About Me
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This whiz kid calls himself Kawnar – but almost nobody else does.“Well, everyone always mispronounces it,†laughed the young Tulsa musician, producer, singer and songwriter.
So let’s say it together: “Conner,†as in Connor Scott McFarland, 2007 East Central High School graduate.
Yes, 2007.
The ambitious 19-year-old began rapping at age 8, and “went pro†at age 14 when he recorded his first song, he said.But he’s more than a rapper. He’s a wizard of sorts, using his charisma as a charm, unifying an eclectic – and burgeoning – local music scene.
“My life has momentum, I can feel it,†he said during a recent interview at the downtown Tulsa World newsroom offices. “The scene is awesome, there are so many talented people here. “Musically, in a bigger sense, Oklahoma’s often overlooked, which I don’t fully understand. People actually assume that I live on a farm,†he laughed.
Nope. He’s a clean-cut young white man, living in a bustling ethnic enclave smack in the heart of this metropolitan city.And, the son of a drummer and harmonica player, Kawnar definitely inherited a love of music – and dedication. In his short lifetime, he’s taught himself how to rap and sing, as well as how to play guitar, piano and bass.
Today, he owns his own in-home studio (“I saved every penny I earned since my first job at age 14,†he said) and has earned his broadcast and sound engineering certification from Tulsa Technology Center. He also records, mixes and produces music with local tastemakers such as P.D.A. and Malan Darras.
Friday, Kawnar will release his first full-length album, “Unclear,†at a CD release party at King of Clubs in Claremore. Often labeled a “hip-hop MC,†Kawnar crushes that constrictive perception with this disc.
Vocal raps, harmonies and melodies flow through the 16 tracks, which are layered with an energetic and comprehensive array of music samples, loops, beats and organic instrumentalization. Standing at about 5-foot-8, Kawnar has created a record that looms large as a genre-busting powerhouse. Nothing about this album is predictable.
The disc opens with “Intro,†an exotic drum-and-bass piece that fl oats like exhaled hookah vapor. From there, “Unclear†combusts with a hot mix of R&B, pop, rock, rap, hip-hop, jazz, funk and soul. “I used to do a lot of that ‘gangsta’ stuff, too, but you know, I didn’t feel respectable doing it. It wasn’t me,†he said. His lyrics are not free of curse words or harsh language – but they do not degrade women or glorify violence.
The banal, big-booty predictability of most popular hip-hop is cleverly averted on this disc.
And for good reason.
“Someday, I want to be the ‘ghost writer’ who writes someone else a hit song. . . . I want to be ‘man behind the curtain,’ †he laughed.
The musician brought in a host of Tulsa hitmakers for this project, including hip-hop virtuoso P.D.A., rocker Congress of a Crow’s Danelle Phillips, rapper X-Cal, pop maestro Malan Darras, acoustic bluesman Ira Burton, Brandon Davis of alt-rocker My Solstice and more.
“I wanted to take some of them out of their elements,†he said.
“Simply put, they far exceeded my expectations.â€
So much so that, if you didn’t read the track listings first, you just might miss their contributions – which is a remarkable feat in itself for Kawnar, considering how strongly these popular acts have identified themselves with their fans. Always moving forward, Kawnar’s already working on his next project, which will be more R&B and rock-in- fluenced, he said. He plans to release it later this year.
“With this first disc, my goal was to create a buzz,†said the savvy songwriter. “This next one’s gonna be even better,†he promised.
And by then, we’ll all undoubtedly know how to pronounce his name, too.
By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR
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