introducing brian

This is my friend Brian. I met Brian back in 2014 as part of the Developing Artists Program at Folk Music Ontario. At that time, I was one of the Youth Artists, and Brian was one of the mentors. Brian is an incredibly kind, cat-loving, generous, caring, and creative human! He makes insanely beautiful electronic music under the moniker Brava Kilo His ability to weave layers of sounds into captivating melodies and rhythms has been completely invigorating to immerse myself in, and our experience collaborating together with sounds and words has been intense, hilarious, inspiring, generative, and safely held. 

When I first approached Brian to see if he might be interested in diving into this project together, we uncovered so many parallels between the stories we carried from our family history. Somehow, we were able to dig into the messiest, most uncomfortable parts of the Japanese-Canadian internment, identifying as mixed-race, and the legacy of racism in this country, and the deeper we got into this heart work, the more we laughed! As we have built this piece, the laughter has been a constant source of joy.  

Throughout this collaboration, there has been a palpable presence of our ancestors working with and through us to unravel the narratives of the past, and reclaim our place in the story. Even when parts of the process have been challenging, I like to think that this work we have been doing is so much bigger than we even understand!! Without Brian, I don't think HALF as much of this healing would have been possible, and for that I am eternally grateful to have been given this opportunity to collaborate. 

- Annie Sumi 

 

 

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