music.com\/2019\/06\/07\/kaia-kater-looks-back-and-moves-forward-at-caffe-lena\/"},"modified":"2019-06-07T10:00:18","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T10:00:18","slug":"kaia-kater-looks-back-and-moves-forward-at-caffe-lena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/315music.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/07\/kaia-kater-looks-back-and-moves-forward-at-caffe-lena\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaia Kater Looks Back and Moves Forward at Caffe Lena"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Grenadian-Canadian banjo singer and vocalist, Kaia Kater, returned to Caffe Lena on Thursday, June 6 to promote her folk album, Grenades<\/em>. The 2018 album highlights Kater\u2019s lush, tenor voice to tell the story of her father\u2019s immigration from Grenada after the US invasion in 1983.  The talented Kater, whose velvety voice and traditional use of folk tells a story of social injustice, inspired a small group of fans to leave their home sofas. They sat on Lena\u2019s comfy couches for the night to hear songs laced with themes exposing racism and ethnocentrism, told with raw honesty and soothing sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Jim Gilbert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Accompanied by Dan Riccione on electric guitar and vocals, and Andrew Ryan on upright bass and vocals, Kater informally took the stage at the historic Caffe Lena with a brief \u201chi\u201d before launching into her song \u201cSt. Elizabeth.\u201d  The small crowd of approximately 40 audience members quieted quickly as she plucked her banjo, creating a soul soothing sound. And just like that, Kater had the house\u2019s full attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 25-year-old Kater demonstrated wit and dry humor when speaking of herself as \u201cmuch older and wiser now,\u201d when contrasted to her tour approximately three years ago that brought her to Saratoga. Her current tour was intended to showcase the new album Grenada<\/em>, an album she envisioned would help her move forward \u201cby looking at the past.\u201d But first, she revisited \u201cThe Heavenly Track,\u201d an earlier piece that used vocal harmonies to raise the audience\u2019s spirit and sense of hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Jim Gilbert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kater played newsreels and interviews with her father sporadically in between the songs inspired by his immigration story, starting with the excitement of her father Dino\u2019s memory of the peaceful revolution that brought Maurice Bishop to power in 1979.  Her responsive songs captured the hopeful energy of a time with major chords and somewhat na\u00efve lyrics representing a time in Grenadian history, that shifted despair to hope for many. \u201cMeridian Ground\u201d and \u201cCanyon Land\u201d both paired faster moving sections of the songs with slower, drawn out choruses, emphasizing both the uncertainty and the hope of the era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kater returned to a previous favorite next with \u201cNine Pin,\u201d juxtaposing satisfying harmonies once again with desperate lyrics about loss of self.  Shortly after, as if reading the audience\u2019s emotional state, Kater returned to the Grenada theme, playing a news reel about how the National Women\u2019s Organization in the early 1980s were providing education and social service support to the young. The trio, accompanied only by the bass, sang a folk-esque song in French, sounding like children\u2019s voices. Kater smiled, admitting she liked singing that song. The audience had too, resting back a bit more, and breathing easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Jim Gilbert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStarry Day\u201d and \u201cNew Colossus\u201d finished the first set. Kater, just like those in folk before her, had a reason to tell her stories and was pleased to share them with the focused audience. She shared that \u201cNew Colossus\u201d was inspired by the famed Emma Lazarus poem printed on the Statue of Liberty. \u201cI always loved the Statue of Liberty. Here\u2019s this huge woman, holding a torch, taking up space.\u201d She suggested the statue was a reminder of how \u201cbad-ass\u201d women can be, and her song: a reminder to women to take up the life long work to be bigger and take up space. The inclusion of the statue, often a sign of hope for immigrants, brought the audience back to the reminder that the overarching story of the night belonged truly to immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a longer break of thirty minutes, the trio returned for a second set. \u201cEverything is free\u201d was her opener, a song by Gillian Welch and David Rollings. Featuring both guitar and bass solos, the group\u2019s energy seemed to crescendo into the second song, \u201cLittle Sorrow,\u201d written by Kater\u2019s aunt, Julia Kater. The bass\u2019 long and slow bow strokes, combined with Kater\u2019s authentically sorrowful voice, translated the meaning of the song sung in French, even for non-French speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And from there, the group transitioned back to Grenada with perhaps one of the most powerful pieces of the night: \u201cGrenade.\u201d Ronald Reagan sent a war to Grenada in 1983 with over 18,000 troops landing on the small island. Punished for their successful use of African culture and social-economic successes based in community efforts, supporters of Maurice Bishop on the island found themselves with nowhere to hide. The Reagan recording expressed Grenada\u2019s successes were a threat somehow to Americans; he demanded its citizens to \u201cact like the hemisphere\u201d in which they live rather than embrace African cultures or face invasion. And with that, the US brought war to Grenada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Jim Gilbert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The song\u2019s minor key shadowed the sadness felt in all that was lost, including Dino\u2019s dreams of serving his community as a lawyer. The song described the dogs of war marching into the small island and the sense of powerlessness felt by the citizens there: \u201cYou can shout at the mountain \/ but they\u2019ve already crowned him.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reflected that there was little resistance to the US\u2019s government of choice for Grenada. \u201cWe always seem to get played\u201d was a heart -breaking reminder of how America\u2019s ethnocentric policies were more than rhetoric; implemented in developing countries around the world to enforce American values. These policies stole the very hopes and dreams of entire countries, and led us to our current crisis within the world as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kater didn\u2019t let the audience stay with this heartbreak, though. She told a light -hearted story about a Swedish vampire movie that inspired the next song, \u201cThe Right One.\u201d Watching the bass player look at Kater, it wasn\u2019t hard to imagine that he believed she is absolutely his right one. Gazing at her in a trance, the musician\u2019s admiration for his colleague was tremendously moving and joyful. Riccione and Ryan playfully made ‘scary movie’ music as she tried to playfully explain her song, and even Kater started to laugh at their antics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ensemble\u2019s friendship is a part of its charm. From there, they ran through a number of other songs, bouncing between moods, like a rapidly cycling manic-depressive. \u201cEverly\u201d reflected on falling apart, while \u201cLittle Pink\u201d was a traditional song from West Virginia ,demonstrating Kater\u2019s vocal range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Jim Gilbert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kater humbly thanked the audience repeatedly, and expressed enjoyment in playing at the historic Lena. She finished the night with her father\u2019s story of resiliency. He was able to escape Grenada through a student program chosen to tour Quebec to raise empathy and awareness of the plight of those in developing countries. Encouraged by his grandmother, Kater\u2019s father let go of his dream to work in the public sector in Grenada and pursue his new life in Canada. \u201cPoets be buried\u201d was a moving testimony to his struggles and courage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kater generously returned for an encore performance of \u201cTrouble in Mind,\u201d a bluesy folk song with a heavy bass line and smooth guitar. She let go of her banjo and crooned about the ups and downs of life. \u201cSometimes I feel like living, sometimes I feel like dying,\u201d she sang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kater began the night by sharing her belief that she had to look at her past in order to move forward, and her album Grenade <\/em>looks at Grenada\u2019s past with honesty that is painful at times. It is also inspiring, hopeful, and at the end of the concert, mindful, that being human includes sorrow alongside joy. Kater certainly appears ready now to move forward, fully aware of her family\u2019s past and using the tradition of folk\u2019s raw honesty to remind listeners that ugliness juxtaposed with great beauty offers hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo by Jim Gilbert<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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