Blog
Shut Up and Sing!
In March 2003 Natalie Maines from The Chicks, then known as the Dixie Chicks, famously criticised President George W Bush’s actions in Iraq from the stage during a concert in London. In response, the band were ‘cancelled’ and Natalie herself was subjected to death threats. In their song “Not Ready to Make Nice” (probably the classiest and most blistering “Sorry-not-sorry” takedown of keyboard warriors you’re ever likely to hear), the band details how Natalie was warned to “Shut up and sing”, or risk being killed mid- performance.
Black History Month - Sensational Women of Music!
In celebration of Black History Month, let’s take a look at some of the remarkable women of colour who have made their mark on music history.
Historically, black women have been at the forefront of many fields including science, literature, politics and technology. They have also played a major role within the arts, including across all genres of music. We tend to hear more about influential men in the music world but there are many women who have made their own unique mark in music too. Here is a selection of a few of these truly inspirational women.
Empress of The Blues
In the 1920s and 1930s, Bessie Smith was the most admired female blues singer and continues to be cited as a major influence for blues and jazz vocalists. She worked for a period of time with Ma Rainey (known as the Mother of The Blues) before establishing herself as a solo performer.
In 1929 Bessie appeared and sang in the film “St Louis Blues”:
Let The Music Play - Support Your Local Venues and Musicians!
This blog was originally posted in 2020 during the COVID pandemic, but its themes of the downgrading of the arts and the threat to the survival of grassroots music venues remains equally relevant today.
Now I’m not normally one to rant. Actually, scratch that. I’m totally one to rant. It’s just not usually immortalised in print. This week, however, I read something that made me alternate between head-scratching incredulity and outright indignation.
Apparently, someone who likes surveys asked a lot of people to rank professions in order of usefulness during these “unprecedented times”. Unsurprisingly, frontline medics and other key workers topped the list, and rightly so. At the other end (the “not really very useful at all”, or “chocolate teapot” end?) artists, actors and musicians.
This struck me as rather unfair.
“Well, that’s rather unfair”, I said. I may have said some other words as well, but those I definitely do not want immortalised in print!
Having personally worked in two of these professions, I suppose accusations could be levelled that I would say that, wouldn’t I? Fair point, well made.
However, I challenge anyone to tell me that during lockdown they have listened to no music, watched no television, binged on zero boxsets and spent no hours chilling with Netflix - oh wait, that last one means something else, doesn’t it?
“Ode To Billy Joe”, The Twin Peaks Of Songs
February is Storytelling Month and, in honour of this, we are taking a look at the art of storytelling in song. “Ode to Billy Joe” was released as a single by Bobbie Gentry in 1967, and it is a spine-tingling example of mystery storytelling at its very best.
Bobbie Gentry matched her story writing with her vocal storytelling abilities - it is her performance of the song that really brings the story to life.
September Song
After all the lovely sunshine we’ve had over the last few months, September might feel like a little bit of a let-down. Officially, September is an autumn month, so it heralds the end of summer and, already, we are starting to see the nights draw in. It doesn’t seem so long ago that we were leaving our Wednesday evening Singing Sessions after 9.00pm and driving home in beautiful sunshine. Now the street lights are on and the evening air is cooler.
We might mourn the passing of the summer and the busy round of activities it brings with it but the autumn brings its own opportunities.
RSS