PYNE

Alanna Stuart is a music artist, researcher, curator, and documentarian working in Canada and Jamaica. Formerly one-half of the Polaris Prize-nominated duo Bonjay, Alanna has created and performed a bass heavy, soul-driven sound that the New York Times calls ‘Canadian Dancehall’. She is also a proud member of the Queer Songbook Orchestra. As a sought after vocalist and producer, Alanna has collaborated with musical kindreds Sly & Robbie, U.S. Girls, Jeremy Dutcher, Equiknoxx, Bernice, Junior Boys, Act!, and more. She's shared stages with everyone from Etta James to Tune-Yards to The Bug to Lila Ike.PYNE is an exciting solo venture from Stuart centred on what she dubs ‘femmehall’: a movement promoting the feminine presence in dancehall production. Her forthcoming To All The Girls I've Loved Before EP features Jamaicanified versions of songs by a mix-up selection of the women who have influenced her: Liz Fraser (Cocteau Twins), Solange, Casey Mecija, St. Vincent, and Kate Bush. Outside of the studio, Stuart is a Gender Studies PhD student at Queen’s University. Her work uses research-creation to centre the experience of Black women in the Canadian music industry, and to explore new ways of engaging with socially marginalized tastemakers around the world. Alanna is a SSHRC Doctoral Scholar, Toronto Arts Council Leaders Lab Fellow, Radio Starmaker Fund board member, and the inaugural artist-in-residence at the University of Toronto’s Afrosonic Innovations Lab.

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Where: SAW Courtyard
When: June 8th, 7:30 pm