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The presentation was part of Narratives of Women of Color in Greater Boston, a new performance series that aims to reintroduce these kinds of rich but overlooked narratives with original compositions. These new works, many of which fuse music, dance, video, or poetry, are based on historical documents about women of color in Boston, ranging from decades-old archival interviews to contemporary poetry and manuscripts submitted by community members.
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The April event launched the series with programming that was primarily inspired by the “Chinese American Women Oral History Project, 1991-2019,” a collection of interviews with Chinese-American women that was co-sponsored by the Chinese Historical Society of New England. The next event is scheduled for May 19 at the Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library, and will shift the main focus to the experiences of women of color from Roxbury and Dorchester.
The series is the initiative of Hayley Yu Qin, a composer, cellist, and singer who’s been living in the Boston area for the past three years. Originally from China, Qin earned a master’s degree in contemporary improvisation from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2024, and has previously coordinated performances and educational events with local institutions like the Boston Public Library.
Qin cites community engagement as a key component of her artistic practice, and decided to dig deeper into the history of neighborhoods across her new-ish home last fall. She launched an open call for materials preserving the experiences of Boston-based women of color, requesting text-based documents like letters, poetry, and manuscripts.
She ultimately received “eye-opening” submissions from residents of Roxbury, Dorchester, Cambridge, Brookline, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, and the Fenway, touching on topics such as life as a Black disabled woman and the city’s desegregation busing crisis in the 1970s and 1980s. Combined with the interviews from the oral history project, the wealth of perspectives would serve as the inspiration for the series’s six composers: Jingmian Gong, Yuanwei Ni, Chloe Clarke Smith, Marcea McGuire, Shileta Peregrino Cezario, and Qin herself.
“I wanted to really go into those histories, see what actually happened and what I didn’t know, and what I could create from those unknown things,” Qin says.
Guests at Monday’s event in Roxbury can expect to hear five of the eight new compositions created for the series, including a work by Qin that was inspired by “Present/Presence,” a poem from Boston disability advocate and author Heather Watkins. Another event in the series, scheduled for May 31, will move the experience outdoors to the Little Free Library at the Rose Kennedy Greenway and unveil two previously unheard compositions created for the series.
Qin says she hopes the multimedia nature of the performances will pique guests’ interest in the materials that inspired each event, as well as the careers and backgrounds of the composers themselves.
“Even if it’s just one phrase or one note, if that moment really speaks to them, I think it could start a new journey for them,” she says.
GIG GUIDE
Puerto Rican star Rauw Alejandro heads to TD Garden on Saturday for his “Cosa Nuestra” tour supporting his 2024 album of the same name. Expect a thorough rumble of reggaeton and Latin R&B – recent stops on the singer’s world tour have been 35-plus song productions split across four acts.
At Roadrunner on Saturday, Melbourne punks Amyl and the Sniffers sketch jagged guitar riffs from their 2024 album “Cartoon Darkness,” while Los Angeles singer-songwriter Malcolm Todd mellows the mood on Wednesday with R&B-leaning pop from his April self-titled record.
Brooklyn’s Sunflower Bean revive a retro rock sound at Deep Cuts this Saturday. Anna Nazarova
Two of Brooklyn’s best rock bands visit Deep Cuts this week; after releasing their taut EP “Shake” last year, Sunflower Bean revive a retro rock sound on their new record “Mortal Primetime,” which the band brings to the Medford venue this Saturday. Experimental post-punk outfit Model/Actriz, who formed in Boston in 2016 and have since relocated to New York, return to their home turf on Monday with their new album “Pirouette.”
Los Angeles singer-songwriter Samia brings a clash of ethereal pop and indie folk to the House of Blues on Wednesday.Riley Dwyer
Some of the finest funk and psychedelia in the country – nay, universe – touches down at the House of Blues on Sunday during a visit from icons Parliament Funkadelic and George Clinton. On Wednesday, Los Angeles singer-songwriter Samia summons a clash of indie folk and ethereal pop from her April album “Bloodless” at the venue.
After supporting the European leg of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet” tour, English artist Rachel Chinouriri embarks on her own headlining tour across North America, bringing her youthful pop-rock to the Sinclair on Sunday. Swedish indie rock group Peter Bjorn and John host a preemptive 20th anniversary celebration for their 2006 album “Writer’s Block” – home to their whistle-driven earworm “Young Folks – on Thursday.
Somerville savant Ezra Furman releases her 10th album, “Goodbye Small Head” – a reference to a Sleater-Kinney lyric – this Friday. Eleanor Petry
NOW SPINNING
Ezra Furman, “Goodbye Small Head.” The latest release from Somerville savant Ezra Furman marks the artist’s 10th record, but Furman’s no less fresh for her prolific output. “Goodbye Small Head” – a reference to a Sleater-Kinney lyric – is a sagacious look at what it means to linger on the edge of losing control, underscored by a fluid stream of rock that Furman twists to fit each of her insightful vignettes.
Rico Nasty’s third album, “LETHAL,” is a 15-track salvo of trap and rap – and on a few occasions, rabid nu-metal. Emerald Arguelles
Rico Nasty, “LETHAL.” Do any local rage rooms need a good soundtrack? Rico Nasty’s third album is a 15-track salvo of trap and rap – and on a few occasions, rabid nu-metal. The speaker-rattling record rarely eases off the throttle, and instead kicks up dust as it does donuts around the rapper’s forceful flow.
“Lucid Dreaming,” Tune-Yards’s sixth studio album, unfurls a surrealistic plane of art-pop. Shervin Lainez
Tune-Yards, “Better Dreaming.” “Lucid Dreaming” might have been a better title for Tune-Yards’s sixth studio album, which unfurls a surrealistic plane of art-pop. On their first LP in four years, the oddball Oakland duo craft a project that feels particularly plush, although “Better Dreaming” isn’t without a few bubble-bursting moments (see: the menacing bass thrum of “Swarm” and experimental outro “Sanctuary”).
BONUS TRACK
Aeronaut Brewing’s Allston location has a new season of local ‘n’ live music on tap. Starting this weekend, the brewery’s stage will host free performances from area musicians on Fridays and Saturdays; Ghost Town Brass Band and Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band launch the opening weekend on Friday, followed by an appearance from Session Americana on Saturday.
Victoria Wasylak can be reached at vmwasylak@gmail.com. Follow her on Bluesky @VickiWasylak.bsky.social.
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