Music as Balm

T-Kay speaks of her experience archiving human rights documentation and the histories of marginalized communities and how music has softened and supported this process. Callie also asks T-Kay to share her perspective as an archivist on the importance of creative gatherings as a part of honoring impactful life events within a community including loss of loved ones, celebratory moments of achievement, and or simply acknowledging the joy of being together after being apart for so long. How can we provide safe containers in order to support one another in processing the dialectic experience of both grief and potential reunion that has defined these last four years? T-Kay shares what fears, excitements, anxieties, and or possible delight accompany this time and how sonic gatherings might help us to digest and integrate our varying landscapes of lived experiences alongside one another.

A conversation with T-Kay, LA Based (DUBLAB) DJ and Archivist. Together Callie and T-Kay discuss how gathering to listen and to share music has transformed and shifted over the last three years as we have traversed and navigated the ever-changing waters of the pandemic. As we yearn for connection amidst times of isolation, what is the meaning and impact of connecting both physically and virtually within creative spaces? Have these last four years of unique and oftentimes anxiety producing hibernation and labor affected the way that we relate in music spaces? What does it look like to re-enter these spaces and help to make them feel safe and accessible for all bodies and brains?