Confusingly provocative title - check (a possible interpretation of which might be that I am planning to be a transsexual. There I said it before anyone else could). However, that's a whole other story. I just wanted to follow up on a comment I made on Athena's blog (I hear she can induce erections in blind 90 year olds) about the bad rep that female artists get (female, not feminine. Prince, Little Richard, Boy George and David Bowie are respected enough). So here's a small list of some contemporary maestras that deserve more attention than they get.
Tori Amos
The grandmammy of them all. She personifies musical mastery. She also uses a L'Oreal exfoliant every morning for that fresh, clean look that teenage girls are supposed to have (enraged pimpley chicks, I feel your pain). A Tori-licious sample of her work below.
Fiona Apple
Beatles...who? That's what you'll think when you check out her cover of Across The Universe I've so generously provided. Fiona was named after her famous apple crumble which won her many national baking awards.
KT Tunstall
A veritable octopus of a musician. Don't understand? Video proof at your service, courtesy of Youtube in the form of a live performance of Black Horse and a Cherry Tree. Incidentally, KT says Victoria knows the Secret to a happy marriage (you know what she's talking about don't you girls?)
Worth a mention: Alanis Morissette, Tracy Bonham...Oh wait instead of me trying to impose my hegemonic will on others, could someone else come up with some more great female artists? (and no Ashlee Simpson and Avril Lavigne do NOT qualify)
11 comments:
Hmm maybe , Sarah McLachlan, Bjork, Shania Twain, and please say PINK counts :)
Don't miss out Aretha Franklin
Shania doesn't sing ABOUT much but she's got class so yeah. Of course Pink's one of the best of her generation. How could I forget Bjork and McLachlan's In the Arms of the Angel never fails to bring a tear to the eye. People like Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone are beyond great. They're goddesses. Good suggestions to the list. I'll add Missy Elliot in there as well. She is one of the most inventive producers around today.
What about CocoRosie and Joni Mitchell?
And Janis Joplin and Janis Ian (her At Seventeen is one of the most brutally honest and beautiful songs ever please please people listen to it). The point is that the list is endless. But the world at large wants us to believe that all there are are Britneys and Jessicas.
Tracy Chapman and Erykah Badu as well (I was sensing an imbalance of the races :D).
What about jam Don kamana, Mahmmoodha Shakeeb and Fathimath Rauf dont they deserve any credit. You are a disgrace to the nation bkwas..becareful u'll be packin up and coming here in not too long....
I respect Jam Dhonkamana. She was a true singer and she played her own music. Mahmoodha is more of a Nancy Sinatra. Just crooning the most popular tune around to ready-made tunes and so was Fathimath Rauf.
At Seventeen! Lordy, that's one song my aunt had on repeat throughout the winter of 1996 until the movie Evita and its soundtrack came out. Kinda reminds me of another song by Joni Lee (and Conway Twitty) - Jimmy please say you'll wait for me/I'll grow up one day you'll see/Saving all my kisses just for you/Signed with love forever true.
And lets not forget Anna Maria Jopek, Diana Krall, Nellie McKay and Sinead O'Connor.
Mary-Jo you are a credit to your sex :D.
Corinne Bailey Rae who did a stint on the aforementioned Studio 60, no list is complete without Tina Turner, Angela Conway, Ani DiFranco, Anne Clark, Jolie Holland, Jenny Lewis, Patti Smith, Feist, Camille, Millie, etc. I could go on for hours
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