CiTR

If Raveena Arora, Leanne La Havas, and Akua Naru had a musical brainchild, it would be emerging musician Anjalica Solomon. With their debut, “Honey Queen” — an erotic, queer love poem written in the spirit of neo soul artists such as Erykah Badu — Solomon showcases their talent as a vocalist trained in the classical hindustani tradition and jazz. In a radio world filled with pop songs about love between cis men and cis women, this queer brown anthem is a radical act of resistance.

Solomon is a genderfluid Desi singer, songwriter, lyricist, pianist, clarinet player, loop pedalist, poet, spoken word artist, organiser and multi-disciplinary performer based in what is colonially known as Vancouver, B.C. They live on the stolen and unsurrendered territories of the Coast Salish, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam Nations.
They are a leader in arts administration, with experience in working with Indian Summer Festival, UBC Arts and Culture, Verses Festival of Words, the TD Coastal Jazz Festival and The Cultch Theatre. As an arts educator, Anjalica has developed workshops to generate healing poetry and collage to classrooms across the lower mainland with Wordplay Vancouver. With deep roots in Vancouver’s poetry scene, Anjalica has served as an organizer and host of UBC Slam Poetry and Vancouver Poetry Slam.

Their poetic work often seeks to proclaim the possibilities of love and resilience. Anjalica is a poet of startling emotional intellect and candour whose work testifies to a deep faith in beauty, the power of nature, and ultimately, the human capacity to salvage integrity, radiance, and joy. In this way, Solomon's poems and performances offer robust visions of hope, tenacity, and love.

Solomon is currently conjuring an arts collective of queer brown women and non binary artists and working on their forthcoming collection with Write Bloody Publishing. Follow @Anjalicrush on Instagram to learn more about upcoming poetry collections, short films, experimental fringe productions, virtual workshops, #brownhistory and for #birdoftheday features!