(bright music) ♪ Precious memories ♪ - [Matt] Singer songwriter Taina Asili joins Jade in the studio.

And she performs songs from her latest show, Fever Pitch.

It's all ahead on this episode of AHA.

♪ Let it be our claim to sovereignty ♪ ♪ Yes, I plant the seed ♪ - [Narrator] Funding for AHA has been provided by your contribution, and by contributions to the WMHT venture fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, and The Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That is why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts, and we invite you to do the same.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Matt Rogowicz, and this is "AHA, A House for Arts," a place for all things creative.

Taina Asili is a singer-songwriter, poet, and activist who recently premiered her latest interdisciplinary production called Fever Pitch.

Here's Jade Warrick with more.

- Hi Taina, Welcome to "A House for Arts."

- Hello, hello.

Thank you so much for having me.

- Thank you.

I'm very excited to talk about everything you're diving into creatively right now.

But to begin, if I know if you've done punk, reggae, opera, and a lot more, so, how do all these genres connect, and why do you dabble in play in a lot of them?

- For me, art in general is about connecting with heart and with spirit.

And for me, dipping into different genres, it gives me different ways of connecting with emotions that live within me.

You know, the beautiful complexity of the many emotions that we feel, right?

Sometimes we don't just feel anger.

We might feel anger, and we might feel grief, and we might feel sadness, we might feel joy, and we might feel like, rebellious spirit, right?

So, the more tools that I have, right, the more paint that I have to paint with, it allows me to be able to really tap into the complexity of my emotions, and maybe even the emotions of folks who are listening to me.

So, you know, I started out in a family that had a lot of Afro-Latin roots and upbringing, Puerto Rican family.

My father was a conga player, and my mother was a salsa dancer, and a dancer of a folkloric art called Bomba.

And you know, they really kind of rooted me in that rhythm.

But then, I got into punk rock, as you said, you know?

And punk rock allowed me to express the rage that I was feeling growing up as a young queer Latina in upstate New York, and all the things that I dealt with in regards to that.

So, you know, as I've grown older, I've moved through all these different types of art forms.

As you mentioned, opera, and I also studied opera around that time as well, because I loved classical voice, and I loved Broadway, and I loved singing musicals, and that tapped into some sort of like romantic, dramatic parts of me that I needed to express.

And today, you know, I'm always still seeking.

I'm still seeking to learn, still seeking to challenge myself to tap into new areas.

Later on in my life, I studied flamenco, and lived in Spain for short periods of time.

That was a beautiful experience as well.

Really challenging, really, really difficult.

And I just love to continue to push myself.

It helps me to grow.

- And have fun.

- And enjoy it, yes.

- I love to say "and have fun," 'cause it's probably so fun to be able to play within all these genres.

And I don't know, probably just, you know, as an artist, we don't like to stay stagnant.

That's not our thing, right?

- For sure, for sure.

- So, I know a lot of your themes within your music and your artwork deals with protest, and justice, and advocacy, and healing.

So why is that so important to your work and yourself, and how do you intertwine this within your work?

- I think today, when I think about what music and protest songs, or music and social change, what it means to me is it's, again, rooting into the emotion, right?

So many times when we're thinking about these issues, right?

If we're talking about mass incarceration, if we're talking about climate change, if we're talking about genocide in Palestine, if we're talking about all these different issues that are very, very heavy, you know, there's a lot of conversation.

We move into our heads quite a lot.

But music, art, creativity is that invitation into the heart and into the spirit, right?

It moves us emotionally, it moves us to tap into those places of ourselves that have a deeper knowing, and a deeper understanding.

So for me, that could look like, sometimes we need to be moved to get up and struggle, get up and resist, get up and rebel.

Sometimes it's, we need to feel deeply the pain that we're seeing.

Sometimes it's a little bit of both at the same time, and sometimes it's reclaiming our joy in the midst of the pain, right?

Reclaiming our radical joy in the midst of those hard moments.

That's what music is for me.

It's invitation, first, to myself, to tap into those places, and then for the world, you know, whoever is listening to my music, to be able to tap into those places.

- And I know you've been expanding your work into film and choreography, which I saw some of that this morning, and visuals, and just traditional art, or like just painting and drawings and things like that.

So, why?

Why expand, you know, into those other fields?

Why is that important to you?

- Creativity to me is a human birthright.

You know, I don't think of art as like artist with a capital a, right?

Where it's like you, Jade, as an artist.

You know, you're an artist, and I'm an artist, but other people aren't artists.

We were born to create, right?

In all different types of ways, right?

