Women and Music

[Tom47]

The plan for this topic is to highlight female composers, song writers, conductors, musicians and singers.  Not too long ago I didn’t know of any female symphonic composers.  However, during the past few years that changed.  What I have realized is that by not knowing these women I have missed out on hearing a lot of very good music.  

Florence Smith Price was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on April 9, 1887.  She learned to play piano from her mother and her general education was in the segregated schools at the time.  After graduating from High School, Florence started studying at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music.  Upon obtaining degrees in teaching and as an organ soloist she worked as a teacher eventually becoming the chair of the music department at Clark University in Atlanta.  In 1932 while in Chicago Florence Price composed her first symphony, this being her symphony in E Minor.  The work was a quick success as in that same year it won the national Rodman Wanamaker composition competition for a symphonic work.  Then on June 15, 1933 it was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  

My favorite of her works is her Mississippi Suite (1934).  It is just beautiful, with a serene beginning, perhaps reflecting the river before humans arrived, then referencing the historical events that occurred along its banks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfdvCrqzTm0. On top of this the piece is performed by the Woman’s Philharmonic and is conducted by a woman - Apo Hsu - who was born in Taiwan.  The composer's picture is shown near the end of the video.

Sometimes I get carried away when posting about an artist that I like, but here are two more selections:

First, the 9 minute long Fantasie Negre No.3 in F Minor played on the piano by Samantha Ege: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8R-lxn-BQw.

Second, the composer’s Symphony no. 1 in E-Minor, performed by the New Black Repertory Ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s4yY_A2A2k. The short third Movement, Allegro, is entitled “Juba Dance,” and according to the website of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “. . . evokes an African-derived folk dance that was popular among slaves in the antebellum South.”

Tom,

[Mashinka]

Oddly enough I've just finished reading a book on woman composers called Sounds and Sweet Airs by Anna Beer.  Most names in the book were familiar to me though their stories were not.  I particularly admire Barbara Strozzi and Marianna Martines.  Lots of Strozzi's works on discs, but sadly little of Martines.

[Tom47]

Mashinka, I looked up information on Barbara Strozzi and Marianna Martines and found samples of their music on youtube, but have not had a chance to listen to them yet.

Tom, 

[Tom47]

According to the USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative report - Inclusion in the recording Studio? Examining 800 Popular Songs, during the eight years 2012 to 2019, only 12.5% of songwriters among the 800 popular songs covered by the report were female.  That is 1 female songwriter to 7 male songwriters.  Further, among those same 800 songs 56% had no female writers involved, 32% had only one female writer involved and less than one percent had only female writers, that is less than 8 out of the 800 songs.  So more than half of the songs had no female writers whatsoever compared to less than one percent that had only female writers. 

I believe that women can write songs just as well as men.  Here is a list of some historical female songwriters:

Sappho was born c. 640 BCE on the Greek Island of Lesbos. Only fragments of her songs remain and none of her music remains.  Her lyrics deal with the personal life and emotions as opposed to the epic poems of Homer.  I can easily imagine her traveling to various festivals and possibly what would be the Greek equivalent to a coffee house, playing before an audience, much like a modern singer/songwriter might do.  Here is a video (2 minutes long) of Andrea Goodman singing one of Sappho’s songs in ancient Greek and accompanying herself on a 7-string lyre to music by Eve Begiarian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOlIqozu3Fg.

The trobairitz (female troubadour) Beatriz de Dia was born c. 1140 seemingly in the south of France.   Her song “A chantar m’er de so q’ieu no voldria” (I must sing of what I do not want) was written in the Occitian language, an old language of southern France.  Here is an 8½ minute video of the song being sung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zah4VWPiNE.  The lyrics speak of a woman who is betrayed by her lover.  An English translation of the lyrics can be found here: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/chantar-mer-i-am-obliged-sing.html

Next is a song that is a mystery as no one knows who wrote it, but ever since I first heard it, it seemed to me that it must have been written by a woman.  It is "The House of the Rising Sun" and has been covered by many artists.  To me the word “House” in the title is a clear reference to a brothel as in “a house of ill repute.”  There is a claim that a house on St. Louis Street in New Orleans had been a brothel, between 1862 and 1874, run by a Madam LeSoleil Levant, which translated from French as “The Rising Sun” and when a house on St. Louis Street was renovated, a ceiling mural of a golden rising sun was found.  Also, there was a women’s prison in New Orleans with an image of a rising sun.  So, whether the writer was a prostitute or a female prisoner she was a woman.  I feel that the song being sung by a male is somewhat silly.  This link goes to a 1 ½ minute long recording of Georgia Turner singing “The House of the Rising Sun” in 1937.  The lyrics that are sung and the written lyrics are somewhat different: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15VIDcUMQQI.

