Bio
"Mysterious and reverent...with a near angelic voice"
-Michael Henningsen, Albuquerque Weekly Alibi
Biography
photo by Melissa Schelling
photo by Melissa Schelling
photo by Kmax
Once upon a time she was a war correspondent, a wild dolphin swimmer, a teacher, a clown... Now, rooted in the earthy and the ethereal, an alchemist of song and story, Oona’s evocative Celtic harp and piano entwine with her pure voice to evoke a primal beauty. Oona’s words and music are a river connecting heartache to hope, passion to possibility, inspiring us to not only love the world, but believe we can transform it.
“I’m enjoying (Oona’s) music on late night drives, it’s soothing.”
-Juno award-winning producer Pierre Marchand (Sarah McLachlan)
photo by Kmax
Sweet and soulful, Oona McOuat’s (pronounced oo-na mick-kew-it) new album Honey and Holy Water flows with urgency and wonder. The honey bees are disappearing. The oceans are in peril. It’s been 41 years since Woodstock (the only cover tune on the disc). Will we make it "back to the garden" before the jig is up? From the fun and funky re-creation of the trad tune Drowsy Maggie to The Wild Ones’ heartfelt plea for preservation, through the broken-open love song, Where the Emptiness is Full, this album navigates mystery and loss with purity and grace while encouraging us to cherish what might yet be saved.
“Sublime. If this can't make you be glad to be alive, well... listen to it again. -Michael McKinley, Harp Bell Media
photo by Kmax
“ An unsung female lark whose music/moods/song transport the listener to the heights and depths of their submerged feelings.” -Jacqueline Landeen, author & filmmaker
Oona's early life was steeped in music. As she prepared for her Grade 10 piano exam with the Royal Toronto Conservatory of Music, she was encouraged to pursue a career as a concert pianist. But a poetic streak inspired her to move beyond those boundaries and create her own songs. Compelled to understand the world and her place in it, she received a degree in Communications from the University of Ottawa and traveled as a freelance journalist to Nicaragua, a country in the throes of revolution. Upon returning, she lived with a First Nations elder who kindled a connection to the Earth and its creatures, and introduced her to the Celtic harp.
Songwriting re-emerged through a series of dreams. "Reconnecting with my muse was like awakening from a long winter's sleep," remembers Oona. And so began an intense period of creative development including studies in authentic movement, clowning and Butoh. She began to explore world music. In 1991, she was the featured female vocalist on Celso Machado's Juno-nominated album TAIRA, singing in Portuguese and Yamomami. Then she followed the ancestral call and traveled to Scotland to discover her roots. From 1991 to 2005, she wintered on the Big Island of Hawaii, swimming and singing with wild dolphins and whales and exploring sound to new depths. She developed a music program based on singing and playing from the inside out, and became an inspiring and dedicated teacher, expanding her work to include story, the mythic realms and environmental awareness and stewardship.
"… More water than music, more valuable than Spanish doubloons." - Charles Collins
photo by Kmax
Oona and her band Dream Deep perform at arts centers, festivals and concert halls, her warm and heartfelt presence transforming an ordinary performance into an extraordinary event. She has shared the stage with Bruce Cockburn, Jann Arden, The Rankins, Jami Sieber, Toni Childs and Ferron and was a featured artist on the NPR radio special "Do You Hear What I Hear? A Holiday Folk Tour" aired on over 100 stations across the US and hosted by folk icon Judy Collins
“I loved hearing you sing. You have a wonderful voice, and a gentle manner, and I liked the songs very much… You have a new fan in me.”- Judy Collins
"Today
I listened to your CD "Yearning" and (it)…reminded me that
there is beauty in the world."-
Ron
Clark, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Halifax
International Buskers Festival, Halifax, Nova Scotia - August
1998
Fish Aid Festival, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia - August
1998
Islands Festival, Duncan, British Columbia - July
1999
Volcano Art Center, Volcano National Park, Hawaii - November
1999
Elora Festival, Elora, Ontario - August 2000
Loch Lomond Festival, Scotland - July 2001
Edinburgh Fringe Festival - Edinburgh, Scotland - August
2001
Portpatrick Festival, Portpatrick, Scotland - September
2001
Kispiox Festival, New Hazelton, British Columbia - July
2002
Pacific Rim Summer Festival, Tofino, British Columbia - August
2002
Alex Goolden Hall, Victoria, BC with Ferron, Tony Childs &
Jamie Sieber - November 2006
Diversity Festival Texada Island, British Columbia - July
2007
Renewal Tour, Hawaii - January 2008
Back to the Garden Tour, BC & Hawaii – Fall 2009
Frostbite Festival, Whitehorse, Yukon – Winter 2010
photo by Kmax
Strange Ritual, Karen Melady: background vocals on Where Did the Moon Go, 1990
TAIRA, Celso Machado: featured female vocalist, 1991
Live your dream, single written and performed by Oona McOuat released on compilation album NA KAMALI'I O', 1997
Yearning, Oona McOuat: 1998
Only This Moment, Oona McOuat & Corbin Keep: 1999
Soul Weaver, David Eastoe: lead vocals on Golden Souls, 2001
Bright Beckoning, Mysha, celtic harp, 2004
Honey and Holy Water, Oona McOuat, 2009
The Path of Souls, Independent feature film written & directed by Amy Hoff, USA 2007
"Oona McOuat, harp player, is
a genuine songbird / diva. When she sings one is moved to close their
eyes and contemplate beauty, and, at the same time, attend to her powerful
message of Earth Magic and Healing....(McOuat) utilizes music as a stream of consciousness, enabling us to access ancestral and archetypal memories of our heritage where the elemental kingdom was fully present as a complement and completion to who and what we are."
-Richard Diamond, Kauai Oversoul
“Oona McOuat wondrously wades through a not-so-wondrous world all the while spreading joy in each now moment.........”
-Jacqueline Landeen, Author
"Her effervescent voice touches one's heart like a feather to the skin yet her words provoke thoughts that rise like mountains or evoke feelings that bring us closer to ourselves and each other. "
-Dancing Wolf, Producer, Victoria
"When Oona plays the harp …
your world goes from black and white to color … (and) when her nightingale
voice floats its sensual magic …the world falls away, far, far away."
-Dennis Gregory, Puna Press
"McOuat has the ability to deeply
touch her audience and lift them to another place and time…Her music
reminds us of the joyful contradictions involved in being human."
-Comox Valley Record
"Music to lift your soul"
-Volcano Gazette
"Enjoyed your CD."
-George Winston
"Oona has a unique charisma,
a fairy like lightness."
-Earth Folk
"Pure, fluid vocals" "Her
lyrics are deeply personal and poetic " "Able to draw out unexpected
depths of feeling"
-Mayne Island Mayneliner
"Your voice transports me into
the "realm of gentleness", one feels intrinsic kindness and
caring."
-Jerzy Zagroba, Victoria, BC