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Feminists Around the World: Divide and Dissolve · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sanny and Samantha. Welcome to stuff I
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  Speaker 1: ever told your production. iHeart Radio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And to end the year of twenty twenty five, we
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  Speaker 2: are featuring a musical group from Australia who's been using
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  Speaker 2: music to speak out against colonization, oppression and white supremacy
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  Speaker 2: and for our activists around the world. We are talking
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  Speaker 2: about the group Divide and Dissolve. So Divide and Dissolve
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  Speaker 2: released their first album in twenty sixteen twenty seventeen when
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  Speaker 2: it was formed by duo ta Kaya Reid the saxophonist
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  Speaker 2: and guitarist and Sylvie Nahill the percussionist. So Reid was
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  Speaker 2: actually born in Texas but was raised in Melbourne, Australia,
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  Speaker 2: and she identifies as black and Cherokee, and Nahill is
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  Speaker 2: an Australian Native but also has Maori background. So they
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  Speaker 2: came to get there to make music that push for
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  Speaker 2: black and Indigenous empowerment and rights.
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  Speaker 3: So you know, we already love that here and.
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  Speaker 2: If you do get a chance, obviously they have a
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  Speaker 2: lot of albums and they are available all on your
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  Speaker 2: any of the apps, musical apps, and their album is
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  Speaker 2: really cool, like it's nice instrumentals and then it gives
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  Speaker 2: you a good upbeat. If I was still running, I
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  Speaker 2: think i'd have to put them on my list. It
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  Speaker 2: feels very motivating. Okay, yeah, yeah, you need to go
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  Speaker 2: check them out. It's really interesting.
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  Speaker 3: I'm like, oh yeah, so you definitely get that vibe.
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  Speaker 2: And I don't know if I would say it's heavy
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  Speaker 2: metal as much as they're saying it heavy, but for
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  Speaker 2: some reason, I'm gonna stick with the heavy metal because
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  Speaker 2: it fills with that downbeat.
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  Speaker 3: It feels really good. It feels like you could definitely
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  Speaker 3: wash in this. And I say this as a non masher.
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  Speaker 2: It's about the say, well, the few times I've gone
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  Speaker 2: to those shows, I would actually get protected by my
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  Speaker 2: bigger friends, so I didn't get crushed because they're serious.
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  Speaker 1: They are serious, and if you get stuck, it's hard
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  Speaker 1: to get out.
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  Speaker 3: Something and you're not ready for it. Oh yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Anyways, So they have stated before in interviews that they
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  Speaker 2: wanted to decolonize metal and push past the narrative that
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  Speaker 2: heavy metal and heavy music had to be explicitly mel centered.
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  Speaker 3: So they really wanted to break those molds, and.
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  Speaker 2: In twenty twenty three, Nahil actually left the band, but
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  Speaker 2: Reid continued with the music, bringing in different artists for
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  Speaker 2: the progression, so you'll have different people have opportunities to
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  Speaker 2: play with her. So she talked about how cool that
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  Speaker 2: was and featuring different artists who had similar backgrounds with her. So,
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  Speaker 2: with five albums under their belt, they've continued to push
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  Speaker 2: the boundaries of what their genre was about. So this
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  Speaker 2: is from their website and on how they describe themselves,
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  Speaker 2: they say Takaya Reid is a two spirit Black and
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  Speaker 2: Cherokee composer, multi instrumentalist, and leader of her band Divide
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  Speaker 2: and Dissolve, an internationally acclaimed band whose work bridges do metal,
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  Speaker 2: neoclassical composition, and sound design. Her practice is rooted in
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  Speaker 2: decolonial politics and a commitment to envisioning liberatory futures. Their
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  Speaker 2: recent works gas Lit and Systemic, produced by Ruben Nielsen
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  Speaker 2: of Unknown Mortal Orchestra and released on Invader Records, roped
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  Speaker 2: the band to wider international audiences, including a twenty twenty
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  Speaker 2: four US tour supporting Chelsea Wolf. Their newest record, Insatiable
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  Speaker 2: Belly Union, pushes the boundaries of doom metal by weaving
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  Speaker 2: in re saxophone voice, and compositional approach that balances heaviness
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  Speaker 2: with emotional clarity.