Next is a song in a very different vein than the ones before.  It is “The March of the Women” by Dame Ethel Smyth  and was written in 1911.  Dame Smyth was born in 1858 and composed musical works including symphonies, choral works and operas.  She was also a supporter of women’s right to vote as the lyrics to the song and the 3 minute long video linked here shows:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCtGkCg7trY.

Elizabeth Cotton was born on January 5, 1895 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and wrote the song “Freight Train” in 1906 when she was about 12 years old, but it was only recorded in 1957.  It has been covered by 80 artists.  Here is a 3 minute long video of Elizabeth Cotton singing the song and accompanying herself on the guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUK8emiWabU.

Born in Algiers, across the Mississippi from New Orleans, in 1897, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Douglas, later to be known as Memphis Minnie, moved with her family, at age 10, near to the city from which she received the name she is best known for.  She was a blues singer/songwriter who played the guitar, made over 200 recordings and co-wrote the song “When the Levee Breaks.”  Here she is singing “Drunken Barrelhouse Blues” (first released in 1934): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3GSv-ZbJ7o.

Tom,

[Tom47]

A piece of music that I like very much and have discovered only within the last few years is Dora Pejacevic’s Symphony in F sharp  minor, Op. 41 composed between 1916 and 1917.  Marie Theodora (Dora), was born in Budapest on September 10, 1885 and started composing music at age 12.  At the time of her birth Budapest was in the Austria-Hungarian Empire.  Despite being born into the Croatian/Hungarian nobility (she spent her childhood in her family’s castle in Croatia) she did not sympathise with the aristocracy saying “I simply cannot understand how people can live without work -- and how many of them do, especially the higher aristocracy . . . . I despise them because of this.”  She also volunteered as a nurse during the First World War.  When excerpts from her Symphony in F sharp minor was premiered in Vienna, a newspaper critic admitted to being surprised when, at the conclusion of the piece, a woman came on stage as the composer.   Dora was fluent in six languages and composed 58 opuses with a total of 106 compositions.  

A video (48 minutes long) of Dora Pejacevic’s Symphony in F sharp minor can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=940dNX5zHEU.  In the video a different painting is shown for each of the four movements, as well as a photograph of the composer.  The paintings are picked to go with the movements.  My favorite movement is the first, Andante maestoso - Allegro con moto and it is certainly maestoso.  

I know the symphony is long.  If you want something shorter, Dora composed a series of eight short pieces under the general title of the Life of Flowers.  Here is a link to her two minute long The Rose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A2kKPtRd9o.  After this you can go back and listen to the Symphony.

Tom,

[Tom47]

Most of the women I’ve been writing about were born decades or even centuries ago, but this post will be about someone much younger.  In fact she isn’t a woman, but a girl, although a girl on the brink of womanhood.  This composer is Alma Deutscher who was born on February 18, 2005 in Basingstoke, England.  She is by no means a slacker.  By age 2 she was playing the piano and by age 3 the violin.  Three years later she composed her first sonata and by age seven a short opera - The Sweeper of Dreams.”  This seems almost unbelievable to me.  She says that sometimes she dreams melodies and then writes them down when she wakes up.  Here is her 13 minute The Sweeper of Dreams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mamUvpZnUwA.

This next video is of eleven short excerpts from Alma’s Book of Melodies (6 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pN2cQ-Op18.

In this video of Siren Sounds Waltz Alma first speaks about her inspiration in writing this piece and then the music is performed.  Also, not only is the composer female, but the conductor is a woman - Dame Jane Glover (18 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0xMpLXQNvM.

This link goes to a 3 minute trailer for Alma Deutscher’s full length opera Cinderella: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO6J0bXuuu8. 

Tom,

[Kathleen O'Connell]

 

From C|NET (of all places ...)

