Debra Salem is a singer/songwriter originally from Belfast but now living in Scotland. Her career also includes writing music for theatre, vocal arrangement, leading choirs, teaching, and the artistic direction and production of creative arts projects including a programme of events to mark Holocaust Memorial Day Belfast 2000 and a programme of artistic work to mark the centenary of The Battle of Loos 2015.
Her musical style, in both singing and writing, draws from the worlds of jazz and folk and embraces ‘anything else that works’. This style is at the heart of In a Sma Room, her most recent album and songbook release. In a Sma Room features original songs inspired by the poems of Perth poet William Soutar.
Her music composition work, upwards of 70 commissions, spans theatre, film and dance projects across the UK and Ireland, highlights include: two seasons as resident sound designer for Perth Theatre, Scotland; and a dance commission to celebrate the work of Margaret Morris written for double bass and four voices. Debra has a long history of working with Veronica Coburn. Their creative partnership, which goes back to 2000, in recent years has focused on Veronica’s participatory art work including Hallelujah! Draiocht’s Community Clown Choir, Clamour & Roar, A Citizens Chorus culminating in Ghost Hares at The Civic Theatre.
In Debra’s own words
Engagement, in some form, is at the heart of the myriad of activities that define my career and Songs of Change sits perfectly within that format. Having worked with the participants on Ghost Hares, it was wonderful to get to work with them again and share in the process of discovery of those life changing moments – big and small.
Sitting in on this process during the online workshops, and then seeing the words take shape through Veronica’s eyes left me with one of the most challenging projects I have written for – finding the music that would give these words a different life whilst being true to those who gave them to us in the first place. But the words found their own music and I trusted the process and journey that each song took – every one unique but belonging together. And what a joy, in completing the project, to hear the songs interpreted by so many fine, young, talented Irish musicians – the circle is complete.