The shoes that you're wearing to the hat, you know, to the cameras that are filming us, the chairs that we're sitting on, they were all born out of creativity, right?

Someone's creativity made these things possible.

You know, as a kid I always did these drawings, you know, I would doodle them on my paper, and I didn't really think much of them.

I never really identified as like somebody who draw, you know, would draw.

It was like, you know, I like to doodle.

But I realized that that was actually an important way of me processing information.

My last album was called Resiliencia, which means resilience.

And for that album I interviewed 14 women of color from the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico about their stories of resilience.

And these were interviews that, you know, they were long interviews, there was a lot of information to digest.

And my mind had to somehow figure out how to take an interview like you and I are having right now, and translate that into a song, right?

Translate that into the creative realm in a different way.

And so for me, the way that I processed that was through drawing.

You know, I would listen to the interviews, and I would draw them and then, you know, I realized, oh, somebody actually thinks this is kind of beautiful.

And might wanna have it on their wall, or might wanna have it as a t-shirt, you know?

So I started to share very, you know, timidly that way at first.

And I similarly, when I took their stories and decided that I wanted to make them documentaries, again, you know, I didn't study film formally, but I watched lots of movies, I love documentaries, and I'm a creative, so I moved into that realm.

I learned, you know, how to do editing and film little by little, trial and error, and, you know, began to explore that realm a bit more, and it was really powerful.

- Yeah, and that kind of moves us into my next question, is your project, Fever Pitch.

I would love to know what it is, and like what sparks you to create that series.

- Yeah, so Fever Pitch is my current interdisciplinary work.

It's incorporating the music that I've created around climate justice, around climate change, intersectional issues that I've worked on for the past 20 or more years.

And so I've selected some pieces, brought them together into the show.

There is one new song that we folded into the show that's called Fever Pitch.

And then I started working with a choreographer, Gregory Theodore Marsh, to live my childhood dream of dancing in a show.

So Greg worked with me since 2023.

Greg and I have been working together developing the choreography for this show.

And then I also had this dream, I love, you know, going to see shows where they use beautiful, amazing like, projection technology.

And I was like, how can I fold a lot of the footage that I created, you know, that I've captured over the course of the years?

How can I kaleidoscope that and make that into like, you know, something beautiful to present on the stage?

Started working with this amazing media artist, Joseph Amodei, and the result is this show, Fever Pitch, which is centered around climate justice.

But the deeper why, Jade, is actually something very personal.

It comes out of a conversation that I had with my son shortly before he was graduating from high school.

Him and I were kayaking on a river, and he was really concerned about his future as it relates to climate.

You know, he had done the math on where we're at in this world, and you know, this was after the pandemic, and we know the multiple pandemics that we were facing right in that moment in time.

And so, he was really like, what's the point?

You know, what can we do?

And I think that's a question that many of us sit with, but especially his generation, and the generations, my daughter's generation, the generations that are coming behind us, they also, you know, carry that question in a very different way, right?

- That's a lot of weight on a youth as well.

- It's a lot of weight, right?

Like, we've had days where our children can't even go outside and play, because there's too much smoke in the air, right?

And the air is literally toxic.

For me, this show is, you know, a commitment to him.

I made a commitment on that day that I would do everything that I can with every breath that I have on this planet earth while I'm alive to be able to contribute towards climate justice, contribute towards a better world for him and the generations to come.

And so this show is my next step in that commitment.

It is going to be premiered locally in 2025 and 2026.

There'll be performances, we'll be announcing them, so you can check them on our website.

- Awesome.

- But yeah, there's a lot coming with this, and I look forward to sharing it with our community.

- It really hits, especially when you talked about the youth, because as a youth worker, I feel that, I feel the despair from them, and they need something like you're creating.

So thank you.

And thank you for joining us today, Taina.

I appreciate you.

- Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me.