Google Doodle marks German composer Fanny Hensel's 216th birthday

"She was a talented composer, but her ambitions were limited by societal constraints on women."

aka, Fanny Mendelssohn (Felix's sister), born on Nov. 14, 1805, in Hamburg, Germany

https://g.co/doodle/s4adpze

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by Kathleen O'Connell

[Mashinka]

I was recently reading about Fanny.  She had a supportive husband who encouraged her composing.  Her famous brother however was at times another matter

[Tom47]

Kathleen and Mashinka, thank you for your contributions about Fanny Hensel nee Mendelsshon.  This is one reason I started these topics to learn more about women in history, who are so often overlooked.  You both inspired me to learn more about Fanny and this video (11 ½ minutes) goes into the relationship she had with her father and brother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Summ3ANoNzU.  I like how Beth, the narrator, at the end of the video talks about people being the product of their times.  This is not an excuse for those people, but an explanation.   Here is Notturno in G minor mentioned in the video (5 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti1eZ2B63Ro.

Tom,

 

[Helene]

Jessica Lang created Ghost Variations for PNB's all-digital last season, and it was revived for live audience a few weeks ago.  The music is by both Robert and Clara Schumann, here played ravishingly by Christina Siemens, and consists of (from the website), "Robert Schumann (Ghost Variations, 1854, Theme, Variations II & V; Lierderkreis, Op., 39, No. 5 “Mondnacht”, 1840, arranged by Clara Schumann, 1872–1874) and Clara Schumann (Three Romances, Op. 11, 1839, I. Andante; Scherzo No. 2 in C minor, Op. 14, after 1840)."  (It's playing now in digital period through Monday, November 22, which is where I just saw it.)

[Tom47]

Helene this sounds interesting, but I only was able to find short excerpts of the ballet.  I did find information on the PNB website, but is there a way to see all of it?

Tom,

[Helene]

Only if you have a digital subscription or purchase a digital ticket to the entire program, which includes Ulysses Dove's "Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven" and Alonzo King's  "The Personal Element."  It's available for purchase until Monday, Nov 22 7pm PST, with viewing available until 11:59pm that night.

https://www.pnb.org/season/beyond-ballet/

[Tom47]

Hanukkah starts today, November 28, 2021, at sunset and lasts until sunset December 6, 2021.  I grew up listening to Christmas songs and some years ago I started to wonder if there were Hanukkah songs.  Here are four Hanukkah songs sung by women with the first two written by women:  

Hanukkah Lovin’ written by Michelle Citrin and Molly Kane, sung by Michelle Citrin (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sytfxl0ArsQ.

Hanukkah Hymn (Al Hanisim) A contemporary take on Al Hanisim, a traditional Chanukah prayer.  Written by Julie and performed by Julie Geller and another woman (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31OIJs81wII.

Maoz Tzur / Rock of Ages - Traditional Hanukkah Song.  Sung by Hadessah Berne (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MRS5c7TbJw.

Banu Choshech Legaresh (We Came To Drive Away The Darkness), unknown performer (2 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMCC8DIWXYk.

Hanukkah is a festival of lights and Christmas is associated with lights, both of which are appropriate for this time of year with the nights getting longer.

Tom,

[FPF]

Thanks for posting these songs, Tom. I especially liked Hanukkah Lovin'. This is one of my favorites:

 

 

[Tom47]

FPF, I’m glad you appreciated the links and I enjoyed the song by Sharon Jones.  Also, I watched the ballet you linked to in the topic “What lost Petipa Ballet would you most like to see,” The Romance of the Rosebud and the Butterfly and enjoyed it. So, thank you for that.  It is a pretty, beautiful ballet, with all the colorful customs and the stage settings.

Tom,

[Tom47]

This post is a compilation of videos dealing with female musicians in a variety of performances..  

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was an all-female, racially integrated band active between 1938 and 1946.  Anna Mae Winburn (b. In Port Royal, TN on August 13, 1913) is the conductor as shown in the video below.   On trumpet is “Tiny Davis” (Ernestine Carroll, born in Memphis, TN in 1909 or 1910).  Here is a promotional photograph showing 17 band members https://womenshistory.si.edu/object/archives/components/sova-nmah-ac-1218-ref609 and here is one showing five members of the Saxophone section https://womenshistory.si.edu/object/archives/components/sova-nmah-ac-1218-ref25.  

