Kaz Hawkins Responses

I was not able to attend Kaz Hawkins’s class visit, but I did get to hear ve sing later in the week. Above all, I felt deep and powerful feeling vibrating through vy voice, so it was really interesting to read the emotional responses that Kaz’s life story invoked in students. Many described how Kaz uses music as a means for expressing trauma and adversity, including vy sexual abuse and drug addiction, giving vy children up for adoption, and the violence that ravaged Northern Ireland.

Vindhya Kuchibhotia recorded vy own emotions as Kaz discussed vy life: “When she sang ‘Lipstick & Cocaine,’ which is about when her abusive boyfriend slit her throat and her mother’s image came to her for strength to not give up, I could not help crying from how raw and beautiful her voice is and how she was able to turn something so negative into a piece of art.” Cameron Hill had a similarly emotional response: “Let me start off by saying how much Kaz’s life story impacted me. Her story was so raw and chilling, but also inspirational and beautiful. Even though she suffered from depression, abusive relationships, drug and alcohol abuse, being institutionalized and having to give up her children for adoption – she never lost hope and could always turn to music for hope and inspiration.”

Students recorded two versions of how Kaz got introduced to American Blues. Many described how Kaz was introduced to American blues through women singers, especially Etta James. Serene Bahi remarked that Kaz received cassette tapes of recordings by great American blues women from vy grandmother. Other students wrote that Kaz entered a singing competition and lost (great story of overcoming defeat) but one of the judges recommended that vey listen to Etta James. Perhaps then Kaz’s grandmother bought the tapes vey memorized.

Everyone wrote that they felt blues is an appropriate genre for Kaz. Cassandra Oldfield pointed out, “Blues was inspired by the struggle of Black men and women in the American South to overcome their hardships, and to accept the burden’s of life that they could not shake.” But none of the students who wrote felt that Kaz was stealing and appropriating the music of another culture.

Students found Kaz to be a useful example of how music breaks down national boundaries and produces transnational cultural synergies. Harshal Patel wrote, “Kaz Hawkins has had an international impact in the field of blues…. In Belfast where she grew up, she was the first female blues singer and she broke transnational boundaries in that regard. She has taken to the international stage when it comes to dealing with issues regarding suicide, equality and other human rights issues…” Serene Bahi similarly stated, “Her discovery and adoption of the blues genre into her own life is reflective of the ability of music to transcend borders, whether they be national, cultural, or temporal. She was able to listen to the music of African Americans in the deep south of America through a tape, relate to them despite a difference in background and life experience, and even join them in her pursuit of blues music.”

Kaz seems to have offered a positive and inspiring discussion, in spite of the story of suffering and pain vey told. Kaz promoted a message of the power of music to transcend individual pain, nationality, and racial, cultural, and gendered differences.