Lily Kiara

Silence often is an important part of a concert: just before a song and often after a song. This moment of suspense i love. It can be poetic, it can be awkward as well. What if this silent time is part of a music performance by deliberately allowing it and prolonging it beyond what seems recognizable in the usual concert setting? Does it change our listening? How do we live through these moments of RESONANCE? What if songs and silence would be present as equal players of the performance? Songs are full of stories and imaginations. They evoke images and sensations and feelings. What if you give that the chance to be for a while, before bringing another song, another story into the space? This space of resonance and this shared space of silence are at the heart of my work. In my dance work i have been working with stillness and silence for many years and more radically so since 2015 when i started my long time project ‘Field of Disappearance’ in a two month residency in Finland. Last year i worked with a development budget of AFK and performances SILENT DANCES were part of this process. Now i’d like to create this still space in which songs can happen. When i play concerts, something of this silence often already takes place, whether it’s solo or with my band The RIVER. In a concert setting, does this silence settle or unsettle? Does it change how we listen to a song? Does it give space for embodying how a song moves you? How do we live through this resonance, this listening quietly together?

'Intimate and with the necessary bite.' Lily Kiara (NL) is a folk singer-songwriter, based in Amsterdam. She plays poetic songs on guitar that have evolved into individual vignettes and stories, concerning human rights intertwined with personal journeys. Her band The RIVER brings a melange of songs, improvisations and poetry. It includes Michael Vatcher (drums), Joost Buis (lap steel guitar, trombone), Michael Moore (clarinet) Felicity Provan (trumpet, vocals), Julyen Hamilton (poetry). Their first CD ‘The Swim Sessions’ was recorded live at the Bimhuis. She runs her own label for poetry and music, Sibyl Sings. Lily has been touring the USA since 2015 with guitarist Jimmy Robinson from New Orleans. Venues where she frequently plays in Amsterdam are Mezrab, De Nieuwe Anita and De Ruimte. Her latest CD Fishing in the Field released on Zip Records. She is currently working on an EP with recordings from New Orleans. She started a new collaboration with Esmail Bnaou (Syria) and Robbert van Hulzen (NL).

"Ani DiFranco, Joni Mitchell, Rickie Lee Jones, Suzanne Vega…Lily Kiara would love to connect to this line of musicians and that is exactly what she does with ‘Fishing In The Field’. And more, because with the addition of a number of jazz musicians she takes in a unique place in this line of female singer-songwriters.“ - Marc Alenus, Damusic.be

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www.sibylsings.com
www.ziprecords.com

Video: 
‘We Are Trees’ in New Orleans, USA.
'HOME' in Louisiana, USA. 
The RIVER, Bimhuis, Amsterdam.