This is a quote by Anna Mae Winburn regarding the members of the band: 

“When I first saw those girls I was really amazed.  They were very young and composed of many different races and nationalities.  Some of them were mulattoes and some were part Italian or Chinese.  When they came onstage in their colorful gowns they looked like a beautiful bouquet of mixed flowers.”  (See here: http://blondiecutsarug.blogspot.com/2013/08/anna-mae-winburn.html)

Here is list of many of the band members, taken from a short biography of Anna Mae Winburn: 

“The list includes Ernestine ‘Tiny’ Davis, Ray Carter, Johnnie Mae Stansbury, and Edna Williams, trumpeters all; Marge Pettiford, Amy Garrison, Helen Saine, Grace Bayron, Willie Mae Wong, and Viola Burnside on saxophones; Judy Bayron, Helen Jones, and Ina Bell Byrd on trombones; and a rhythm section featuring Lucille Dixon on bass, Roxanna Lucas on guitar, Johnnie Mae Rice on piano, and Pauline Braddy on the drums. Evelyn McGee shared vocal duties with Winburn, who was sometimes too distracted conducting the musicians to burst into song.”  (See here: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/anna-mae-winburn-mn0001009683)

Also noted in that biography was this “When Winburn did head South with the group the white women in the group blackened their faces so the police would not arrest them right on the bandstand.”  This appears to be in reference to laws forbidding performances by integrated bands, at some times and in some (most?) places

This link goes to a 3 minute video of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm performing I Left My Man:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN7xU11_gS4.

The next video is a seven minute long documentary entitled Girls in the Band.  The International Sweethearts of Rhythm are in it, but so are many other all female bands.  Much of it is old films, which I like very much, but there are also interviews of some of the women who were in those bands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WpirBVf6Xo.

The name Zohra can mean “Flower Blossom,” but for the purpose of this post more importantly it is the name of a Persian Goddess of music and under this meaning it became the name of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra.  In a way this is sad to write, but it is also hopeful.  Currently, as of December 13, 2021, most of the members of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra are in Portugal where they were granted asylum.  In the following 5 ½ minute video of the orchestra’s performance the conductor is Negin Khpalwak (b. 1997) and the medley of three Afghan songs was arranged by Allegra Boggess.  See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2WRS-Qz2UY.

Next are three videos each showing a different female performer.  First is a 2013 performance by Melissa Venema (at the time 17 years of age) playing Il Silenzio (Taps) on the Trumpet, 4 minutes, see here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=253aGgk7NSE.  She has many more videos on her channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Trompet8310/videos.

This video (6 minutes) is of performer Dong Min, playing the “Theme song of Big Fish and Begonia:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pqPEta-J20.  Her channel, with more videos is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCal204H1HDJ62UmjIO5w86Q.

Mairead Nesbitt is a violinist (fiddler) born in Loughmore, Ireland on April 18, 1979.  Here she is playing and dancing with Celtic Woman.  The music is Granuaile’s Dance.  Granuaile, also known as Grace O’Malley, was an Irish Pirate Queen, born in the 16th century.  What is great about this performance is that Mairead not only plays the fiddle, but also dances, which I expect takes much talent.  She skips around like an Irish Pixie and I like Pixies.  See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-ttrQ38mOc.

Now for the desert.  Here are four women, the Competitive Foursome, who one needs to see to believe.  The 3 ½ minute video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKezUd_xw20.

Tom,

[Mashinka]

Ethel Smythe's opera The Wreckers will be performed at Glyndebourne this summer.  It still gets the odd performance, but this may be the first at a major house for some years.  I'm told it's good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreckers_(opera)#Performance_history 

 

[Tom47]

Machinka, thank you for the information.  I would very much like to see the opera, however I live in the United States.  I have listened to some of Dame Smythe’s work, but until now nothing from The Wreckers.  You did inspire me to try and find something from The Wreckers and I did find this - the Overture from The Wreckers (9 ½ minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maozbZsiK0c.  One of the pictures shown in the video appears to be of the composer being arrested, perhaps as a result of a pro-women's vote protest.  Mashinka, I appreciate all of your contributions to this topic.

