Chi Sounds Like

Marcela Gallo is a music manager, cultural promoter and the owner of Tonantzin Gallery Shop in Pilsen. Through amplifying music, art and presenting hand-picked items in her shop inspired by her travels to Mexico, her goal is to preserve Pilsen’s culture. This is what her Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn more about Marcela G...

Samer Owaida is an aspiring liberatory abolitionist psychologist. By day he works as a supportive housing case manager, and by night attends grad school studying to become an art therapist for children of color. He hopes to become a positive male role model for kids, like he yearned for throughout his childhood. This is what his Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Lik...

Luis Tubens, AKA Logan Lu, is a poet, musician, mural historian and co-founder of Pilsen Public Art Tours. His work centers around themes of social justice and immigration. This is what his Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To keep up with Luis Tubens, follow him on Instagram @loganlupoetry. Learn more about Pilsen Public Art Tours a...

Filmmaker Paige Taul uses analog and digital formats, plus archival film, to make her "experimental nonfiction" works — oftentimes exploring definitions of Blackness and Black identity. The purpose of her films are not to inform, rather to share her own lived experiences for others to relate to on whatever levels they can. This is what her Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago...

Anjal Chande is the founder and artistic director of Pilsen-based Soham Dance Space, where she is able to foster her own creative endeavors and build community through teaching. Soham serves as an anticapitalist atmosphere to explore creativity free from commodification. This is what her Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn mor...

Logan Square resident Amber Marsh is a second generation puppeteer at Jabberwocky Marionettes, who captures humanity within stylized puppets of all types. This is what her Chicago Sounds Like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn more about Jabberwocky Marionettes, follow them on Facebook at @JabberwockyMarionettes.

Vocalo has partnered with the Old Town School of Folk Music and Music Moves Chicago to bring listeners our "Future Folk" series, highlighting several creative, community-centered resources promoted by these organizations. The fourth installment features Maila Sylla’s free, all-ages, West African dance class, which strives to unlock new forms of expression for its students. Through learning about a...

Vocalo has partnered with the Old Town School of Folk Music and Music Moves Chicago to bring listeners our "Future Folk" series, highlighting several creative, community-centered resources promoted by these organizations. Co-taught by Angel Bat Dawid and Jaden Isiah, the Great Black Music Class strives to uplift Black identities and invest in the next generation through access to education and cre...

Vocalo has partnered with the Old Town School of Folk Music and Music Moves Chicago to bring listeners our "Future Folk" series, highlighting several creative, community-centered resources promoted by these organizations. Non-profit Black Banjo Reclamation Project strives to reconnect people to lost traditions of instrument making and fostering connections to the land. Founder Hannah Mayree and co...

Vocalo has partnered with the Old Town School of Folk Music and Music Moves Chicago to bring listeners our "Future Folk" series, highlighting several creative, community-centered resources promoted by these organizations. Camp Azania is a free program teaching kids and teens communication, discipline and leadership skills through African drumming, and to highlight the importance of West African cu...

Kimberly Dixon-Mays is a poet, playwright and performer who loves what words can and can't convey in regards to identity and the human experience. Her stories tend to focus on what she calls psychic survival: the definition and defense of self-identity when outside forces are against it. This is what her Chicago sounds like. This segment of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Me...

Djedi Ohm is a tap dancer, Reiki practitioner and jeweler from the South Side who emphasizes the divine nature of dance. He teaches students at the Mayfair Academy of Fine Arts to ensure the art is never forgotten and uses his knowledge of energy work to find healing through dance. This is what his Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. T...

Naydja Bruton is a session drummer, teacher and composer living in Englewood who uses music to illustrate feeling and communication to her students. She’s found a sense of community and belonging among Chicago’s surplus of musical talent. This is what her Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn more about Naydja and her music, vis...

Yoni Pizer, board chair of AIDS Garden Chicago, is working to make the newly opened park honor the past and envision the future of Chicago LGBTQ activism. This is what his Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn more about AIDS Garden Chicago, visit www.aidsgardenchicago.org.

Xail Hernandez is the repairs manager at Working Bikes, a non-profit that restores bicycles and ships them anywhere they are needed. Her work is empowers individuals across the globe while also creating new spaces here in Chicago for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ cyclists. This is what her Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn more about Wor...

Teacher, documentarian and artist Diana Quiñones Riviera uses her passion for filming dance to empower marginalized voices in the arts community. Originally from Puerto Rico, she moved to Chicago from New York City in 2015 and began collaborating with local filmmakers, artists and dancers. Diana’s films reveal the connections traditional dance has to culture, history and political protest. This i...

As the founder of Chicago Rewilding Society, Beatrice Scescke reintroduces Chicagoans to the wonder of nature through education, animal assisted therapy and visits to her Garfield Park nature sanctuary. This is what her Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn more about the Chicago Rewilding Society, visit www.chicagorewildingsoci...

As the co-leader of arts collective Burning Orchid and the founder of company The Energetic Body, Rosé Hernandez strives to foster human connection through energy healing and performance art. This is what her Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn more about Rosé and The Energetic Body, visit www.theenergeticbody.org.

Katelyn Johnson is the executive director of Blackroots Alliance, a network working toward Black liberation through connecting organizations in the Chicagoland area. She believes in staying grounded in the present in order to make change for the future. This is what her Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn more about Blackroots...

22-year-old Joe(y) spreads life-saving first response knowledge as the training coordinator for Ujimaa Medics, a Chicago grassroots nonprofit collective of Black individuals dedicated to expanding access to first response education and trauma centers on the South Side. Joe(y) finds fulfillment in helping out his neighbors — whether it’s fixing their stairs or teaching them how to respond in medica...

Andrea Ortiz, the director of organizing for the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, works tirelessly to provide resources to Chicago's Latinx and immigrant communities. When it comes to community power, Ortiz finds there is strength in standing together. This is what her Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn more about the Brig...

Paul Fitzgerald is the executive director of Chicago nonprofit Friends of Big Marsh, as well as a DJ. Paul works to facilitate connections between Chicagoans using nature, music, biking and communal spaces. This is what his Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn more about Big Marsh Park and Friends of Big Marsh, visit bigmarsh.o...

AnnMarie Brown is the co-executive director of Circles and Ciphers, a non-profit restorative justice organization led by and for young people using hip-hop and peace circles to promote creative expression and healing This is what her Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To learn more about Circles and Ciphers, visit circlesandciphers.or...

Sarah Ross is the co-director of the Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project, or PNAP, a project providing classes, workshops and educational resources to the incarcerated. Sarah believes art has the power to give voice to incarcerated individuals and envision new realities. She feels the arts can be used in this way as a driver toward new policy and social change. This is what her Chicago so...

Teshika, or Tesh, Silver is a graphic designer and illustrator currently residing in Woodlawn. Through her work, she strives to uplift Black femme identities and other historically marginalized people by depicting them in ethereal, positive settings. This is what her Chicago sounds like. This episode of “This Is What Chicago Sounds Like” was produced by Ari Mejia. To see more of Tesh’s art, check...