Interview with Gigi Cano

Oral history with Gigi Cano, drummer for Proof of Purchase, Another Dying Democracy, Johnny Cage is a Fake, Step2Far, Dominican Day Parade, and many other bands, recorded on August 13, 2024, as part of the "Uptown Rumble: Heavy Music in The Bronx" project at The Bronx County Historical Society. The interviewer is Steven Payne, director of The Bronx County Historical Society. In her oral history, a continuation of an oral history she recorded with José from Proof of Purchase in April 2024, Gigi delves more into her family history and background, touching on the ancestral healing work she has done over the course of her life, most recently in July, when both her grandmother and mother passed away. Gigi elaborates especially on her African and Taíno indigenous ancestry, various spiritual traditions and practices that have been embedded in her lineage and how she has begun to make them her own; her complex relationships with and appreciation for her grandmother, mother, and father; the effect on her as a child of housing instability in The Bronx and the Greater New York City area; what it was like to grow up in The Bronx during the 1980s—both the positive and negative aspects; neighborhood groups and individuals who helped make The Bronx a better place at the time, including Banana Kelly, where she learned a variety of construction skills, and community gardens; her own food practices, both as a child and as an adult; becoming involved in agriculture; her many musical projects since Proof of Purchase, including Another Dying Democracy (which she touched on some in her prior oral history), Johnny Cage is a Fake, Dominican Day Parade, Step2Far, and others; getting into West African drumming and how these practices continue to shape her general approach to drumming; and much more.