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Oen Kennedy was weaned on West African and South Indian music, having
spent his early years overseas. He has been writing songs since
childhood; covering manifold subjects, especially love. Besides birds,
which are a long-standing chronic source of joy, his other obsessions
have included: underwater tunnels, Bach fugues, Sequoias, Blue-black
spider wasps, Gaia, stargazing, Vincent Van Gogh, Sea Otters, tsunamis,
Mandelbrot Images, Armadillos, Morocco, cyanobacteria, Glenn Gould, and
mangoes.
Oen has been a practicing music therapist since 1990, and has
specialized extensively in working with children with autism. He worked
full time at The Perkins School for the Blind from 1987-1998, and
received his master’s degree in expressive therapies and a national
music therapy certification through Lesley College in 1992. Oen is also
a full time birdwatcher and has led numerous volunteer nature walks
around New England.
Oen played his first acoustic "open mike" in January of 1999, and very
quickly began receiving calls for bookings from many area venues. Matt
Smith, the manager of Club Passim, described Oen this way: "Oen has a
gorgeous voice, and gorgeous songs, and is one of the most heartfelt and
genuine people I know."
Oen released his debut CD "Aluminum Green" in June of 2001 at Club
Passim to a packed house, and immediately began receiving regular
airplay from local radio stations. Oen completed his second CD "Live at
Club Passim 6-20-01" within six months of "Aluminum Green" and is
currently working on his third CD, which has a working title of "Ook".
Oen is also featured on the 2003 "Best of Boston" CD, with Jake
Armerding, Alistair Mook, Rachael McCartney, and many other talented
songwriters.
Fellow performers Oen has opened up
for since he started playing out:
Richie Havens, Lorin Rowan, Tony Bird,
Priscilla Heardman, Diane Ziegler, Merrie Amsterburg, Anne Heaton, The
Loomers, The Coots, Fred Small, Greg Greenway, Hewitt Huntwork, Jenny
Reynolds, Ellen Schmidt, and, with his vocal group "The Mood Chain,"
Phoebe Snow. Oen has also shared the stage with countless other fine
performers (Deb Talan, Kevin So, Mieka Pauley, Libby Kirkpatrick, Maya
Dorn, Nate Borofsky, etc.) at showcases and festivals, and has
contributed vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, piano,
and percussion to numerous recording projects of fellow musicians.
A partial list of venues where Oen has
featured:
Club Passim (a dozen times), The House
of Blues (Delta Blues), Johnny D’s, The Kendall Café, The Nameless
Coffeehouse, Slates restaurant, Uncommon Coffeehouse, The Westford
Historical Society, The Parish Center for the Arts, Capo’s Coffeehouse,
The Gallery Cafe, The Burren, Live at Noon-WUMB, The Oak Hill House
Concert Series, The Colonial Inn in Concord, Java Jive, Java Jo’s, (and
many others). |