Dalannah Gail Bowen reflects on music, and life in the Downtown Eastside

Dalannah Gail Bowen is a blues matriarch, Blues Hall of Fame Inductee, and long-time Vancouver Downtown Eastside resident

Molly Carron interviews long-time Vancouver Downtown East side resident, blues matriarch, and Blues Hall of Fame Inductee, Dalannah Gail Bowen on behalf of Vancouver Co-op radio and Full Figure Media.

Dalannah’s bright spirit comes through as interviewer discusses Dalannah Gail Bowen’s release of her new blues album entitled Dalannah Looking Back with title track, “Somebody’s Watching”, Molly questions why the blues? Dalannah holds “it’s a commentary on life, one of the original musics of North America, a tool for sharing messaging and life experience, and if you’re feeling something surely somebody else is”. This is our connection, she says.

Since her first album, Bowen has used her self-healing poetry, turned songs, to channel her experiences in her long life’s journey through a difficult past and struggle with homelessness and addiction. In fact, “Momma’s Got the Blues” is a direct birth of this transformation. As an activist and still a self-proclaimed ‘hippy”, in that album she uses humour and the lyrics in her song, “What the Hell is That?”, for example, to have a commentary of the day and in a time of change. Still now, she says we have come a long way, but we are still not doing what we could for Mother Earth.

Other collaborations with Murray Porter at the Indigenous Awards - A Special Performance series on September 23, brings to life her other passion of calling awareness to the indigenous. She chose not to sing the Blues, but wrote a song called “The Lullaby for the Murdered and Missing Women” and included a song from the current album called “Blue Love”, which is about spirit and not losing strength, listening to the guidance within. In her current album she shares those sentiments by saying this new album gives people the courage to trust their instincts and to walk in the road of the creator.

Other contributions to the arts include participating in The Heart of the City Festival and Vancouver Moving Theatre where Dalannah insists it is the Arts that allowed her to become sober and express herself. Molly suggests she can feel the healing that the Arts bring the Downtown East Side. In fact, is through divine intervention as Bowen prayed for healing where she had a stroke and came out alive, writing afterwards, “The Returning Journey” which will be remounted for this year’s festival. Inspired further by Terry Hunter and her own need to do art after coming out of her addiction, she created The Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts DECA Vancouver as a place where anybody can unconditionally participate in the arts.

They end by discussing COVID, and how can we give inspiration and connection to people who are disconnected now. “COVID is a gift”, Dalannah says, to reconnect with ourselves.

- Written by Nicole Ploss.

Content Producer / Interviewer / Camera MOLLY CARON

Editor and Graphics MARK FREEMAN

In Conversation with Molly Caron Dalannah Gail Bowen

This episode of ACCESS TV  is produced by

Full Figure Media Society

Vancouver, BC © October 2020