Ep. 75 - Women's Words (Rainbow Chan Live at the Dream Factory)

PuSh's Artistic Director, Gabrielle Martin, speaks with Rainbow Chan about Rainbow Chan Live at the Dream Factory, coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival: February 4 at 7:30pm at the Chinese Canadian Museum. Show Notes Gabrielle and Rainbow discuss:  The unique collaboration and context of Rainbow Chan Live at the Dream Factory The influence of Cantonese pop on Rainbow's work Voice as both instrument and archive Processing grief through song as an individual and collective The original sparks of interest to perform these particular songs The category of ritual song and music The fusion of folk with pop and electronica, and how tradition and futurity animate the process How theatre, as opposed to other artforms, affects the way in which an audience reads what is onstage What's next for Rainbow Chan? About Rainbow Chan Live at the Dream Factory Rainbow Chan is a Hong Kong-Australian vocalist, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and interdisciplinary artist celebrated for her inventive blend of heartfelt melodies, textured electronic production, and culturally rich storytelling. Her sound—both tender and experimental—reflects on migration, identity, and the intimate politics of love and loss. Presented for one night only inside the Chinese Canadian Museum's Dream Factory: Cantopop Mandopop 1980s-2000 exhibition, this special live performance unfolds on Ming Wong's Vast Ocean, Boundless Skies stage—an installation that reimagines the legacy of Cantopop through diasporic lenses. Fusing Cantopop, electronic music, Chinese folk laments, and experimental sound, Chan uses live looping, electronics, saxophone, and voice to explore resilience, identity, and connection across generations. Through this convergence of sound, space, and story, Chan creates a distinctive and contemporary musical experience—an evening where cultural memory, sonic experimentation, and performance meet. The performance will be followed by an open mic karaoke party hosted by Rainbow Chan. About Rainbow Chan Rainbow Chan is an award-winning vocalist, producer and multi-disciplinary artist. Her practice bridges popular music and contemporary visual arts, exploring themes of cultural representation, (mis)translation, matrilineal histories and diasporic heritage. Central to her work is the research and reimagining of women's oral traditions, particularly the fading bridal laments of Weitou women, Hong Kong's first settlers, to whom she has deep ancestral ties. Through pop music, performance and immersive installations, she translates these endangered songs into contemporary art forms, preserving their subversive feminist voices while reflecting on loss, resilience and solidarity. She is particularly interested in the power of ritual, song and performance as both a means of reclaiming agency and a living archive. Land Acknowledgement This conversation was recorded on the unceded, stolen and ancestral territories of the Coast Salish Peoples: the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), colonially known as Vancouver. Rainbow joined the conversation from the unceded territories of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation, in what is today called Australia. It is our duty to establish right relations with the people on whose territories we live and work, and with the land itself. Credits PuSh Play is produced by Ben Charland and Tricia Knowles. Original music by Joseph Hirabayashi. Show Transcript