Who is Danielle Caruana?
Danielle Caruana aka Mama Kin. Who do I feel like I am right now? It shifts! I am a songwriter, a singer, an ideas generator, a hopeless optimist, and an occasional gardener, but mostly I am a conduit for connection, seeking places and spaces to bring people together at any and every opportunity.
What would you do differently from what you do now?
I’d be a professional dancer! And maybe just super fit in general, and I’d be able to go for a 10km run and then I’d talk about it casually while putting on my legwarmers for my afternoon dance class. Oh and maybe I’d be a death doula. Maybe I’d be a sculptor. I would definitely be an amazing writer of wonderful fiction books. I’d spend more time in the never land of creativity just making and wondering and wandering for arts own sweet human sake… BUT I have too many ideas and projects that light me up so I keep pouring myself into those instead and that is where I get my hits!
Who inspires you and why?
Every artist out there who is backing themselves against all odds and all data that is screaming at them not to bother. I am particularly inspired by musicians who are mothers and somehow manage to record, release and tour while caring for young children. I see you out there doing your thing you wonder hearts!
What would you do to make a difference in the world?
Wow… well that is a BIG question… I mean the kind of difference I want to see is to remove stupid maniacs from positions of power, end all corporate influence on government and media systems, end child slavery, treaty now, equal pay, end the rolling tragedy of women being killed by men, immediate and decisive legislative action to deal with climate change.
I mean it is endless… Ban all fracking, stop opening new coal mines. Stop putting 10 year olds in jail. End all instances of human beings being treated unfairly, end the genocide that is playing out in front of our eyes. This is what keeps me up at night. This is what has me fretting for our collective futures. This yawning distance that we are making across so many lines with each other and the planet. It is maddening and saddening.
Is that what you are asking though?
Or are you asking about a small action that I feel would make a big difference over a long time… then I’ll put my arts advocacy hat on and say we should introduce all children at a very young age to all sorts of music performed by many different, highly skilled artists across many genres and cultures. Embedded into education systems, to teach the value and wonder of this connective tissue.
This medium we have which seeks to bring sense to how we understand ourselves and each other. It is vital to our cultural fabric in my opinion that we realise very early on the incredible connecting power of expressing our shared humanity through the medium of music and all art.
It is vital to our sense of belonging, and central to all this is our artists. Our musicians, our writers, our storytellers. They are drawing maps back to ourselves over and over. We need to teach our future generations the importance of this connective craft, and the innate irreplaceable humanity of it, now more than ever.
Favourite holiday destination and why?
Camping in remote places in Western Australia out of phone range with people I love. Why? Because it is the ultimate simplification. I love the “drop in” that happens, the shift, the softening. I love not knowing the time and even better not knowing the day. My favourite.
When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to, and why?
If I’m at Walylup/ Fremantle, I want to go straight down to South Beach and hopefully go for a swim, but at least walk the beach, or if I can drag them three hours South to Wadandi Boodja, to Margaret River, I want to walk down to the river, Wooditjup Bilya, and maybe we will brave our scared skin against the urgent cold…
If we have time, let’s do a road trip up north, up through the desert, so we can sit beside fires every night in the great yawning expanse… Why? because I love the immediate light up that people get in places of natural beauty. It’s simple. It’s glorious.
What are you currently reading?
Just finished The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams.
What are you currently listening to?
Susan O’Neill – I’ve been on tour in Ireland and I’ve been a long fan of her music but seeing her play live really cemented my love for her way with her craft. Also listening to Jenn Grant and Kim Harris from Canada who were on the same tour… oh and Anna Tivel and Jeffrey Martin from the States… OK I’ve been falling in love with all of these artists that I just got to share stages with on this tour. Maybe it’s my way of making the tour last longer.
Ohhhhh and I’ve been listening to an unhealthy amount of The Blindboy Podcasts. I think I’m teetering on obsessive and I’m fine with it. I was disruptively laughing loudly on the plane the other day, fooled into a lull of isolation with my noise cancelling headphones.
Happiness is?
The smiling faces and embraces of my many loves, friends, family, generally on a dance floor, making dance faces at each other or maniacally stomping and chanting the lyrics while holding an irrational level of eye contact until we crack each other up.
What does the future hold for you?
We are bringing The Seed Fund Management Workshop back to life in 2025, I am finalising the release of a new Mama Kin Spender album due for release in 2025, Mama Kin Spender’s Choir Camp 2025. Spender and I are also working on a Theatre-ish kind of show to sit alongside the release of the new MKS album called Promises & Wild Beasts. Stay tuned!
The future also holds getting better at learning how to adjust the metrics of the ways I consider myself valuable… the rate and pace of that. I tend to go hard and then collapse. I have so many things I want to do, a lot of energy, a lot of ideas, a lot of collaborations, adventures. etc… I need to learn how to pace myself! So I’m adding that to my future musings.
Danielle (Mama Kin), with musician John Butler, are behind The Seed Fund Management Workshop, which returns in 2025. Applications are open and close 12 November 2024. For more information, visit: www.theseedfund.org for details.
Image: Danielle Caruana (AKA Mama Kin) – photo by WILK