A few days ago I had the pleasure of watching Eekwol (aka Lindsay Knight) perform her marvellous hip hop-inspired songs in a tent at Word on the Street in Saskatoon. Seven months pregnant and the mom of a busy toddler, Eekwol held nothing back. She wowed her audience with a high-energy, yet well-grounded presentation. Yes, her lyrics pack a punch, but it’s her ease in delivery and connection with the audience that make her instantly loveable.
I’m thrilled to be launching Quick Tips, my new service for performing musicians, with Eekwol as the inspiration for my first four “Performing Quick Tips.” Today I have a few things to say about what it means to be a force, but my next three Quick Tips will focus on the more definable things that help to make her a force: enunciation, audience interaction and lyrical content. With some thought and practise, these are all things we can study and learn and execute well on stage.
However, there will always be an element of mystery when it comes to seeing a force at work, so here’s my best guess as to where it comes from. In any artistic discipline, it seems to me that when an artist gets to a point with his/her work where they understand what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and more to the point, why it’s not just important, but has become critical to the wellbeing of themselves and the world around them, then their work comes from a very special place. Some would say a sacred place. Religious people might think of it as channelling God. Those who aren’t religious might define it as the human mind, heart and body connecting in a way that projects the very best they have to offer.
And here’s another best guess. In recalling the early performances of someone like Ani DiFranco, who was clearly a force in her teens, sometimes the force is with you even before you really know yourself or what you’re doing! Like I said, sometimes the force is a mysterious thing.