 © The Cavalier Daily By Claudia Cheung To celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage Month VIBE 105 recently interviewed singer-songwriter, Stephanie Braganza, and queer East Asian band cutsleeve, to share their experiences and love for music.  © Stephanie Braganza / Derek Mok Photography Born and raised in Kingston, Stephanie Braganza has her ethnic roots in Goa, India. Braganza took to the piano at age nine; and later studied music at Humber College. She is in the industry since 2008. Initially, her family was not supportive of her music career and Braganza had to turn towards her teachers and other musicians for support. © Stephanie Braganza / YouTube Braganza recently released a song called Chains of Silence, inspired by a volunteering experience she had in a slaughterhouse with Toronto Pig Save. They were there to give animals water in the slaughterhouse as a final act of compassion. “You look into each animal’s eyes and they know that something horrible is about to happen. And I just couldn’t have anyanimal product anymore. It really shook me up and gave me something to write about,” Braganza says passionately. It was difficult and challenging for Braganza to promote the song as a lot of media gets sponsorship from the diary and meat industry. © Stephanie Braganza / YouTube “Cows have nine months of pregnancies just like us and they mourn for their kids just like we would. It’s a very sad industry,” Braganza explained the meaning behind her music video.  © Namaste Newsline A fan of anime, Braganza’s working on cover series with popular anime songs she’s going to sing in Japanese and English. She also plans to write more songs about animal rights.  © cutsleeve / Facebook cutsleeve is a local band of five, including Hannah Winters, Hillary Fong, Chanel Fu, Amanda Wong and Lian McMillan. The band do not want to put a label on the genre of music they make. Band member McMillan recalled: “I was interviewed by my friend from high school for the Invisible Footprints Art Installation (2017) which is a series of shows that showcase the history of Asians in Toronto. She ended up putting a little sculpture that basically was my advertisement, looking for people in the band, that's kind of how we started.” © cutsleeve / YouTube COVID-19 continues to pose a challenge for the music industry and for the band. However, making the most out of the pandemic, they had opportunities to do interviews and speak with different people, and make a short film. To ensure diversity and inclusion in the music scene, band member Fong took the initiative to put together a directory of BIPOC producers, live sound engineers, mastering engineers, guitar/musical instrument and gear technicians, venues, etc., from Toronto’s music community.  © ESG Clarity Diversity and inclusivity are important to our society. Multiculturalism should not just be a slogan; we should use actions to make this ideology realistic. Support your local BIPOC artist, today! |
