Boomshake Music's Mitali Purkayastha and Nicole Zapata discuss the legendary women, trans, and gender non-conforming BIPOC street protest drumming crew. Along the way, they share the legacy of Boomshake’s former-musical-director / now-ancestor, teacher auntie Monica Hastings Smith and how Boomshake publicly and unapologetically grieved such a sudden, enormous loss of their leader, and what role art, music, and cultural work plays in helping us make sense of our grief. We also talked about culture as a tool to show up as our authentic selves in a world hell-bent on compartmentalization, how Boomshake integrates ancestral rhythms and musical traditions into their music making from New Orleans to Brazil to Palestine, how music can create safety for children in street protests, and of course, we asked them teach us a few Boomshake chants/rhythms!

Mentioned on the pod:

• Boomshake: http://www.boomshakemusic.com


• Boomshake on IG: @BoomshakeMusic


• Palestinian Debke group on IG: @aljuthoor.dabke