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Home , Annie Lennox

Music: Music and Me (Part 1) Hi everyone! We are going to be exploring our identity through music. Our identity is made up of all the different things that make us who we are. Each one of us is completely unique with our own experiences, feelings, family background and dreams. Music is a brilliant way of exploring and expressing our identity. It gives up confidence, power and purpose. Our gender is also a really important part of our identity. For different reasons, there haven’t been enough women working in the music industry. This is completely unjust, and meant that many women weren’t given a fair chance. People all around the world have been working really hard to change this, and we’re starting to see the results. We are going to look at 4 talented female musicians who are exploring their own musical and cultural identity. You will hear how they got to where they are, and see how you can do the same. You can be part of the change. How exciting! We will invite you to try out some different ways of making your own music and to explore some of the most inspirational and influential women in music from the last 100 years. Now don’t worry if you’ve never created your own music before; just enjoy the experience, and have fun! For today’s music lesson, let’s meet the 4 artists. When you listen to each song, write down your personal answers to the following questions (the more detailed your answers, the better): 1. Do you like the music? 2. What can you hear? 3. How does it make you feel? Something Helpful – Anna Meredith (Style: Electronic/Pop) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFlGkHSRxTU&pbjreload=10 (On YouTube, you can search “Anna Meredith Something Helpful”.) Fast Facts Anna Meredith is an artist who has written and performed music in many different styles. She has written music for the Proms, for orchestras and for her own Pop band. ‘Something Helpful’ written in 2016, is from her Electronic album ‘Varmints’. Watch the YouTube video – it’s brilliant! Anna said: “I’m a composer which means I write music, but I also perform music and I produce music. One of the other things that I’ve really liked doing recently, as well as writing music, is performing my own music. I get to stand to stage with my band and perform in Pop festivals and Classical festivals.” Listen to: Anna’s ‘Tiny Desk’ performance on YouTube. ‘Five Telegrams’ a piece that Anna composed for the 2018 Proms. Against The Clock – Shiva Feshareki (Style: Electronic) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BunA3tZupwU&pbjreload=10 (On YouTube, you can search “Shiva Feshareki - Against The Clock”.) Fast Facts Shiva Feshareki is an internationally acclaimed composer and Electronic artist who uses turntables. She experiments with and samples sounds from all different styles of music and uses them in her compositions with orchestras. Shiva said: “Spinning a turntable that is constantly moving, I make all of my decisions now based on the movement of these spinning turntables. So I try and link music and sound to movement and physics. I was complete transfixed by the turntables. I wasn’t part of any group. There were lots of boys who were playing with music technology and were playing with DJing and turntabling, so when I was creating Electronic music with turntables I was doing something completely unique to myself, and completely original to myself … and now I am going all round the world turntabling as an Electronic artist. If you have got your own voice and it is honest to you, people wanna hear it.” Listen to: Shiva performing on YouTube. Heros and Villains – Eska (Style: Soul, Folk, , Blues) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdnxd8EPUVU (On YouTube, you can search “Heroes and Villains Eska”.) Fast Facts Eska Mtungwazi is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, blending Soul, Folk, Jazz and Blues. Eska was born in Zimbabwe and brought up in South London. Her debut album ‘ESKA’ released in 2015 was shortlisted for the 2015 Mercury Music Prize. ‘Heroes & Villains’ is from that album. Eska said: “… as I have matured, as I have gone on my vocal journey, I think about many things that have impacted my voice. Being a woman, being a girl, being a sister, being an auntie, being a mother; they have changed my reason for singing and given me purpose for having a voice in the world.” Listen to: More songs from the album ‘ESKA’ and watch her perform on YouTube. And! – Afrodeutsche (Style: Electronic/Techno) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dQfLyyn0to&pbjreload=10 (On YouTube, you can search “Afrodeutsche And!”.) Fast Facts Afrodeutsche (Henrietta Smith-Rolla) is aBritish born Ghanaian / Russian / German artist, composer, producer and DJ, based in Manchester. Her compositions bring together a wide range of musical styles including Electronic, Techno and Classical solo piano. ‘And!’ is from her ‘Break Before Make’ 2019 debut album. Afrodeutsche used synths as well as Ableton (a digital audio workstation) to make the album. Afrodeutsche said: “… socially people were looking for identity … people are really trying to place themselves and have a connection to something. I am very, very lucky to have music, because that is the thing that helps me translate and deal with everything. … music is a language, so I speak that language in my own way.” Listen to: Afrodeutsche’s album on Spotify.

Inspirational Women Have a go at doing some of your own research on a female artist from the list below. Can you write it like a biography? An example on how you may present it is below, where I have written one based on one of my favourite female artists, Nicki Minaj:

Nicki Minaj

Superstar whose combination of singing and rapping opened up Hip Hop to a new audience. Trinidadian / American 08/12/1982

“You don’t have to feel the need to put somebody down to make yourself feel better.”

Nicki Minaj is one of the world's best- selling artists and most influential female rapper of all time. She has a unique rapping style with a fast flow, and uses made- up characters called 'alter-egos' to tell stories from different points of view. Fans know her for her clever lyrics and the way she plays with words. Nicki often combines rapping and singing in the same song, and this fusion of styles has helped open up the world of rap and Hip Hop to a much bigger audience. She is also a successful actress and entertainment icon. Her outfits often cause a stir, and she loves costumes, wigs and the colour pink. Nicki has worked with the biggest names in entertainment, won many awards for her music and videos, and is an inspiration to many up and coming artists. Female Artist List Billie Holiday Annie Lennox Judy Garland Nina Simone Etta James Tracy Chapman Dusty Springfield Björk Tina Turner Mary J Blige Missy Elliot M.I.A. Diana Ross Dolly Parton Beyoncé Knowles Stevie Nicks Ms Dynamite