Kee'Ahn is a 22 year old Kuku Yalanji, Jirrbal and Badu Island songbird . With a name coming from the Wik people of Cape York meaning to dance, to sing, to play she honours her ancestors through vulnerable soulful melodies of identity, heartbreak, and healing. Kee’ahn is once again my guest around 8.30 this morning on 3KND.
Winner of the Archie Roach Award at the 2020 National Indigenous Music Awards, and best-emerging talent at The 2020 Music Victoria Awards, soulful vocalist/ songwriter Kee’Ahn makes her debut performance at The Counts.
Effortlessly blending the sounds of soul, R&B and pop throughout her music, Kee’ahn weaves lush melodies and words reminiscent of heartbreak and healing. Her rich vocals and hopeful lyrics champion the idea that finding strength in our struggles encourages us to reflect, reinvent, and rejoice in all of our own individual healing journeys. “As a First Nations woman, my connection to music is strong because of my connection to my culture. I come from a long line of disruptors. My matriarchs were told to quieten their voices, but our stories were always shared and heard. My voice and my music allows me to connect to my Ancestors and to my purpose.”
2020 was a huge debut year for rising music star Kee’ahn. Releasing her debut single in the middle of the Covid lockdown in late May 2020 was always going to be a challenge but this songstress from the tropics of Far North QLD rose to the occasion and surpassed all expectations with her soulful track Better Things. The single almost immediately thrust her into the Australian music psyche with its message becoming a mantra for many struggling through the challenges of lock down and a changed world.
In the time since the release of the single Kee’ahn has been so busy that’s it become difficult for her to do anything removed from music. A NAIDOC Week program saw Kee’ahn play shows for TikTok (Aust) an ABC online concert, she was selected to be one of the three collaborators for the 2020 Triple J Unearthed Naidoc Week collaboration along with a BIGSOUND Spotify showcase, curating the opening night program for Melbourne Music Week, taking part in a US Instagram Creators campaign, performing as part of the channel 9 broadcast of THE STATE OF THE NATION concert and the Delivered Live Youtube TV show as well as a raft of other online appearances and shows. Better Things was playlisted on Double J,
Triple J Unearthed, ABC Local Radio, 2SER, EDGE Radio, and played on Triple J amongst many other media reviews and airplay. 2021 will see her showcase for both the US Folk Alliance ‘Folk Unlocked‘ international conference in January and SXSW International Conference in late February. • THE COUNT’S • THURSDAY 15 JULY 2021, Kee’Ahn The Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts
$10 - $25