Chaka V. Grier
Folk Alley
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Past articles by C.V.:
Considering Pete Seeger’s Legacy on His 103rd Birthday
Today, on Seeger’s birthday, one could imagine him singing his heart out to celebrate modern union movements that are transforming corporations like Amazon and Starbucks from the inside out, as he did for Labor Unions with the Almanac Singers in the early 1940s. Or he’d be found enthusiastically playing his guitar for Black Lives Matter or Trans Rights protesters as they demand equality, just as… → Read More
Review: Allie X has too many ideas on Cape God
The Los Angeles-via-Toronto pop singer/songwriter throws everything at the wall, with not all of it sticking → Read More
The best Toronto albums of 2019
From confidence-oozing hip-hop to anonymous country, record collector psych to morbid pop-punk, it was an eclectic year for local music – and a very good one → Read More
Review: Toronto's Maddee sounds stunningly beyond her years
On her debut EP Red Mind, the electro-soul artist's commanding voice can feel oddly tentative → Read More
Review: Nunavut singer Riit is fully assured on her debut, Ataataga
Singing and throat singing synthy electro-pop in Inuktitut, she shows she knows exactly what she wants to say and how she wants to say it → Read More
Review: Canadian pop singer Begonia wrestles with big questions on Fear
Rather than Instagram’s disingenuous style of curated realness, Alexa Dirks's songs flow naturally and unpredictably, like internal monologues set to music → Read More
JFL42 Q&A: Nicole Byer sounds off on hashtags, body positivity and hecklers
The MTV star and Nailed It! host gets ready to entertain Toronto's biggest comedy festival → Read More
TIFF review: Harriet
Kasi Lemmons-directed biopic gives abolitionist Harriet Tubman the superhero treatment → Read More
TV review: A Black Lady Sketch Show sends up rigid ideas of Blackness
Comedian Robin Thede's late-night HBO series features an all-Black, all-female cast, directing and writing team – a television first → Read More
Is it too late to close Canadian music's value gap?
Artists join Music Canada’s call to arms for music’s middle class → Read More
Review: Heart brought raunchy and raw rock to Budweiser Stage
Ann and Nancy Wilson's Love Alive tour hit Toronto with Sheryl Crow in the opening slot → Read More
Review: Cuban legend Omara Portuondo kissed goodbye at Toronto Jazz Festival
The Bueno Vista Social Club singer is on the final North American tour of her more than 70-year career, but she's as strong and glamorous a singer and dancer as ever → Read More
The Remix Project’s next chapter
The local community arts organization is celebrating its 20th birthday with a massive new headquarters on the waterfront, but it’s focused straight ahead → Read More
Review: Toronto's Lydia Persaud embraces soul on Let Me Show You
Album review: Lydia Persaud, Let Me Show You: The O'Pears and Dwayne Gretzky singer is an excellent songwriter and her voice is beautifully warm and sweet – sometimes too sweet for the genre. → Read More
Review: Snotty Nose Rez Kids' Trapline is hip-hop as it was intended
Album review: Snotty Nose Rez Kids' Trapline. On their new album, the Haisla Nation duo build on the biting and celebratory sound of their first two mixtapes, but this time louder and prouder. → Read More
Hot Docs 2019: Philip Pike traces Toronto's queer Black activist history
Our Dance Of Revolution charts the evolution of activist organizing, from the early 70s to the AIDS crisis in the 80s and Black Lives Matter at the Pride parade → Read More
The untold story of Canada's Black beauty industry
In her book Beauty In A Box, author Cheryl Thompson delves into the social, political and corporate history of Black women's hair in Canada → Read More
Review: AKUA lays bare the aftermath of grief on Them Spirits
The new album from L.A.-based Canadian singer and Solange collaborator AKUA is unsparing, beautiful and cathartic. → Read More
Review: Julia Jacklin's Crushing is a deep observation of intimate relationships
On Crushing, Aussie singer/songwriter Julia Jacklin explores autonomy, as well as power dynamics between lovers, while elevating the drama of longing and resentment. → Read More
iskwē won’t let us look away from injustice toward Indigenous people
iskwē's new video Little Star, released on the anniversary of acquittals in the Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine cases, is an ode to young, Indigenous lives lost and a recrimination of a society that has repeatedly turned a blind eye to tragedies. → Read More