Winnipeg-based singer-songwriter's music imbued with the richness of her culture
For Kelly Bado, The Forks has lived up to its historic reputation as a gathering place.
'It felt to me like all of Winnipeg was here. From the first year I came here, I liked this place,' says the multilingual singer-songwriter.
Born in Abidjan, a seaside city in southeastern Côte d'Ivoire, Bado was in her early 20s when she moved to Manitoba in December 2007 to study at the Université de Saint-Boniface.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Kelly Bado spends a lot of time with her family at The Forks.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Kelly Bado spends a lot of time with her family at The Forks.
The Forks was a short walk or bus ride from her dorm and it was easy to while away a weekend exploring the outdoor trails and indoor markets with friends and strangers.
It's where Bado, a keen observer of the world around her, forged a sense of camaraderie with her new city — with its landscape, its history and its people. And even though she's since moved to North Kildonan, her heart remains firmly attached to the riverside landmark.
'I haven't seen anything that compares. I just love the way everything is scattered here, the way they built it — every curve, every turn. It really feels like I grew up here. I moved, but it still feels like my first home,' she says.
These days, she sees The Forks through new eyes.
As often as they can, Bado and her husband bring their sons, ages three and five, for dinner and a romp around the Parks Canada Playground with her sister and nephew. The visit usually takes place on a Friday evening, after work and daycare.
A recurring series in which the Free Press meets notable Manitobans in their favourite places.
Kelly Bado, singer-songwriter
Parks Canada Playground at The Forks
Food is the first order of business to ensure the kids are fuelled for the hours ahead. Bado — a big fan of seafood — and the boys will head to Fergie's Fish 'n Chips for a fillet of cod or halibut (the deep-fried batter gingerly removed), while her husband waits in line at Nuburger.
From the market, the family walks along the treed gravel pathway — past the Oodena Celebration Circle and the Children's Museum — to the busy playground on the eastern edge of the grounds.
'We come here and then play until everybody's tired, which usually doesn't happen. We have to cut it off,' Bado says with a laugh.
It's a weekday morning and she's seated on a picnic table next to the park's waterless splash pad. The air is filled with giddy shrieks from a group of school-aged kids zipping around the metal teepee and taking turns traversing the nearby structure.
When she's here with family, Bado likes to watch her outdoor-loving kids interacting with others.
'My sons used to be shy, but now they're more talkative to other kids, people they meet. It's nice to see them change or evolve into whoever they're going to be,' she says.
She especially loves eavesdropping on their unfiltered conversations.
'I do envy that. When you're an adult, you start overthinking everything. I really enjoy playing with them or watching them because it takes me out of my mind for a bit,' she says.
The difficult balance between parenthood and a jet-setting music career is top of mind at the moment.
Bado — who's fresh off a week in Ottawa and Montreal — released her second full-length album, Belles mes, in May and is preparing to head out on a Canadian tour this summer, followed by a trip to perform at Expo 2025 in Japan.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Kelly Bado says her voice has become moodier and deeper over the years.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Kelly Bado says her voice has become moodier and deeper over the years.
In speaking with other musician parents, she's realized there's no solution to the necessary leaving, but those at home have to trump everything else.
'Music is volatile: one day you're great, and then the other day you might lose your voice,' she says. 'But in the best world, when you have a family, friends, people you can count on, you hope they would stay with you, even if your voice was gone.'
Since the release of her debut EP, Entre Deux, in 2016 and her award-winning album, Hey Terre, in 2020, Bado has become a more confident songwriter and self-promoter. She's signed with Winnipeg's Odd Doll Records and has racked up accolades, receiving nominations last week for francophone and global artist of the year from the Western Canadian Music Awards.
As her career has reached new heights, the Afro-pop and soul singer's vocals have shifted noticeably over the past decade, taking on a deeper, moodier quality than was apparent in her earlier work. It's an inadvertent change that's taken some getting used to.
'I was spending a lot of time trying to understand why it sounds different, but I don't think I should try to find a reason behind it. I just have to grow with it, observe every new chapter, see what it becomes,' she says.
Belles mes, which translates to 'good people,' is about exactly that: human beings, their relationships with each other and the world around them. Written during the COVID-19 pandemic, the title track focuses on the unsung heroes who made sacrifices for and lifted up their communities.
Parce qu'on s'aime ('Because we love each other') follows a similar train of thought and focuses on making peace in difficult relationships for the greater good. The song features a collaboration with her late mother, who provided lyrical translations in Attié — Bado's first language and the traditional tongue of her family's village of Akoupé.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Singer-songwriter Kelly Bado is embarking on a Canadian tour this summer.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Singer-songwriter Kelly Bado is embarking on a Canadian tour this summer.
Bado, who studied business administration in university and never intended to become a professional musician, credits her mom for fostering a love of singing early on.
'She was a choir girl and so was my grandmother, it was a lineage of choir people, and I learned my singing in choirs,' says Bado, who continues the choral tradition at Springs Church, another place she's found community and spiritual connection in Winnipeg.
When she was in Côte d'Ivoire last year dealing with family affairs, Bado hired a local videographer to shoot a music video for Jamais oublier ('Never forget') — the jubilant opening track to Belles mes, which celebrates her African birthplace.
The video and song, sung in English and French, is peppered with visuals of white sand beaches, palm trees and fresh tropical fruit.
'We were just laughing the whole time and eating coconuts — I miss coconut,' she says of the video, filmed with her sister and cousin. 'Ivory is in my DNA. For me, (this song) really felt like all my childhood, everything I've learned, I don't want to forget it because it makes me who I am.'
While Africa is never far from her mind, the Canadian Prairies have become an equally important setting for her story. She's looking forward to her future growth and savouring the moments spent at home before setting out on tour — likely with a few visits to The Forks.
Bado performs in Winnipeg on June 27 at The Toad in the Hole (155 Osborne St.) during the inaugural Village Music Fest.
eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com
Eva WasneyReporter
Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva.
Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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