Q: The Podcast From Cbc Radio

What do you do when the world around you is anything but calm? For the Juno-winning Indigenous blues artist Crystal Shawanda, the answer was to go inward. Back in May, she joined Tom Power to talk about her powerful and deeply personal new track “This Peace,” which channels her family’s strength, her culture and her own journey of self-discovery to find calm in the midst of life’s storms.

Andrew Barr is a comedian and recovering addict who’s preparing to record his debut comedy special, “The 13th Hour,” in a packed Toronto comedy club this weekend. But just before that, he plans to push his body to the limit by running on a treadmill for 12 hours straight. The show is a metaphor for how addiction slowly breaks down a person’s body and isolates them from their loved ones. His hope is to raise money for the rehab centre that helped him turn it all around. Andrew joins guest host Gill Deacon to tell us more about the project, and how it’s his way of giving voice to those who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.

In a chaotic world filled with uncertainty and suffering, what’s the point of giddy, toe-tapping musical theatre? Winnipeg's Kimberley Rampersad directs the musical comedy “Anything Goes” at the Shaw Festival this season, and she makes a powerful case for the role of joyful art in hard times. Kimberley joins guest host Gill Deacon to talk about her journey to directing, the importance of theatre’s joyful resistance to the darkness, and how theatre allows us to have conversations with the gloves coming off.

What happens when a comedian makes a movie about climate change with survivors of the most powerful typhoon ever recorded? Seán Devlin answers that question with his surreal new film “Asog” — a Canadian-Filipino production made with zero trained actors and a guerilla crew of five people. The Vancouver-based comedian and filmmaker sits down with Tom Power to talk about his personal connection to the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, and why he was so determined to make a movie with them. 

The award-winning Canadian rapper Haviah Mighty is known for writing songs that tackle heavy subjects like racism, power dynamics and equality. But now, Haviah is entering a new era — one that’s focused on positivity and good vibes. She joins guest host Gill Deacon to talk about her new chapter and her latest single, “Lucky.”

For more than 35 years, Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer has used her voice to make award-winning, critically acclaimed music — but that’s not all. She’s also been a vocal advocate for important environmental and humanitarian causes, both in this country and abroad. At the Juno Awards in Vancouver earlier this year, Sarah was honoured with the Humanitarian Award, and now she’s a recipient of a key to the city for her hometown of Burlington, Ont. Back in May, she joined Tom Power for a career-spanning conversation about her early days making music with The Saddletramps and Weeping Tile, going solo, and why she’s so passionate about protecting the land she grew up on.

In the 1980s, Rick Astley became a global superstar with hits like “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “Together Forever.” But then, at age 27, he quit the business. That could have been the end of the story, but then the Rickroll meme of the mid-2000s brought him back to the world’s attention. In his memoir, “Never,” Rick opens up about his strange and incredible life. He joins Tom Power to share some of those stories.

The Montreal band Ribbon Skirt released their debut album, “Bite Down” earlier this year. Now, it’s on the Polaris Prize short list. Lead singer Tashiina Buswa joins Tom Power to tell us how the record was inspired by grief and reconnecting with her Indigeneity, how her first exposure to music was in the church, and the difference between knowing you’re free and actually feeling free. Plus, she tells the story behind her song, “Off Rez.”

K-Pop is one of the biggest musical genres around the world right now, but KPop Demon Hunters director Maggie Kang has been into it long before it was cool. Now, her movie isn’t just one of the biggest films of the summer – its music also charted near the top of the Billboard Global 200. Maggie Kang speaks with Q guest host Gill Deacon about making female characters who aren’t afraid to be goofy, what she learned from working at DreamWorks, and how the song “Golden” from the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack was really hard to write.

Kingston, Ontario has long been a hotbed for up-and-coming bands. Now indie-rock outfit Tiny Horse is making their mark. Ciara Roberts and Rae Corcoran, two of the four bandmates, join guest host Garvia Bailey in the Q studio to talk about how they unexpectedly found themselves writing songs together, how they see the recording studio as an instrument, and the inspiration behind their new single “Islands.” 

After working as a youth counsellor, Canadian rapper TOBi has continued to uplift people through his motivational lyrics. Now, TOBi is releasing his new album Elements No. 2, which has been five years in the making. Q guest host Garvia Bailey talks to TOBi about how he learned to be vulnerable in his songwriting, why he writes for Black boys just like him, and how his work with social services influenced his worldview.