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  Speaker 3: It is very nice. I could definitely feel those moments.
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  Speaker 3: And as she.
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  Speaker 2: Continues in her musical career, Reid has only dug her
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  Speaker 2: hills and deeper into the messaging of her music. So
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  Speaker 2: from an article from Madernnews dot Org, they write, growing
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  Speaker 2: up Black and Cherokee, Reid said she always carried within
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  Speaker 2: her the reality that our social and political systems can
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  Speaker 2: and do perpetuate these cycles of violence. And yet this
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  Speaker 2: reality hasn't overwhelmed the love and beauty that can go
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  Speaker 2: hand in hand with existence, an idea that sufferces most
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  Speaker 2: cleanly in the album's closing desire, which serves as a
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  Speaker 2: point of sonic hope read and Coe conjuring the sound
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  Speaker 2: of sunlight finally breaking through the clouds at the tail
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  Speaker 2: end of a long, ferocious storm. And she has stayed
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  Speaker 2: firm in the genre of music that is her music.
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  Speaker 2: Though she was classically trained with the saxophone, she plays
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  Speaker 2: as she feels, and her perseverance has only increased her
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  Speaker 2: fan base. Obviously we're part of that now. And this
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  Speaker 2: is from a Guardian article featuring her and her work.
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  Speaker 2: They write, while audiences have warmed to the band's message.
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  Speaker 2: More Over the years, Reid says she continues to talk
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  Speaker 2: about her themes on stage as she's aware that there's
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  Speaker 2: not many people who look like me doing this type
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  Speaker 2: of music. She still sometimes encounters audience members who are
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  Speaker 2: confused about why a woman of color is playing in
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  Speaker 2: a heavy band. If you're in shock about the type
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  Speaker 2: of music that's being played, then let me just.
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  Speaker 3: Be really clear what this music is about.
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  Speaker 2: And she said this about the music she makes from
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  Speaker 2: Solvo dot Ghost dot Io, and I think it's important
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  Speaker 2: that we make sure we include her words on this.
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  Speaker 2: She writes, I know that music's heavy, but I feel
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  Speaker 2: genre less. We get booked at so many different things
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  Speaker 2: all the time. Fashion stuff, art stuff, classical music stuff.
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  Speaker 2: I'm a classically trained musician and I play a lot
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  Speaker 2: of instruments. People can hear that in the music. They're like, oh,
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  Speaker 2: but it sounds like because it is. I'm really grateful
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  Speaker 2: that I have the ability to play different instruments, and
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  Speaker 2: I feel very comfortable in a classical music setting or
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  Speaker 2: in many different settings, and I love composing. So it
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  Speaker 2: isn't surprising to know that she has had some pushback
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  Speaker 2: and has had some conflict throughout our career. So in
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  Speaker 2: twenty eighteen, their video Resistance was actually removed from YouTube
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  Speaker 2: due to the protests and criticisms of politicians and some
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  Speaker 2: media outlets for spraying and spinning on colonial figures, but
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  Speaker 2: was reinstated with an apology from YouTube. And we know
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  Speaker 2: about this kind of backlash and the pushback when it
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  Speaker 2: comes to like, but it is this freedom of speech.
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  Speaker 3: They really weren't doing these things. What are you going
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  Speaker 3: to do about this?
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  Speaker 2: And because people don't like it, they complain real loud,
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  Speaker 2: and from their same Salva dot ghost io article, she
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  Speaker 2: says this about the reaction about her newest album as
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  Speaker 2: well as what she's doing. If I'm to generalize, most
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  Speaker 2: people are really supportive and I appreciate that a lot.
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  Speaker 2: There are some pushbacks sometimes, but most of the time,
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  Speaker 2: people understand what free Palestine means and they understand why
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  Speaker 2: white supremacy must end. And I think people when they
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  Speaker 2: look at me, they understand why I would want white
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  Speaker 2: supremacy to not exist and why I want land back
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  Speaker 2: for Indigenous people. I'm sure talking about this stuff is impactful.
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  Speaker 2: It impacts me. People have had violent reactions to me before.
