Raha Javanfar is a multi-faceted artist, born in Iran and raised in Toronto. A classically trained violinist with a passion for roots music, she has toured extensively with Tafelmusik as a projections designer and production assistant. She plays fiddle in the Western swing band The Double Cuts, participates regularly in Soulpepper Theatre’s concert series, and teaches music privately and lighting design at Ryerson University. We are thrilled that she will be moderating our online Tafel Talks: Music as Resistance panel discussion, on Wednesday, December 2, 2020 at 7pm EST.
In advance of next week's event, we asked Raha a few questions about what she's looking forward to about this panel, and how she's been navigating the pandemic as an artist.
Tafelmusik: What makes you excited about your role as moderator for Music as Resistance?
Raha: I'm really looking forward to this event. I think it's such a vast topic with so many avenues that can be explored.
The panelists have such diverse backgrounds and different areas of expertise, and I'm excited to hear from them as I'm expecting to learn a lot about this fascinating topic. As I've been thinking about it recently, I've realized that there are the 'obvious' ways that music comes up as resistance—teenagers gravitating towards new sounds as a means of rebellion, and protest songs becoming anthems for revolutions—but there's so much more to explore beyond all that, and I'm excited to go there on December
Tafelmusik: What has it been like to be an artist during the pandemic? Would you say being an artist during COVID could be called its own form of resistance?
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