A Manitoba Cree singer gets props from Jimmy Fallon and more arts stories you might have missed

Here at CBC Arts, you won't just find our original content — we also bring you the best art posts from across the entire CBC network.

These are the week's can't-miss stories:

Cree singer from northern Manitoba gets Tonight Show nod (CBC Indigenous)

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon always features a revolving door of celebrities, like Chris Rock — but you probably wouldn't have ever expected to hear northern Manitoba country singer Sidney Castel on the show. Nonetheless, that's exactly what happened when Rock stopped by for a game of "Do Not Play." And even though the pair poked fun at Castel's "The Pukatawagan Song," they also praised the singer, with Fallon joking, "Here's my complaint about that: I don't believe that was live."

Meet the biologist who says trees have their own songs (As It Happens)

Oh, you can recognize trees by sight? That's nice. This Tennessee biology professor can distinguish them by sound. David George Haskell has spent years studying the sounds of trees and the ways they interact with various elements of nature for his new book The Songs Of Trees, and he chatted with As It Happens about his findings. "Just as a cello sounds very different from a violin, because of the scale and tautness of the springs and how large teh wood is, so too do the leaves and branches on trees," he explained to host Carol Off. So the next time you go for a walk in the woods, pause for a moment and listen a little closer.

Veep is 'pure gold' and a choking hazard: Lawmaker gets attention with injury while watching (CBC News)

It's a story so preposterous you'd expect to see it on a comedy show instead of real life. Australian MP Graham Perrett was literally in stitches over a recent episode of the political satire Veep — he laughed so hard that he choked on his sushi, jumped up from his chair and then hit his head on a granite bench top, breaking his glasses and briefly knocking himself unconscious. He's recovering well, though, and seems to have learned his lesson — although he's watched two more episodes of the show since, he told the press he "definitely wasn't eating" while doing so.

The 3 things that inspired Margaret Atwood to write The Handmaid's Tale (CBC Books)

There's been plenty of talk about the renewed timeliness of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale — but what inspired her to write the book back in 1985? CBC Books gathered the highlights of the author's recent interview with Indigo Chapters, where she revealed that it all came down to three key things: 17th-century American Puritan theocracy (of course), utopias and dystopias and the political climate of the early 1980s. Watch the video for more.

'These are old human themes': Margaret Atwood on the enduring power of The Handmaid's Tale (q)

Although it's no secret that the CBC is always enamoured with her, there's been even more love for Atwood around the building lately with the recent TV adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale airing on Hulu and Bravo. The legendary author stopped by q last week for a chat with Tom Power about the novel and TV show, where she reflected on the unexpected new relevance the story has found in today's turbulent political times. "There is no totalitarianism worth its salt that doesn't try to control women," she said — a sad but true fact that we might've hoped to leave in decades past.

Bookmark the CBC Arts homepage and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for all the arts stories you need from across the country!​