Tom,

[Tom47]

I am more interested in the similarities of cultures than the differences.  For example cultures have various forms of music - there is a variety of songs, but all cultures have music, that is the similarity.  Then there are more than 7000 languages, but there are also similarities among these languages so that they form into families. That is, languages within a family are similar.  65% of the world’s population speak languages that fall within the largest 2 families and 85% of the world’s population speak languages that fall within the largest 5 families.  Furthermore, I tend to prefer songs sung in languages I do not understand, as then I enjoy the human voices as a musical instrument instead of something to intellectually understand.  So, here I’ve posted videos of women singing in various languages (10), starting in North America and continuing westward around the world to New York City.

 

The first is Jana Mashonee singing O Holy Night in Navajo.  She was born on May 11, 1980 and is a Native-American of Lumbee and Tuscarora descent.  Ms Mashonee has been nominated twice for Grammy awards, has provided scholarships for Native and Aborigial youths through her program Jana’s Kids and co-authored a Young Adult book, American Indian Story - The Adventures of Shakona, the story of a girl and an ancient secret.  Jana’s album, American Indian Christmas, contains ten Christmas songs, each in a different Native American language.  Here is Jana Mashonee singing O Holy Night (6 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2OPVhpsemQ. 

 

Miyuki Ishikawa was born in Honolulu on February 24,1982.  Here she sings a song in Japanese (5 minutes long) entitled Love Song.  Below the video are the lyrics to the song in Japanese, written in Romaji (roman letters) and in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVfOZUweFR4.

 

This video is entitled Beautiful Chinese Music [6] Traditional [Meng Jiangnu].  I don’t understand the lyrics and while the video suggest a happy ending, Meng Jiangnu is an tragic ancient Chinese folktale dating back more than 2000 years, see here for the story: https://goglobalnc.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/theworldofchinese.com-The-Legend-of-Meng-Jiangnu.pdf.  Tưởng Mộng Tiệp is either the singer or the actress in the video or possibly she takes on both roles.  Here is the almost 5 minute long video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2D-l2r3oY0.

 

Next we have Amika Shail singing, in Hindi, the song Boi Do Na Zara, which might mean “Please tell me” or something like that.  If anyone can translate the title kindly let me know.  She was born in Howrah, West Bengal, India on November 12, 1992.  Here is the 2 ½ minute long video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG1eXTghJ20.

 

All I know about the following video is that it is entitled American girl singing Arabic and that it is 5 minutes long.  I do not know the name of the singer.  See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYWFaiyAHO8.

 

Hebrew and Arabic are closely related as they both belong to the same language family.  Here is Yuval Dayan (יובל דיין) singing Ask for the Water (תשאל את המים) in Hebrew.  Yunal Dayan was born in Ashdod, Israel on December 28, 1994.  See here for the 3 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPmOiRA5WrY.

 

Beloe Zlato (White Gold) is an all female singing group founded in 2011.  Here are four of the members singing (a cappella) За тихой рекой (Behind the Quiet River).  In my imagination the women are traveling a long distance on the train, behind the quiet river, through the snowy landscape of Russia - beautiful.  See here for the 3 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANKjat2bj94.  This link https://beloezlato.ru/page/artisty.html is to the group’s website and six portraits of current members.  They are wearing what appear to be beautiful Russian and Ukrainian head coverings.  Moving the cursor over a picture gives the singer’s name and for five of the six  clicking on the picture gives a short biography for the woman.  Four of these five were born in Russia and one in Ukraine.  Those five women were all born within the years 1993 to 1997.

 

Bulelwa Mikutukana is a singer and songwriter who was born in East London, South Africa on November 9, 1988 and goes by the professional name of Zahara.  Her native Language is Xhosa, a Bantu language closely related to Zulu.  She sings in both Xhosa and English.  Here is a 3 ½ minute video of her singing the song Ndiza, which means “I Will” in Xhosa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1CMWnxfFys. 

 

This next song is sung in Yiddish by Talila.  Talila was born in France on February 3, 1946.  The title Belz, Mayn Shtetele Belz translated seems to mean ”Beltz, my little town Belz.” It is about the memories of a childhood home town.  Two lines are:

Beltz, my little town! The little house where I spent my childhood! 

The poor little room where I used to laugh with other children! 

The other lines, both in English and Yiddish are below the video.

See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88pCBld3TVk.

