Peace Through Music Using Art Performance as a Tool For Social Change
As a co-founder and front woman of Rising Appalachia, Leah, along with her whole collective, continue to use their platform as artists to initiate dialogues and community gatherings to create positive social impact. The group seeks to expose key issues to the greater public, like environmental justice, food justice and human rights, in order to catalyze people into taking action. In this session she will discuss strategies around collective activism through the arts as well as offer case in point examples of what they have been able to accomplish through Rising Appalachia's pioneering efforts in the music industry.
Leah Song
Leah Song is a powerful songstress, musician, and global griot steeped in the traditions of Southern Soul and international Roots Music. Living between India, Appalachia, New Orleans, Cuba, and Latin America she tears into songs with outrageous prowess, incorporating sultry vocals, rhythm, banjo, guitar, ballads, dance, and storytelling into her work. Both a performer and a teacher, she travels with fire under her belt, songs in her pocket, and a global girth that carries her spirit to every corner it touches. She is front woman of the internationally acclaimed project Rising Appalachia which brings to the world new sounds, stories, and songs collected across oceans and originally sculpted to embody our human journey, our global community, and the treasures and troves of soul harmony. Led by Leah and her sister Chloe, the band tears into sound with sensual prowess as stages ignite revolutions and words light up soul fires. Intentionally self-managed and produced for the last 8 years, Rising Appalachia has toured over 30,000 miles across the United States and graced many stages around the world. Their career has produced 5 albums, one full length documentary DVD, a host of beautiful artful music videos, a new collaborative release with The Human Experience, and more coming every season.
