Karen Robinson

To contact Karen use the form below. 

________________________________________________

Robinsong Music and Entertainment 

Website: www.robinsong.ca 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ KarenRobinsonMusic 

Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGW_SG_sc53DVTn3So6e4Zg 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/04wNriWyMqwQmnDXioBM87?si=4Vc9ORL_QdCkVRwprHfluA   

Karen Robinson is equally engaged in song writing and performing, and has entered the exciting field of music video creation.  She has six albums, with performance and airplay in both the folk/roots and jazz communities.  “Karen is one of Atlantic Canada’s most imaginative songwriters.” (Mark Cuming, musician, teacher, concert band arranger)  

The East Coast Music Association has nominated Karen for Music Video Director of the Year, 2024. In the videos she was also the songwriter, vocalist, co-arranger with her band, conceptualist, choreographer, art director, co-editor with Scott Ferguson, created the costumes and performed all character parts, Ode to Gertie Ryan was animated by artist Ada Denil with Karen's direction.

Karen’s latest album, ‘The Flip Side: Well, what do we have here!’ is a departure from her previous albums. It is a cornucopia of styles, from Blues to Dixieland to classic country. The songs are lighthearted, quirky. The album was a Music Nova Scotia nominee for Pop Album of the Year  (2023). Three songs from this album were Semi-Finalists in the 2022 International Songwriting Competition (ISC): ‘My Phone’, ‘Love’s A Moving Target’, and ‘Tadpole Blues’. 

Music video ‘Ode to Gertie Ryan’ was awarded Best Comedy Short in the Hollywood International Golden Age Festival (December 2023) and was selected for viewing in London, England’s 2023 Discover Film Awards. (This annual festival, a red-carpet event, is one of the biggest short film festivals in the world with over 3,000 annual submissions from 100+ countries). It received First Prize in the Music Video category of the Women’s Freedom Song Contest 2023, was chosen Best Music Video in the Nashville Independent Filmmaker Festival (August 2023), and received the WRPN Women’s International Film Festival 2023 Exceptional Merit Award for Comedy. It won Awards of Recognition for Animation and for Women Filmmakers (both awarded to Ada Denil and Karen Robinson) in the Best Shorts Competition, California, (December 2023). Gertie was also Selected for the seasonal Montreal Women Film Festival (November, 2023). 

‘My Phone’ was an award winner screened in the Paris Shortfest Film Festival (Spring 2023), was selected for screening in the annual Parrsboro Film Festival, (September 2023). It was a Finalist in the 2023 Paris International Short Festival, and Semi-Finalist in the San Francisco Arthouse Festival, (April 2023), the New York International Women Festival (June 2023), the Vancouver Independent MovieMaker Awards (June 2023), the Chicago Filmmaker Awards (Sept 2023) and in the Hollywood International Golden Age Festival (December, 2023). See Karen’s website for more recognition for music videos ‘The Night the Lights Went Out’, Tadpole Blues’ and ‘Delay is Not an Option’.

Songs,‘Ode to Gertie Ryan’ and ‘The Night the Lights Went Out’ each received an Award of Merit for Original Song in the December, 2023 Best Shorts Competition: ‘Celebrating and awarding short films, television and media worldwide’. Also, ‘My Phone’ and ‘Delay is Not an Option’ each received an Award of Recognition for Original Song in the December 2023 Best Shorts Competition.   

From her album ‘When We’re Together’, ‘The End of Time’ won Best Jazz Song in the World Songwriting Awards (WSA), spring 2022. ‘A Song for Mississippi John Hurt’, ‘Feather and Bone’ and ‘Gamecock and His Hen’ were top-ten contenders in the WSA Jazz or Blues categories, fall 2021. ‘Cats and Crows’ was a top-10 finalist in the 27th USA Songwriting Competition Jazz category, 2022. And ‘October 31st ‘was a semi-finalist in the 2021 International Songwriting Contest (ISC) children’s music category. 

Her 2013 album, ‘Karen Robinson With’, received a Jazz Album of the Year nomination from Music Nova Scotia, and was Chronicle Herald Arts Reporter Stephen Cooke’s Pick of the Week: “With is like a love letter to the Maritime jazz scene … The range of expression is vast, the songs are rich and complex...”  

Recent highlights: Karen’s hour-long special, ‘The Flip Side: Well, what do we have here!’ was broadcast on Eastlink TV every Saturday evening in June, ‘23.  Similarly, her show ‘When We’re Together’ was featured on Eastlink TV last year, and both shows are now streaming on Eastlink On Demand across Canada. She is a six-time performer TD Halifax Jazz Festival;  is vocalist/songwriter for the Sackville Concert Band; performed annual Canada Day/Bedford Days concerts; her 9-piece band played NS theatres; Toronto’s Hugh’s Room ‘Tribute to Peggy Lee’; club dates in Rio, Buenos Aires and Ho Chi Minh; Album Releases, Halifax’s Carleton; repeated CBC Radio and CTV airplay; Stayner's Wharf monthly show; The Press Gang’s Art of the Duo; Rose and Kettle Concert Series; Two Apple Blossom Festival Coronation Galas; JazzEast’s Jazz Up Your Spring Series.

“Karen has a rare talent to straddle challenging styles to find the sweet spot between theatrical expression and classic jazz.” (Scott Ferguson, FMP Matrix Studio) 

"Karen is one of the most intrinsically musical people I have ever worked with." (Janice Jackson, Soprano, Contemporary Music Specialist, Producer, Vocal Instructor)

“Great music, engaging songs, fab arrangements, outstanding visual aspects, fabulous show, fabulous!”    
(Director, Marigold Theatre, Truro)   

“Karen's music is unique and the lyrics thought-provoking. There is laughter and there are tears. Compare her vocal delivery to Billie Holiday…very real and moving. Karen is the real deal.”    
(Mike Cowie, Musician, Producer, Halifax)

Karen’s musical career has been intertwined with an award-winning non-music career as an environmental health professional and with raising a family. 

Video link to "My Phone"  https://youtu.be/8W_y6PAZyj0

Feather and Bone: https://youtu.be/2asSeaC8BuI 

 ‘Ode to Gertie Ryan’: https://youtu.be/lnz9OytgdBc 

‘Sings Her Heart Out': https://youtu.be/uPLChTch3SE

 And just for fun, the costume malfunction at the Al Whittle Theatre: http://youtu.be/xcekPgKG0wg

Karen qualifies for the Bringin' It Home funding program through Music Nova Scotia.