Femme Fm

Host Shaya Ishaq and Guest Host Carmella Farahbakhsh look critically at western Classical music through the experiences of second gen Canadians. Carmella talks about the tension between "a love for their violin and a deep rage and heartbreak about not having access to my traditional cultural music." Shaya speaks with multi-instrumentalist Nick Dourado(Budi, Century Egg, Special Costello)about the Black classical tradition and the role improvisation has in disrupting and subverting western classical music. Carmella speaks with their sibling, Isaiah Farahbakhsh--a classically trained cellist and the host of 'With Strings' on CFRU 93.3 FM (Wednesdays @6pm)-- about their experiences navigating very white, upperclass, classical music scenes, and shares some jazz history. ~Femme FM twitter gal~ Lianne Xiao reflects on her time as a budding pianist, and her relationship with her mother. ~*~*~*~ Bios ~*~*~*~ Isaiah Farahbakhsh is a mixed race Iranian jazz musician and theoretical ecologist-in-training, studying a

Disabled femmes & disabled femmes of colour speak about everything from racism in the disabled community to love and sex, and the buzz-wordiness of "accessibility" in progressive spaces/organizations. Co-Host Rebecca Stuckey shares her personal story and experience with disability. Masuma Khan speaks about the stigma of being a young person with a cane and accessibility at work and the mosque. Author Kaleigh Trace shares a NEW piece of writing and speaks with us about how navigating consent is complicated when your body is medicalized. Kate speaks about her experience doing care work, as a traumatized femme with a disability and how important it is for her activism and feminism to centre folks with intellectual disabilities. ~*~*~*~*~ Music on today's episode: Jay Som - Lipstick Stains Mitski - First Love/Late Spring Vagabon - Mal à L'aise Night Owl - Broke For Free ~*~*~*~*~ Masuma Khan is a third-year Dalhousie student majoring in international development studies. She’s the outreach and campaigns coor

In this week’s episode, we speak with musicians and artists who are challenging racism/transphobia/homophobia/sexism/ableism/et al. in their communities. They’re fighting for safer spaces and creating their own to give voice and platform to QTBIPOC musicians and artists. We speak with documentary filmmaker Hana Jama of Ottawa’s Babely Shades collective about challenging racism in the music scene, backlash and support from the community, and working with promoters to get more women and femmes of colour at shows--as well as on stage. The Khyber Centre for the Arts Artistic Director Hannah Guinan joins us in the studio to discuss the work she’s doing with South House and Avalon to make the Halifax centre a safer space--which includes a comprehensive sexual assault policy and mandate and an upcoming town hall for community feedback on March 7. Co-host Shaya Ishaq talks about DJing as self-care and shares her experience at Intersessions, an “Inclusive Sound Initiative” that provides safe spaces for women, femme,

This week we talk about the legacy and power of Pink Triangle Day and its connection to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Drawing from the brilliant Caleb Luna's 2014 piece, "On Being Fat, Brown, Femme, Ugly and Unloveable," Shaya and Rebecca discuss how white supremacy is pervasive -- complicating and affecting romance, too. Pals and strangers in Halifax, Canada, and beyond share their odes, rants, and stories about radical friendship, online dating blunders, heartbreak, and the complexities of companionship. Thanks to all those who submitted.

In this week’s episode we share our FEMME-FESTO and talk about what “femme” means to us. Our incredible panel of Halifax-based femmes speak about how their race and queer identities intersect with their femme~ness, how their femme legacies influence their current brilliance, how we need to center trans femmes of colour to be “FEMME 4 FEMME.” Music this week from: Princess Nokia / Solange / Austra / Courtney Love / Willow Smith