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Black in Alberta: Yolanda Sargeant and Markus Floats

Interview

When you’re part of a community, you stand in solidarity with one another but you may also look upon anyone you deem to be an outsider, with some degree of suspicion. For Black cultural creators in Alberta, it’s not always easy to find a place in any realm they enter and the reasons why might surprise you.

CKUA’s Vish Khanna recently moderated a conversation between Calgary’s Yolanda Sargeant, an acclaimed singer-songwriter, and Markus Floats, a world-renowned musical explorer, whose work is released by the inventive label, Constellation Records.

Floats left Calgary and currently calls Montreal home, while Sargeant has opted to hold it down in Calgary, where she was born. Vish asked the two family friends about their experiences coming of age in Calgary’s inclusive indie- and underground rock community, and how their exploration of such sounds and ideas impacted their standing among other Black peers, family, and creators.