♪ This is my declaration ♪ ♪ To be fully alive ♪ ♪ Fully alive ♪ ♪ Healing ♪ ♪ This is my reclamation ♪ ♪ Of my ancestral, ancestral wisdom ♪ ♪ The earth, it saved it for me ♪ ♪ And I plant the seed ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ No, I won't give up, I won't say no ♪ ♪ Till I saw you lift it my hand, feel it's love ♪ ♪ No, I won't give up, I won't say no ♪ ♪ This is what I'm here to do ♪ ♪ Dig the path, returning us to land ♪ ♪ Ancestors calling from the depths of the earth ♪ ♪ Dig the path, returning us to land ♪ ♪ Let it be ♪ ♪ I'm there to say ♪ ♪ Love is ♪ ♪ All that we need ♪ ♪ As it grows in the seed ♪ ♪ A precious memory ♪ ♪ And our claim to sovereignty ♪ ♪ Let it be our claim to sovereignty ♪ ♪ Yes, I plant the seed ♪ ♪ Oh, a memory ♪ ♪ Our hope ♪ ♪ Our sovereignty ♪ ♪ A memory ♪ ♪ Our hope ♪ ♪ Our sovereignty ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Our healing ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Take my hand, surrender to the sky ♪ ♪ Feel the sun restoring me to life, I am whole ♪ ♪ Lift my hand, surrender to the sky ♪ ♪ Liberation is possible ♪ ♪ Reap the harvest of collective strength ♪ ♪ Let our courage nourish us, let fear have no place ♪ ♪ Reap the harvest of collective strength ♪ ♪ We are self-determined ♪ ♪ 'Cause all that we need ♪ ♪ As it grows in the seed ♪ ♪ A precious memory ♪ ♪ And our claim to sovereignty ♪ ♪ Let it be our claim to sovereignty ♪ ♪ Yes, I plant the seed ♪ ♪ Oh, a memory ♪ ♪ Our hope ♪ ♪ Our sovereignty ♪ ♪ A memory ♪ ♪ Our hope ♪ ♪ Our sovereignty ♪ ♪ A memory ♪ ♪ Our hope ♪ ♪ Our sovereignty ♪ ♪ A memory ♪ ♪ Our hope ♪ ♪ Our sovereignty ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Our healing ♪ (Taina singing in Spanish) (Taina singing in Spanish continues) (Taina singing in Spanish continues) (Taina singing in Spanish continues) (Taina singing in Spanish continues) (Taina singing in Spanish continues) ♪ No permission to say no more ♪ ♪ Wait no more ♪ ♪ Take no more ♪ ♪ No permission to say no more ♪ ♪ Wait no more ♪ ♪ Take no more ♪ ♪ From the waters of gourd the I descend ♪ ♪ Legends of my ancestral land ♪ ♪ Divine teachings they send from their souls, I defend ♪ ♪ Their strength, they were people who survived ♪ ♪ Slavery, attempted genocide ♪ ♪ Awaken courage that hope we provide ♪ ♪ From this home I will find ♪ ♪ As lawmakers are betrayed ♪ ♪ Like gods who decide our fate ♪ ♪ At which rate, out climate ♪ ♪ They'll annihilate ♪ ♪ And it's us they incriminate ♪ ♪ And us who will feel the weight ♪ ♪ Of the sacred waters ♪ ♪ They desecrate ♪ ♪ Those who hide behind rose ♪ ♪ Destiny of us all ♪ ♪ From the margins we call ♪ ♪ We will no longer ♪ ♪ Negotiate our survival ♪ ♪ No longer ♪ ♪ Negotiate our survival ♪ ♪ No permission to say no more ♪ ♪ Wait no more ♪ ♪ Take no more ♪ ♪ No permission to say no more ♪ ♪ Wait no more ♪ ♪ Take no more ♪ ♪ Feel the waters beginning to rise ♪ ♪ Warnings of earth, traumatized ♪ ♪ In front of our eyes, recipes of our demise ♪ ♪ But from the waters of the good, we resist ♪ ♪ But with medicine and truth in our fists ♪ ♪ Cease and desist ♪ ♪ We claim the right to exist ♪ ♪ Those who hide behind rose ♪ ♪ Destiny of us all ♪ ♪ From the margins we call ♪ ♪ We will no longer ♪ ♪ Negotiate our survival ♪ ♪ No longer ♪ ♪ Negotiate our survival ♪ ♪ Out of the gourd, we flow ♪ ♪ We flow, we flow ♪ ♪ Guiding by the past ♪ ♪ Into tomorrow ♪ ♪ And like a river surge ♪ ♪ We will take over ♪ ♪ Surrender the power ♪ ♪ 'Cause we won't ♪ ♪ Negotiate our survival ♪ ♪ No longer ♪ ♪ Negotiate our survival ♪ ♪ No longer, no longer, no longer ♪ ♪ Negotiate our survival ♪ ♪ No longer, no longer, no longer ♪ ♪ Negotiate our survival ♪ (gentle music) - Thanks for joining us.

For more arts, visit wmht.org/aha, and be sure to connect with us on social.

I'm Matt Rogowicz, thanks for watching.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Funding for AHA has been provided by your contribution, and by contributions to the WMHT venture fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, and The Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That is why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts, and we invite you to do the same.