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Becca Mancari explores the different facets of forgiveness on 'Left Hand'

Becca Mancari
Shervin Lainez
/
Courtesy of the artist
Becca Mancari

Updated November 3, 2023 at 5:55 AM ET

Family. No matter what your relationship is with your family — good, bad, even non-existent — your family is part of what defines you. It's part of what makes you you. For Becca Mancari, a queer person who grew up in a conservative Christian home, that family relationship has been a complicated thing to navigate.

When Mancari's family finally invited Becca's longtime partner for dinner, for instance, it came with some caveats: "We want to invite to come to our house. We don't want you to act like you're together, but we're going to allow you to come into our home."

In this session, Mancari talks about how those experiences inspired much of the songwriting on their new album. The album, called Left Hand, includes collaborations with members of what you could call Becca's chosen family — like Brittany Howard, Julien Baker, Zac Farro and co-producer Juan Solorzano.

But its title is also a nod to Becca's heritage and the Mancari family crest, in which a left hand holds a dagger aloft. Our conversation is coming up, along with live performances beginning with the song "Eternity."

Copyright 2023 XPN

Raina Douris, an award-winning radio personality from Toronto, Ontario, comes to World Cafe from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), where she was host and writer for the daily live, national morning program Mornings on CBC Music. She was also involved with Canada's highest music honors: hosting the Polaris Music Prize Gala from 2017 to 2019, as well as serving on the jury for both that award and the Juno Awards. Douris has also served as guest host and interviewer for various CBC Music and CBC Radio programs, and red carpet host and interviewer for the Juno Awards and Canadian Country Music Association Awards, as well as a panelist for such renowned CBC programs as Metro Morning, q and CBC News.
Miguel Perez
Miguel Perez is a radio producer for NPR's World Cafe, based out of WXPN in Philadelphia. Before that, he covered arts, music and culture for KERA in Dallas. He reported on everything from the rise of NFTs in the music industry to the enduring significance of gay and lesbian bars to the LGBTQ community in North Texas.