Refolkus
Monday May 20th, 2024 with Rosalyn Dennett
Composing for Film & Television w/ Kaia Kater

OK, full-disclosure, Kaia and I don’t get to talking about Composing for Film and Television until about 20 minutes into this conversation. We start by discussing the early stages of her career learning clawhammer banjo from the legendary Mitch Podolak, attending various Old-Time music camps in West Virginia, and growing up in Canada’s Folk Festival scene. Then, in 2018 after 2 years of extensive touring, Kaia suffered a panic attack mid-show and came to the realization that she needed to make a change. After attending some community classes on how to use Ableton, the freedom of self-producing and composing opened up a new world, and she began to explore opportunities in Film and TV, putting her career on a whole new path. Fast-forward to today, Kaia has just been nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for ‘Best Original Song’ for the series 'The Porter'. She is a Juno Award-nominated and Polaris Prize-longlisted songwriter of Grenadian-Canadian heritage. Her voice and deft songcraft have garnered acclaim from CBC, BBC Music and Rolling Stone. Her recent film work includes the CBC/BET+ TV Emmy-nominated series 'The Porter', and she has had a song placed on Global TV’s Mary Kills People. Kaia has toured internationally, including notable performances at NPR Tiny Desk Concerts and Carnegie Hall. Kaia Released her new album, Strange Medicine, On May 16, 2024 FULL PODCAST EPISODE: https://folkmusicontario.org/refolkus/blog/7162447/episode-1-composing-for-film-television-w-kaia-kater Follow Kaia Website: https://kaiakater.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaiakater About Kaia: Montreal-born Grenadian-Canadian Kaia's jazz-fueled voice and deft songcraft have garnered acclaim from NPR's Tiny Desk, The Guardian, Rolling Stone and No Depression. Through her artful banjo playing and lush songwriting, Kaia draws on influences rooted in Quebec, the Caribbean, and Appalachia, all of which reflect the diversity of her background; her ties to the Canadian folk music scene; her college years spent soaking up Appalachian music in West Virginia, her father’s experience growing up in Grenada, and her recent work in film composition. Kaia Kater’s new album, Strange Medicine was created during a period of deep self-reflection and reinvention. Taking the helm as co-producer, alongside Joe Grass (Elisapie, Barr Brothers), the album finds Kater expanding her creative scope with cinematic arrangements, and working with guest artists such as Taj Mahal, Allison Russell and Aoife O’Donovan. The album celebrates the power of women and oppressed people throughout history, while also sharing meditations on her own life. Kaia released her first EP Old Soul (2013) when she was just out of high school. Since then, she’s gone on to release several albums, Sorrow Bound (2015), Nine Pin (2016) and Grenades (2018) and Strange Medicine (May 2024). For the JUNO-nominated and Polaris Music Prize long-listed Grenades, Kaia leaned into a wide array of sounds and styles in order to convey a broad range of emotions and topics, most notably her Caribbean ancestry and her father’s experience as a refugee in Canada.