International Women’s Day is an important day for many of us. It provides each of us with an opportunity to reflect on all the critical contributions women around the world have made. Acknowledging these contributions, and in the spirit of sisterhood and solidarity DJ Afifa and I have once again come together to co-create a compilation of music that we feel honours the voices of some truly brilliant womyn artists.
We know that if we let it – music has the power to transport us to places far beyond where our feet can physically take us; We can visit these places in our imaginations. As we travel through the SO((U))LHERVERE this time around, we want to bring you along on an adventure moving through time and space. This mixtape takes you on a journey from South Africa to Zimbabwe, Sudan to Cape Verde, Algeria to Palestine, Germany to the USA, the Dominican Republic to Jamaica, Canada to India, Australia to the UK and we’re still moving…
We hope you enjoy the sounds of the SO((U))LHERVERSE and we hope that in travelling with us you learn about some new voices, dance to old ones, laugh, cry, reminisce, remember that first kiss…that first…that last…we hope you will enjoy this music that makes your mind move.
In Solidarity,
Amina & Afifa
We’re also on Twitter: @sheroxlox and @djafifa
To Download: http://www.mediafire.com/file/bn8367d342dc9vq
p.s. Amina will be exhibiting some art work (including the mixtape cover), Afifa will be playing the mixtape and we’ll be facilitating a discussion about revolutionary women and about ourselves….at the SO((U))L HQ tonight. We’d love for you to join us! Check HERE for details.
Tracklist:
- Asa - M.Anifest f/ Efya
- Morning Worship - Alice Coltrane
- Crying Dub - Grace Jones
- L.E.S. Artistes - Santigold
- Green Garden - Laura Mvula
- Dirty World - Meshell Ndegeocello
- Regreso - Aziza Brahim
- Ahel Allel - Amira Kheir
- Sowa - Fatoumata Diawara
- Bajito A Selva - Rita Indiana
- Bam Bam - Sister Nancy
- Hurry on Now (Boub remix) - Alice Russell
- Angels - Wax Poetic f/ Norah Jones
- Feelin’ Good (Joe Claussell Remix) - Nina Simone
- Rebel Woman - Chiwoniso Maraire
- My Island - Paulette Williams
- Black woman - Judy Mowatt
- dbi young w/ manana reggae band
- Nomvula (After The Rain) - Freshlyground
- Take Off Your Cool - Mara Hruby
- Sincerely, Jane.- Janelle Monae
- Kilimanjaro - The Noisettes
- Asa - M.Anifest f/ Efya
- Quimbara - Celia Cruz
- Say It Right - Nelly Furtado
- Dje Dje l’Aye - AngÈlique Kidjo
- Adele (Remix)
- This Time The Dream’s On Me - Nancy Wilson
- Black Gold - Esperanza Spalding
- A Change Is Gonna Come (Live In UK - Unreleased) J.Period w/ Lauryn Hill
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SO((U))LHERVERSE 2013
The Resource Guide for the Int'l Women's Day mixtape
by Georgia Love on 11 March 2013
Prezi transcript
Leila Khaled Fatoumata Diawara Carmen Periera Sister Nancy Rosa Luxemberg Sylvia Rivera Lucia Sanchez Saornil Sometimes, if we let it – music can transport us to places far beyond where our feet can physically take us. But even though we might never physically leave our homes, we can visit these places in our imaginations and we can meet other women just like us who struggled, who fought, who continue to speak out in the name of equal rights and justice. It is our responsibility to ‘know’ them and to honour their stories. This is by no means an exhaustive list, the mixtape takes you on a journey around the world from South Africa, to Zimbabwe to Sudan to Cape Verde to Algeria to Palestine to Germany to the US, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Barbados, Canada, India, Australia, the UK….you get the drift! So just listen to the music, read their stories, escape into the SO((U))LHERVERSE….Make Your Mind Move. Happy International Women’s Day 2013! - Amina & Afifa "In the beginning, all women had to prove that we could be equal to men in armed struggle. So we wanted to be like men - even in our appearance... I no longer think it's necessary to prove ourselves as women by imitating men. I have learned that a woman can be a fighter, a freedom fighter, a political activist, and that she can fall in love, and be loved, she can be married, have children, be a mother... Revolution must mean life also; every aspect of life." ~Leila Khaled Leila Khaled has been described by many as the most high-profile and recognisable female Palestinian militant; the iconic image of her holding an AK-47 and wearing a keffiyya adorns many a wall. Khaled, born in Haifa in 1944 but exiled to Lebanon during the Nakba in 1948, shot to notoriety in 1969 when she hijacked a plane headed from Rome to Athens, on a mission for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP (a left wing organisation founded in 1967). Khaled and fellow commando Salim Issawi ordered the pilot to divert to Damascus, after first flying over Haifa so she could catch a glimpse of her home town. Once at Damascus, the passengers were released