At Pitchfork, add Chicago singer-songwriter Tasha to your must-see list
Pitchfork Music Festival returns to Union Park this weekend for its 14th year, and it’s bringing together a talented lineup of youngsters making a name for themselves in the game and iconic singers in Black music history.
One exciting artist to look out for this weekend is Tasha. A Chicago native and activist, Tasha is carving a musical path for herself in the midst of the ongoing movement for Black lives. She performs on Sunday at 2:45 PM on the Blue stage.
Though, Tasha doesn’t like when journalist ask how Blackness and queerness show up in her music. She’s melding folk, R&B and rock into her own unique sound, one that speaks directly to her experience as a Black queer woman living in a historically oppressive system.
So, by nature of existing and being who she is, Tasha’s music — just like anyone else’s music, regardless of race or sexuality —is political in itself.
“I don’t sit down when I’m making music and think to myself, ‘I’m going to write a protest song,’” Tasha told The TRiiBE. “What I’ve learned from the different writings and legacies of Black women involved in Black queer history is that the personal is political. In fact, nobody’s art exists outside of a political context.”
Born Tasha Viets-VanLear, her activism formed out of anger. Tasha was in college in 2014 when a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. She joined Black Youth Project 100 and started organizing when former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson wasn’t indicted in Brown’s case.
The singer-songwriter is vocal about the things she believes in and her position in the world, much like the genre-blending gospel, R&B singer and activist Mavis Staples, who also is hitting the Pitchfork stage this weekend.
“I don’t choose to have my body acknowledged as a Black queer body in the world but it will be and that’s because of the world we live in,” Tasha says. “I think that all artists have a duty to use their voice and their platform in whatever way that they can to make the world better.”
In addition to Tasha and Staples, the Pitchfork lineup includes a few other heavy hitters as well. R&B legends The Isley Brothers will close out Saturday night, celebrating their 60th year as a band. The youth poetry organization, Young Chicago Authors, will perform with their signature Louder Than A Bomb poetry sets in between each artist on the festival’s Blue stage. Other big names to look out for are Rico Nasty, Ric Wilson and Earl Sweatshirt.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the year Tasha was in college.