#MyMusicStory
Submitted by: Dalannah Gail Bowen (Spotify,Website,Facebook)
I was born Roberta Anderson, renamed Fern Bowen, renamed Gail Fern Bowen. I often, in light moments, say that is why it took me so long to find myself…smiles. I was born in Winnipeg in 1945 and I do not know who my real parents are altho’ I have my suspicions.
In those times black people, from the many farms in western Canada were moving to the city and trying to find out how they fit into society; the railways were training and hiring black men to be porters and everything was new.
I was adopted (rumour has it) into a family who came from Amber Valley (a small black settlement in Alberta). I was passed from one brother to another after my adopted father’s marriage fell apart. I didn’t fit! I am sure there were good times but I can’t remember them.
When I was twelve years old, the family bought a piano and it saved me. I would play for hours practicing and learning. I became very good and went on to perform as concert soloist with the Winnipeg Junior Symphony Orchestra. Things changed for me and one day, I felt, it was time for me to go.
I share this part of my journey because I believe the experiences that we have as children shape our person, strongly influence who we are and, depending on an individual’s experience, set the tone challenges and for things to overcome.
Early in my adult journey, I started community work as an activist for injustice, people who live in poverty and the under privileged. Musically, I have been fortunate to sing with or open for many of the greats in the blues, jazz and rock tradition.
There was a time when I fell, hopelessness had taken over and I was reliving the trauma over and over again. I had not sang in a while and was offered an opportunity to audition to participate in a musical play and I was successful and got the part.
Of course, I had to change my ways as when you live in addiction your priority is survival first and then feeding your habit. I made it through the rehearsals and the play.
When the play was completed, the first thing I recognized is that I couldn’t be satisfied with the life I had been living and desperately wanted change. I prayed and prayed to be lifted out of the hell that I was living.
I had a stroke, didn’t have a phone and laid there for three days before I could gather the strength to get up and walk to the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. They called an ambulance. I slipped into a coma. It took a long time to heal as my left side of both my brain and body were compromised. I worked really hard to come back to being able to function.
THE CHANGE
The stroke was very profound both in a physical and spiritual way. After the stroke, I never drank, smoked or did a drug again…”My Cosmic kick in the butt”….smiles! The second thing that happened was I had experienced “visits” while I was under and I have, ever since, been walking my life from a spiritual perspective. The third thing that happened was I was singing all the time and reconnecting with that part of me.
One of the things I did to pass the time at home, while healing, is I started writing poems, to “put to the page” what I had been carrying, every day and before I knew it, I had a book of poems. The poems evolved into a play and I, in partnership with the Firehall Theatre, presented “The Returning Journey.”
Shortly after, an old friend came to me and asked if I would be interested in recording and, of course, I said yes. The poems evolved into songs and I recorded my first cd “Mamma’s Got The Blues”.
One night when I was sharing a performance, there was a moment when there was no separation between me and the song I was singing…I WAS THE SONG! I have five recording and I am proud of each one. The songs I “write come through me”. I am a messenger.
The other side of me is that I have been an activist since the days of apartheid. I have a list of the many organizations that I have supported either by organizing fundraising events, volunteering or being on the board. To me, when you experience a certain kind of trauma, are given another chance, you can’t help but care for the injustices and the imbalances of the world.
Humbly, I offer that I feel that my life is an amazing music project. My current cd, “LOOKING BACK” reflects the culmination of my socio-political history and accumulated perspective. The song that I am sharing “LOOK AHEAD” focuses on the environment and Mother Earth’s cry for us to be conscientiously accountable.
We have the responsibility to carry forward and do our best for the next seven generations. My prayer is that Love and Compassion will be the warp….Respect and Kindness will be the weft as they take their place in the fabric of society.
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This 75 year old Afro-Canadian Cherokee force of nature is a prolific singer, songwriter, actress, play writer, story teller, event producer, social activist, International Memphis Blues Awards semi-finalist (2017) and a Blues Hall of Fame Master Blues Artist (2015). • In 2017 she was awarded "The Key to The City" and Dec. 11th was officially declared "Dalannah Gail Bowen Day" by the Mayor and Council of Vancouver, B.C. • In November 2019 Dalannah reaffirmed her status as the 'Matriarch' of the Vancouver Blues scene with the release of her newest recording titled "Looking Back".