and the plane was partially blown up on the ground. Six plastic surgeries later, done to conceal her now well-known face, she hijacked a second plane in 1970. This time, on board an El Al flight heading from Amsterdam to New York, all did not go to plan and her partner, Nicaraguan-American Patrick Arguello, was killed and Khaled captured. The pilot made an emergency landing in England and Khaled spent time in a London jail. She did not face charges, however, and was released as part of a prisoner exchange. This is the part of Khaled’s life with which most are familiar, but despite her prominent role in the armed struggle she has since then moved into the political arena, as an activist and leader of the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) and member of the Palestinian National Council (PNC). "In Mali, my generation looks at me, at every action I do. I'm like a little example for them, for women. When I'm in Bamako, many girls come to me and say they're very happy for everything I'm doing. I can tell them what I want through my music." ~Fatoumata Diawara M.I.A Comandante Ramona Phoolan Devi _ Fatoumata Diawara (born 1982 in Ivory Coast) is a Malian musician currently living in France. Her songs like "Boloko" denounce female genital mutilation, or "Sowa", her paean to children who grow up not knowing their parents, which was born of her own experience: banished at the age of 12 to live with an aunt, she says she didn't see her parents again until she was 26. The music, on her acclaimed debut album Fatou, is a haunting mix of beats from her ancestral Wassoulou region. "We need someone like me to debate on TV what it means to be a woman today in Mali. We need more women emancipated to talk about that." ~Fatoumata Diawara Fatoumata is using her position to talk about far more than just women. In December, during a trip to Mali's capital, Bamako, Diawara rallied 40 fellow musicians to record a song calling for peace in Mali. In 1984, Mrs. Carmen Pereira (born in 1937) served three days as Acting President of Guinea-Bissau in 1984 becoming the first woman in this role in Africa and the only one in Guinea-Bissau’s history. Pereira’s political involvement began in 1962, when she joined the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), a revolutionary movement which fought for the independence for Portugal‘s two colonies in West Africa. In 1966, the PAIGC Central Committee began mobilizing women on an equal basis as men. As a result, Pereira became a revolutionary leader, a Political Officer, and a commander. At this time very few women fought in the front lines but the PAIGC took great measures to push for greater gender equality in a society with strongly defined sex roles. Mrs. Pereira became a high-ranking political leader as a result and a delegate to the Pan-African Women’s Organization in Algeria. In 1984, Mrs. Carmen Pereira (born in 1937) served three days as Acting President of Guinea-Bissau in 1984 becoming the first woman in this role in Africa and the only one in Guinea-Bissau’s history. Pereira’s political involvement began in 1962, when she joined the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), a revolutionary movement which fought for the independence for Portugal‘s two colonies in West Africa. In 1966, the PAIGC Central Committee began mobilizing women on an equal basis as men. As a result, Pereira became a revolutionary leader, a Political Officer, and a commander. At this time very few women fought in the front lines but the PAIGC took great measures to push for greater gender equality in a society with strongly defined sex roles. Mrs. Pereira became a high-ranking political leader as a result and a delegate to the Pan-African Women’s Organization in Algeria. "We want a Mexico that takes us into account as human beings, that respects us and that recognizes our dignity. Therefore we want to unite our small Zapatista voice with the large voice of all who fight for a new Mexico. We have come here in order to should together that never more will there be a Mexico without us." ~Comandante Ramona In 1984, Mrs. Carmen Pereira (born in 1937) served three days as Acting President of Guinea-Bissau in 1984 becoming the first woman in this role in Africa and the only one in Guinea-Bissau’s history. Pereira’s political involvement began in 1962, when she joined the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), a revolutionary movement which fought for the independence for Portugal‘s two colonies in West Africa. In 1966, the PAIGC Central Committee began mobilizing women on an equal basis as men. As a result, Pereira became a revolutionary leader, a Political Officer, and a commander. At this time very few women fought in the front lines but the PAIGC took great measures to push for greater gender equality in a society with strongly defined sex roles. Mrs. Pereira became a high-ranking political leader as a result and a delegate to the