Mama Kin

David, my inner tyrant

TEDxPerth 2015
November 2015

Talk length:

16.58mins

David, my inner tyrant | Mama Kin | TEDxPerth

Do you have a relationship alter ego that arrives uninvited and overstays its welcome? In this touching and revealing talk, Mama Kin describes how she reset her relationship and overcame destructive urges by expressing trust and welcoming vulnerability.

Mama Kin (AKA Danielle Caruana) is part raconteur and all-out entertainer, renowned for her stirring live shows, where storytelling, intimacy and community reign. Mama Kin’s music, best described as soul folk, is created at the junction where strength meets vulnerability.

Mama Kin
Musician and storyteller

Mama Kin (AKA Danielle Caruana) is part raconteur and all-out entertainer, renowned for her stirring live shows, where storytelling, intimacy and community reign. Created at the junction where strength meets vulnerability, Mama Kin’s music is best described as soul folk.

As the youngest of six children, Danielle was born into a family of Maltese extraction and her childhood was immersed in music. From brother Michael Caruana, who now plays keys in her band, to brother Nicky Bomba, who recorded her first demos and dubbed her Mama Kin, to her sister Carmen, who taught Danielle to sing, Mama Kin’s connection to her family remains central.

Her ARIA-nominated sophomore album The Magician’s Daughter followed on from the war-cry that was her debut Beat and Holler, firmly solidifying her reputation as a purveyor of foot-stomping bass lines and ballads of open-hearted tenderness. She has won a WAM Award for Folk Act of the Year (2013), she was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Blues & Roots Album (2013), two AIR Awards for Best Blues & Roots Album (2010 & 2013) and shortlisted for the Vanda & Young Songwriting competition.

Mama Kin has shared stages nationally and internationally with the likes of The Cat Empire, Ani di Franco, Katy Perry, Gurrumul, The Waifs and John Butler Trio.