PEMBROKE – Local Lumbee singer / songwriter Charly Lowery recently partnered with international group The Heart Collectors to use music to express her experiences during the pandemic.
Folk Alliance International released the Residence Project this summer, which saw 10 US-based artists work with musicians from Australia, Canada, Egypt, Ireland, Israel, Scotland and Spain to collaborate on writing songs about the pandemic experience. Supported by the Antonia and Vladimer Kulaev Cultural Heritage Fund, the songs are published by FAI as “home videos” that were recorded in the respective homes of the artists.
“This project connects countries, cultures and languages and was designed to reflect our collective experiences in these unprecedented times and create songs that bring light and inspiration to tired music fans around the world,” said Marisa Kolka, FAI Communications Manager.
The series is hosted by Grammy-winning artist and FAI Showcase alumnus Chris Thile.
“The past year has taken an enormous toll on the folk community,” said Thile. “These new compositions from this project will be posted on FAI’s YouTube channel to raise awareness of the Village Fund, which provides direct grants to artists and music industry professionals in need.”
Lowery and The Heart Collectors collaborated on the song “Navigating to Hope,” which to date has received more than 14,000 views on YouTube.
Lowery enjoys performing, meeting people, and teaching others about the Indian experience.
She served as ambassador for the Lumbee people from 1997-98 and traveled across the country to visit tribal nations while attending various conferences, powwows, etc. Her reign as Junior Miss Lumbee was the catalyst that turned her spirit into an inherent calling as a bearer of culture.
Lowry continues to work on her craft: immersing herself in the culture of American music and expanding her ear to different genres while composing songs that personally reflect her experience as an indigenous woman walking in two worlds.
Of The Heart Collectors, John T. Davis, author of Austin City Limits: 25 Years Of American Music, said, “Think of Fleetwood Mac with a more organic, Celtic-inspired song and melody, and you have a rough idea why Australia’s Heart Collectors are so instantly attractive. Her music has a lively and timeless attraction that defies the fashion of the moment and is therefore all the more sustainable. Kymrie’s voice is the stuff that angels’ wings are made of. “
With the sentimentality of 1970s-inspired harmonies, the Australian four-piece epic folk band has graced stages around the world, touring three internationally and releasing four studio albums. This independent group was selected as one of the Top Bands To See by SXSW (The Austin Statesman) and has found creative ways to stay connected during their 2020 bans and the cancellation of their US and UK tours.
The Heart Collectors released their latest album, Time To Say I Love You (2020), a fortnightly single featured on Spotify with The Guardians’ Australian Music for Isolated Times and Sounds Australia’s Sounds Australia Selects playlists. In September 2020, the Collectors were selected as one of 12 Australian artists for the premier event Global Music Match – a worldwide initiative to bring musicians and industry together in the face of COVID-19 restrictions.
With a soaring cello, filigree guitar, sparkling mandolin, boot-bang banjo, passionate beats of a tambourine and the thunder of the bodhran, the four performers create musical synergies that combine progressive folk / rock sensitivity and clear classical precision.
Founded in 1989 and led by a 21-person board, Folk Alliance International is the world’s largest membership organization for the folk music industry and community. Its mission is to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion.
