Performer Kenna Burima has always been drawn to music.
The musician, songwriter, composer and piano teacher is performing at the Picnic at the Piano event on Wednesday, June 22. She will be playing a selection of tracks from her new album along with other pieces which she likes to call "comfort tunes."
Burima has performed in the series a number of times over the years.
“I've always, always, absolutely loved coming out and doing Picnics at the Piano just because it's a wonderful experience,” she said. “I grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan and so being able to return to a small town and share my music is exciting to me.”
Burima has been into music since she took piano lessons when she was six.
She expressed that music was not a choice, but something she has always been drawn to and loved.
She took classes in biology and other sciences in university, but always found herself in the music room practicing Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin.
“I thought, to hell with it, I'm just gonna go into music even though a lot of people, a lot of adults in my life, were telling me that it's hard to make a living,” she said. “And that may be true, but it's my love. It's my language, it is what I was meant to do while I was here in this life.”
Burima is releasing her next album in the fall, which is called While She Sleeps. The songs were written when her daughter was young.
“When I had her, the only time that I could practice or be content was at night when she was asleep," she said. "So I wrote the entire album and recorded the entire album while she was sleeping, hence the name.”
The songs are personal to Burima and express her vulnerability and raw emotion that came with motherhood.
The Picnic at the Piano series provides free monthly concerts from noon to 1 p.m. from May to August.
Organized by the Town of Okotoks Culture & Heritage and the Okotoks Arts Council, the event is located at the Okotoks Art Gallery. People are encouraged to come out with a blanket and lunch and enjoy the performance.
For more information about Burima, vist https://www.kennaburima.com/.
