In her adopted hometown of Calgary (Moh’kinsstis, Treaty 7), Kenna Burima has earned a reputation as someone who can turn ideas into big projects, teach the unteachable and inspire people to come together.

Since doing her time in the institutional hallowed halls of classical music education, Kenna’s love for all musical forms has driven her involvement in a diversity of projects. From the indie-folk of Woodpigeon, the sweaty garage sludge of Brenda Vaqueros; grandiose projects abound, nurturing Kenna’s compositional skill and style. Her cherished collaboration with Calgary theatre company, One Yellow Rabbit has offered the unique opportunity to compose for the largest and loudest of instruments, the Calgary Tower’s carillon. To this day, you can still hear the bells of The Calgary Songs Project, an ambitiously transcribed thirty-song playlist of Calgary songwriters spanning thirty years. This work dovetails into her daytime concerns of offering city street singalongs to unsuspecting citizens, teaching music, and currently developing a songwriting program “The Song” that uncovers the mysteries of songwriting to anyone regardless of training or experience.

But the best way to figure out what drives Kenna is to delve into her solo albums; classical-cabaretpop affairs that draw on her vast musical know-how. The complexities of her songwriting reflect the heart of an artist who is never content to restrict herself to one genre, one project, or one ideal. With her third solo album While She Sleeps, the angry intensity of her sophomore release Hymn (2016) turns inward to unravel the quiet mysteries of creation. While She Sleeps is slated for release first as an illuminated songbook at the 2023 High Performance Rodeo followed by an audio album in the spring.