Singer-songwriter Ada Lea needed a break from music: she was physically exhausted from tour, and she was mentally stuck in a circle of overcriticizing her own songs. But after taking some time off, she’s found a multitude of paths to rekindle her creativity. Ada Lea tells guest host Gill Deacon about her new single “Bob Dylan’s 115th Haircut”, her songwriting community, and why she feels like the goal of the music industry is at odds with the goal of the artist.

Fortune Feimster’s Netflix comedy special, “Crushing It,” dives into stories from her life, like being her mother’s stand-in husband and going from a shy kid to a funny kid. This summer, she was honoured at the Just For Laughs comedy festival for her work on the Handsome Podcast with fellow comedians Tig Notaro and Mae Martin. Tom Power spoke with Fortune about her Netflix special, how her family taught her to laugh through trauma, and the moment she realized she wanted to be a comedian.

It’s been decades since girl groups ran the music industry, but the Vancouver-based hip-hop R&B group NADUH thinks it’s time for them to have a renaissance. Since the release of their debut EP, NADUH has been self-producing their own music, and touring non-stop. Larisa Marie and Taraneh from NADUH spoke with Q guest host Garvia Bailey about how the group came together, how they write as a collective, and their new single ‘redlight’.

A few years ago, Mustafa released his critically acclaimed EP, “When Smoke Rises,” which chronicled the deaths of loved ones from his community of Regent Park in Toronto. So when he sat down to write his debut album, “Dunya,” the Juno-winning musician and poet wanted to explore other things, like love, faith and his relationship with God. Then his older brother died. Mustafa sits down with Tom Power for a wide-ranging conversation about his latest album, the devastating loss of his brother and why Toronto no longer feels safe for him.

It’s not easy to adapt a classic of contemporary literature into an epic TV series, but that’s exactly what Selwyn Seyfu Hinds has done with “Washington Black,” the Booker Prize-shortlisted novel by Canadian author Esi Edugyan. Set in a steampunk reimagining of the 19th century, the story follows a young boy named George Washington Black who is born on a Barbados sugar plantation. His globetrotting travels take him on a journey around the world, including Virginia, Halifax, and even the Arctic. For this project, Selwyn wore many hats, including creator, executive producer and showrunner. He joins guest host Garvia Bailey to tell us how “Washington Black” mirrors his own journey as a Guyanese immigrant, and how the theme of resistance was his guiding North Star to making the novel shine on screen.

With viral hits like “Pretty Girl Era,” LU KALA has proven that she might just be the next big Canadian breakthrough artist à la Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen or The Weeknd. Her catchy songs about loving yourself and knowing your worth have amassed millions of streams all over the internet. Back in May, on the heels of her new EP, “No Tears On This Ride,” LU joined Tom Power to tell us her story, how she became more confident after being bullied as a kid, and what it felt like to see Serena Williams and her daughter lip sync to her music.

Kat Sandler is an award-winning Canadian playwright, screenwriter and director who’s known for her way with words and her wild imagination. She was just a kid when she fell in love with the story of “Anne of Green Gables,” so it was a dream come true when the Stratford Festival — one of the most renowned theatre festivals in North America — asked her to reimagine the story for their 2025 program. Kat joins guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about her acclaimed adaptation of this beloved Canadian story.

When Kristin Scott Thomas (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The English Patient) was six years old, her father, a Royal Navy pilot, died in service. Then her mother remarried another Royal Navy pilot, who also died in service when she was 11. Now, the Oscar-nominated British actor is playing a character inspired by her twice-widowed mother in a new film called “My Mother's Wedding.” It’s also Kristin's directorial debut. She joins guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about the film, the unreliability of memory, and how she got her big break thanks to Prince.

d'bi.young anitafrika knows that it takes a lot of nurturing and mentorship to become an artist of any kind. They credit their mom, the pioneering dub poet Anita Stewart, with inspiring their passion for storytelling. Now, d’bi is celebrating a major milestone as a playwright, performer and director. Their “Sankofa Trilogy” is in its 20th year. The three solo plays of the trilogy follow three generations of Jamaican women from their experiences of growing up to motherhood. Ahead of the anniversary stagings of the plays, d’bi is doing a little experiment — they’re putting on the plays as multi-cast productions to test out new ways to tell these stories. d’bi sits down with guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about 20 years of “The Sankofa Trilogy,” getting their start in theatre in “Da Kink in My Hair,” and how they bring Black stories to the Canadian stage.