1 - On Alchemy🍎

Fearlessness, singing cities, chewing gum and the artist’s hand.

Holaaaaaa!

How are y’all doing? Hanging in there? Keeping it ccuuUuute? 

This newsletter arrives over a week later because I am in Buenos Aires this month and currently on ARGENTINEAN TIME. Fight me <3

A little anecdote for you… 

Right before coming to the South, I moved to a new apartment in Toronto. Seeing as I’m the definition of Type A and like to prepare for stuff in advance, I called my internet provider to schedule the service cancellation, resulting in my account being suspended 10 days earlier than requested. 

We all know the story. No data. Infuriating automation. Overworked and underpaid employees. Hours on hold. Disconnected, I couldn’t help but think of No Tengo Wifi by PUTOCHINOMARICÓN where the Taiwanese-Spanish electro pop artist cranks up the reverb, vogues in the pink-tiled mirror of a dimly lit bathroom, and laments his lack of WiFi at 165 BPM. This is the shit I adore. Your internet is out? Write a song about it. Feeling disconnected? Dance it out. Film yourself. Make a damn music video. 

Be as scared as you like, but make it anyway. Share it, and understand how special it is for the rest of us to take in your creation, to see your process, to witness the artist’s hand. A backstage glimpse, a blurry behind-the-scenes, a flash reminder that imperfection is real, human, immaculate. To notice the evidence of authorship, to see that someone worked their ass off to create and share this random piece of their messy and beautiful existence with you is such a blessing. 

I’ve been in Buenos Aires for a week and am utterly enamored, as always. I have a kaleidoscope of stories & emotions & musings to share - but in the meanwhile, all I can say is that I’ve always found it easier to breathe in a city with broken cobblestones and cracks in the walls, reigned by 200 year old trees. There is a vibration, a spiral of energy that is very difficult to put into words. 

And the cariño! The pureness of friendship!! The unabashed laughter, the genuine care, the sin filtro. I didn’t realize how much I craved this affection, how much I missed hearing people sing in the streets for no reason whatsoever. The 70 year old portero whistles as he washes the sidewalk, the teenager practices her choreography on the train and the verduleros chant along with the radio as they pile crates of oranges. The chattering birds, the pulsing cumbia. A city that SINGS, unafraid and unashamed. 

Not to be that girl, but I’ve grown increasingly disenchanted with Toronto (and North America in general) in a lot of ways.. I feel that no matter the circle, you’re always being asked to prove yourself, to justify your existence. To categorize, label and seal your being into little, plastic mass-produced echoes of self. To buy your freedom. To buy your rest. You want to sing on the subway? Sign up here, wait a year, don’t bring that instrument, don’t be loud, sing from this time to this time and not one minute more and don't dare step outside of the vinyl floor sticker or you will be fined $1000. Anyway… I’m curious as to what you think. Maybe I’m just bitter?

I always return to this line by Argentinean rapper + freestyler WOS in his track CANGURO: 

Y no, no hace falta gente que labure más

Hace falta que con menos se pueda vivir en paz

We don’t need to be working more hours, what we need is to reclaim our inherent right to live in peace, with less. To vehemently refuse exploitation. To fight for the respect, energy and space we need to (re)connect with the absolute abundance that surrounds us. To release that scarcity mindset that keeps us scared and so focused on what we lack that we are unable to move forward. (Because I am superstitious, I left a little chewing gum offering at the Gauchito Gil neighbourhood altar in honour of this).

I just quit my second job so far this year, and have come to realize that I’m not cut out for 9 to 5. Something’s gotta give and I know I’m not the only one! The amount of conversations I’ve had with so many of you about this! This refusal to mold ourselves into working for someone else’s profit has nothing to do with our capacity, intelligence, passion, dedication or commitment to what we do. 

It’s become painstakingly clear to me this year that what is not for you will run you to the ground until you are ready to let it go. And then some. This is where we must re-route, gather The Fool’s potential and get our hands dirty. Enter The Magician, the alchemist of the Tarot, reminding us that we have everything we need to propel us into the next moment. (ENTEEEER NIGHT)

Oppressive structures are collapsing. We are witnessing revolutions. Energy, to avoid becoming stagnant,  must be transmuted - transformed. We must trust the goddamn process, because what is for us will not pass us by.

As we enter the last month of the year, this is what I want to make space for. Fearless creation, cariño and trust. I leave you with some tidbits in the meanwhile:

🍎 TO LISTEN 🍎

Ila Mata by Bab L’Bluz. Fronted by African-Moroccan Yousra Mansour in a traditionally male role, Bab L’Bluz is devoted to a revolution in attitude which dovetails with Morocco’s ‘nayda’ youth movement – a new wave of artists and musicians taking their cues from local heritage, singing words of freedom in the Moroccan-Arabic dialect of darija. I am still not over the fact that I got to see them play a live showcase at Cabaret Lion D’Or during the Mundial 2023 showcases in Montréal last month. The funk is REAL!

🍎 TO WATCH 🍎

What does one do at The End of The World? One makes a beat with Stromae in La Dernière Leçon: Humaine à l'Eau (2012).

In this cheeky music video, the multifaceted Belgian artist sets up a midi controller in a post-apocalyptic supermarket and guides us through an impromptu music production session and performance. I am forever in awe of Stromae’s playfulness and the simplicity with which he demystifies the process of songwriting. Expect a brilliant track with potent lyrics and badass AI generated back-up dancers (before it was cool!). I’m still mad about missing his tour. Don’t @ me.

🍎 TO READ 🍎

This stellar interview on The Creative Independent with NNAMDÏ - Chicago-based Musician and founder of Sooper Records on collaboration, restlessness and pursuing your passions. 

Until next time!