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  Speaker 2: People have screened from the audience. A few things that
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  Speaker 2: have happened where it's been scary. But I do not
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  Speaker 2: want to be dominated by fear. There are so many
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  Speaker 2: prices that we pay, and sometimes not saying things has
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  Speaker 2: an impact. I don't want to live in that fear.
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  Speaker 2: Anything is possible. I could live a really long life.
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  Speaker 3: I could not.
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  Speaker 2: But whatever I'm doing, I would like to know that
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  Speaker 2: I tried really hard and I did it with all
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  Speaker 2: my heart. It's a drop in the ocean. That's it,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm totally happy with that. I'm like, cool, here's
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  Speaker 2: my one drop in the ocean. The water returns to
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  Speaker 2: the sky and it falls back down, and there's all
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  Speaker 2: these cycles of life and water. Our bodies give out
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  Speaker 2: and then they return to the earth. I'm just participating
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  Speaker 2: in a way that feels good for me. I love that.
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  Speaker 3: Very poetic.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, she's an artist, so her newest album, Insatia Well,
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  Speaker 2: has been well received and was even nominated or put
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  Speaker 2: on the shortlist for the Australian Music Prize and by
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  Speaker 2: the way, their first I believe the first album won
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  Speaker 2: the Music Victoria Award in twenty seventeen, so pretty big deal.
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  Speaker 3: In Australia and.
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  Speaker 2: In that same interview, Reid talks about their newest album,
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  Speaker 2: and this is what she had to say. My newest
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  Speaker 2: single off of my new album, it is about that
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  Speaker 2: hope and love. It's about how we make decisions today
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  Speaker 2: in the present or in the past that will influence
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  Speaker 2: the future and hopefully these things will make things better.
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  Speaker 2: And sometimes you work towards something that you won't experience
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  Speaker 2: in this lifetime. I think about how older people will
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  Speaker 2: continue to remind me and my friends things were a
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  Speaker 2: lot harder when I was a child, or when my
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  Speaker 2: parents were children, or when their parents were children. Then
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  Speaker 2: we're getting into slavery, and you go back and back
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  Speaker 2: more and you're getting into these genocides. They're very close
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  Speaker 2: in our future, in our past, and for me, the
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  Speaker 2: music is about the hope of love that's required in
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  Speaker 2: order to make decisions that will impact the dispossession and
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  Speaker 2: the geneticide that's happening and hopefully making things better for people.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes that those feelings are so distanced and far away
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  Speaker 2: and impossible.
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  Speaker 3: I called it.
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  Speaker 2: Monolithic because we are dealing with monolithic entities where it's
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  Speaker 2: been posed as truth and unstoppable and unchangeable, but anything
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  Speaker 2: is possible, especially getting rid of subjectivity of systemic oppression.
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  Speaker 2: So this is about holding onto that in a way
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  Speaker 2: that feels loving and filled with compassion. Like she said,
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  Speaker 2: this last album was something about breaking through with love
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  Speaker 2: and hope, and their descriptor of the last song about
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  Speaker 2: breaking out of the clouds and seeing sun. I feel
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  Speaker 2: like she really is coming full circle in this conversation
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  Speaker 2: and in these albums.
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  Speaker 3: And also I love.
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  Speaker 2: The irony of heavy metal or heavy music being about
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  Speaker 2: love and hope because you don't expect that, so it's
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  Speaker 2: not like as like sound would go. It's ironic, but
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  Speaker 2: in actuality it feels like, yeah, that's what breaks through.
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  Speaker 2: So I love when we have creators like this and
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  Speaker 2: artists like this that use their music for something so
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  Speaker 2: much bigger and so much broader. So I'm really excited
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  Speaker 2: to go listen to the whole album. I only heard
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  Speaker 2: a couple of songs, and I encourage you to do
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  Speaker 2: as well. Again, it's Divide and Dissolve and you can
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  Speaker 2: go and check that out.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, and please go do so. Listeners, And if
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: you would like to contact us, you can You can
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: email us at Hello at stuff Whenever Told You dot com.
• 9:22
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• 9:24
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• 9:27
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• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Christina or Executive Brus, to my and your contributor Joey,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: thank you, and thanks to you for listening. Stuff When
• 9:38
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