The opportunity to perform at WOMADelaide is a "bucket list" item for proud Kuku Yalanji, Jirrbal, Zenadh Kes song woman Kee'ahn, who is excited to make that dream a reality in 2023.
"When my team told me that it was on the cards I was trying to chill out a bit and wait until everything was confirmed," she laughs."I'm really, really stoked to be a part of it, and so keen to go to Adelaide – I've only been there once during lockdown.
"There was a gig there, so I had to stay isolated, to the gig, go back to isolate again. So WOMAD will be incredible – the culture and the music."
After moving from her North Queensland home to the Kulin Nation (Melbourne) in 2018 to focus on her music career, nobody was more shocked than Kee'ahn herself at the speed of her success, appearing at festivals like Laneway, BIGSOUND and Woodford Folk Festival, and releasing her successful debut single 'Better Things'.
Kee'ahn was awarded the Archie Roach Foundation Award at the 2020 National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMAs) and has worked with the Foundation since Roach passed away.
"I'm very honoured to have received that [award] and to have met him a couple times and been supported by him," she says.
Continuing to work with the Foundation, Kee'ahn has taken part in the Singing Our Futures programme, which pairs up and coming First Nations artists with established industry figures.
"I think to be able to write a song in honour of Uncle Archie with Emma Donovan for the Foundation was pretty helpful and healing and empowering," Kee'ahn says. "The song is kind of about honouring the people before us who paved the way for younger First Nations artists to come through."
While she feels empowered knowing the racism and barriers First Nations artists have fought through, Kee'ahn says she also acknowledges there are different barriers she and her peers still have to navigate through as the new wave of First Nations success.
"I feel very privileged and grateful to have this platform, but then I also know there's a duty that I'm honoured with, to keep advocating for my communities," she says.
"I feel like I'm in such a privileged position, I just have to give back and understand where I'm coming from, but also think about where I want to go and where I want my community to be."
Having spent around half of her time in Melbourne locked down during the pandemic, Kee'ahn grappled to deal with the realities of a career in music away from her traditional support networks.
"I guess I don't reflect as much – I'm usually very grateful to be caught up in the moment – but literally almost all of it has happened in lockdown!" Kee'ahn laughs.
"I did not anticipate that much attention in a short amount of time; also feeling quite isolated in lockdown and not having the go-to supports that I would usually have."
Although challenging, Kee'ahn says she is grateful for the experience. "I'm kind of glad – like I wouldn't change it," she explains.
"I learnt a lot about myself and all the support was really grounding and kept me creating during the lockdowns."
With her family and friends still based in regional and remote North Queensland, Kee'ahn says she is humbled by their support when she returns home.
"I don't think some of my family understand maybe whereabouts I am, they're like, 'Oh, Kee makes music', and then when I go back home and I show them photos and stuff they're like, 'Woah! That's so cool! I'm so proud of you,'" she says.
"When I went up to the Torres Strait, that was really sweet too – they had photos of me they found on the Internet and printed out up on the wall, and they were all asking, 'When's your CD [being released], Kee? We don't know YouTube and stuff, we want CDS.' It was super cute."
The CDs are coming, Kee'ahn promises. She started 2022 with the intention of collaborating with artists she loves, and she has been busy doing that.
"I've been in the studio with Alice Ivy and Milan Ring and Emma Donovan, and I guess I've got my spark back with writing," she says. "I think after lockdown I just hit the ground running with gigs and, yeah, I guess now I've been writing a lot more, which is great."
With a summer full of festival performances stretching through to WOMADelaide in March, Kee'ahn has also been working hard in the studio with Pataphysics, refining a fresh new live set.
"The live set will have all those new songs, kind of upbeat dance music, but also my soul – a lot of the soul is still there," she says.
"It's a new kind of set, just showing my range because I love performing and being on stage, and creating an energy with the crowd.
"The band I'm working with are amazing, and the set that I've got planned is just so fun to do – that's what I really want people to feel, is joy and hope and just really have a great time."
Kee'ahn performs at 2023 WOMADelaide in Adelaide, which takes place 10-13 March. She also plays the sold-out Queenscliff Music Festival 25-27 November.
WOMADelaide 2023 Line-up
ADG7Angel Olsen
AURORA
Bab L' Bluz
Bangarra Dance Theatre
Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburh
Billy Bragg
Bon Iver
Cimafunk
Constantinople
Florence + The Machine
Foco alAire
Gaia by Luke Jerram
The Garifuna Collective
Genesis Owusu
Gratte Ciel's Places des Anges
Jaguar* DJ set
Justin Adams & Mauro Durante
Kee'ahn
Kefaya and Elaha Soroor
The Langan Band
Madeleine Peyroux
Mdou Moctar
Nakhane
Nightmares On Wax* DJ set
Pandit Ronu Majumdar & Dr Jayanthi Kumaresh
The Proclaimers
Ripple Effect Band
Rizwan Muazzam Qawwals
Sampa The Great
San Salvador
Small Island Big Song
Soul II Soul
Youssou N’Dour & Le Super Étoile de Dakar