 

Ginger Rogers (b. On July 16, 1911 in Independence, Missouri) is my favorite all around entertainer.  Here she sings We’re In the Money, from the 1933 movie Gold Diggers of 1933, in Pig Latin.  It seems that during a break in filming, Ginger, just for fun sung in pig latin, when someone heard her they decided to put it in the film.  The irony in the movie’s plot was that right after singing We're in the Money, the musical, within the movie, was shut down and the chorus was all put out of work.  1933 was the height of the Great Depression, with one-quarter of the nation unemployed.  See here for the 1 minute video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUBftlqlF3w. 

Tom,

[Tom47]

I have never been a fan of “County Music,” but I came across Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels On a Gravel Road and liked it.  Lucinda (born in Lake Charles, LA, on January 26, 1953) both wrote this song and was the first to record it.  She has written at least 21 songs and in most cases she was the solo writer.  Here is a video of her singing Car Wheels On a Gravel Road (5 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgnnrZfoZS0.  This link goes to the song’s Lyrics.  Clicking on the highlighted parts of the song gives an explanation.  I don’t know if Ms. Williams actually provided the explanations, but they fit and give a poignant  feeling to the song: https://genius.com/Lucinda-williams-car-wheels-on-a-gravel-road-lyrics.

It’s uncommon for me to see a woman conducting an orchestra.  The following videos show three female conductions.

The first is Natatlia Luis-Bassa (b. July 13, 1966, Caracas, Venezuela) conducting the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain in a performance of Sunrise from Also sprach Zararhustra. (2 minutes):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9bF176Lp5I.

Next, in two parts is Nazanin Aghakhani (born In Vienna, Austria on April 22, 1980) conducting the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra of Finland in the Firebird Suite 1919.  Part one (14 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5_2A8uI1Cw.  And part two (9 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9cdBLDpyy0. Watching her conduct it seems she is “dancing” with her hands.  Nazanin Aghakhani has also conducted in Iran. 

There is an earlier mention of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra “Zohra” in this topic, but because of their particular situation here is another of their videos.  In this case the orchestra is being conducted by Zarifa Adiba.  The music is Sakina, arranged by Allegra Boggess (3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QkRwG89fP4.  Here is a short statement by Zarita Adiba: https://serenademagazine.com/author/zarifa-adiba/.

The band “Band-Maid” was formed in 2013 by Miku Kobato who had the idea of combining the innocent “Maid Cafe” look with Hard Rock music.  She had been working as a “maid” in one of those cafes.  Not all of the band’s members choose to dress in “maid” costumes.  Current members are Miku Kobato, rhythm guitar, backing and lead vocals (b. October 21, 1991), Kanami Tohno, lead guitar (b. September 28, 1991), Akane Hirose, Drums (December 14, 1990), Misa, Bass (October 15, 1992) and Saiki Atsumi lead vocals (b. February 8, 1994).  In 2016 Band-Maid started to compose their own songs as a joint venture, although with Kanami Tohno as the key composer and Miku Kobato as the key lyricist.  Here is the song Daydream from the 2018 album World Domination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCaeUkrItyY (4 minutes).  

Hazel Scott was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on June 11, 1920 and four years later traveled to Harlem with her parents.  She was a classical as well as a jazz pianist.  Here she is performing in a video (2 minutes long) entitled Female Flying Fingers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RINO48yHpQ8.  

Tom,

[Tom47]

Are women to be seen and not heard?

I bring this up because I just read an article in BBC entitled “Brit Awards 2023: Why are no women nominated for best artist?"  https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64264069 It explains that the Brit Awards did away with their best male and best female awards last year in favour of gender-neutral prizes.  But this year, with this change there are no female nominees.  Here in the US, for over 100 years, we have been running our own gender-neutral contests - election of the President and members of congress.  So far no women have won the Presidency and while increasing numbers of women have been elected to congress, currently women make up only 27.9% of members.  But this is not all, men also dominate the number of recognized artists, the number of film directors, actors, the number of choreographers and the number of CEOs.  So, does this mean that men are inherently better at singing, song writing, being politicians, being directors, choreographers, being in charge of businesses.  I find that highly unlikely.  But it seems that there is one area of the public sphere that has more women and that is dancing.  According to this site https://www.zippia.com/dancer-jobs/demographics/ 73.4% of all dancers are women.  What is the difference between these occupations?  Well, singers, politicians, artists, film directors, actors, choreographers, CEOs get to say things, if not always spoken things, then to say things visually, but dancers do not talk, they are there to be seen.  So, it seems that while things have improved, we are still in the situation where women tend to be seen and not heard.

Tom,