Aruna Antonella Handa

I write songs about the human condition that attempt to answer what Noam Chomsky refers to as George Orwell's question: how when we know so much do we do so little. I sing locally with Michael Broadhead (upright bass), and with my band Aruna & the Sirens, when they swing through town. Michael and I sing my originals with a few jazz standards mixed in. Aruna & the Sirens has just released "City Hotel", and we have an album coming out early in the new year (Feb/March). "Of Bones & Addicts" is a concept album exploring addiction and recovery, and "City Hotel" is the first single to drop. "Have You Seen My Sister?" a response to the global surge in gender-based violence was our first release, last year. Recorded during lockdown with artists in Canada and the US, that song collected a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination for Single of the Year. I am also the founding Artistic Director of the Future Food Salon. We pull together artists, chefs, farmers, academics, and musicians to think about a food group we think makes sense as a future food, and then we invite the public to come taste and explore our collaborations on these topics. So far, the Future Food Salon has toured Toronto, Mo... more...