Pan-African Women’s Organization in Algeria. "Our hope is that one day our situation will change, that we women will be treated with respect, justice and democracy." ~Comandante Ramona Comandante Ramona (1939-2005) was the nom de guerre of an officer of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, a revolutionary indigenous autonomist organization based in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Fists upraised, women of Iberia towards horizons pregnant with light on paths afire feet on the ground face to the blue sky. Affirming the promise of life we defy tradition we mould the warm clay of a new world born of pain. Let the past vanish into nothingness! What do we care for yesterday! We want to write anew the word WOMAN. Fists upraised, women of the world towards the horizons pregnant with light on paths afire onward, onward toward the light. ~Lucia Sanchez Saornil Lucía Sánchez Saornil, (1897-1970) was a Spanish poet, militant anarchist and feminist. She is best known as one of the founders of Mujeres Libres and served in the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo and Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista. It is not enough to say: “We must target women with our propaganda and draw women into our ranks;” we have to take things further, much further than that. The vast majority of male comrades — with the exception of a half dozen right-thinking types — have minds infected by the most typical bourgeois prejudices. Even as they rail against property, they are rabidly proprietorial. Even as they rant against slavery, they are the cruellest of “masters.” Even as they vent their fury on monopoly, they are the most dyed-in-the-wool monopolists. And all of this derives from the phoniest notion that humanity has ever managed to devise. The supposed “inferiority of women.” A mistaken notion that may well have set civilization back by centuries. “Freedom only for the supporters of the government, only for the members of a party – however numerous they may be – is no freedom at all. Freedom is always the freedom of the dissenter” ~Rosa Luxemberg Rosa Luxemberg (1871 -1919) was a German Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and revolutionary socialist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen. Rosa’s outspoken views that revolution should come from the masses rather than an elite group and that the focus of the struggle should always be the overthrow of capitalism, placed her at odds with many socialists. Her articles including “The Russian Revolution,” in which she openly critiqued Lenin and the antidemocratic tactics of the Bolsheviks, were smuggled out of prison and published. Rosa Luxemberg is remembered for her firmness of belief and her vast intellectual and rhetorical abilities. She viewed women’s issues as being intertwined with those of the working class and felt that women should be free from their economic bondage. Lolita Lebrón Lolita Lebrón spent almost 26 years behind bars in U.S. prisons, and died on August 1, 2010 at the age of 90, a hero whose total commitment to Puerto Rican self-determination never wavered.Ms. Lebrón joined the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party (PRNP) in the 1940s. At that time, the group was deeply involved in labor struggles, including organizing a general strike in the sugar industry that paralyzed the island in 1934. The party also spearheaded a campaign to defend small farmers whose land was being seized by U.S. banks, fought English-only laws, participated in anti-imperialist protests, and mobilized a militia of women and men to counter U.S. government repression. Lebrón quickly became recognized as a party leader in the movement for independence of "Borinquen" — the original indigenous name for Puerto Rico. In 1954, Lebrón organized a daring attack on the U.S. Congress to focus world attention on Puerto Rican demands to end U.S. colonialism on the island. She led three other independistas into the visitors' gallery of the U.S. House of Representatives and unfurled the Puerto Rican flag, shouting "Free Puerto Rico!" and firing pistols. Several legislators were wounded and she and her comrades were sentenced to decades in prison. Years later, in her testimony at the International Tribunal on Violations of Human Rights in Puerto Rico and Vieques, she said:"I had the honor of leading the act against the U.S. Congress on March 1, 1954, when we demanded freedom for Puerto Rico and we told the world that we are an invaded nation, occupied and abused by the United States of America. I feel very proud of having performed that day, of having answered the call of the motherland." Sister Nancy aka Muma Nancy, real name Ophlin Russell-Myers, is a dancehall DJ and singer. She is known to the world as the first female dancehall DJ and was described as being a "dominating female female voice for over two decades" on the dancehall scene. One of her most famous songs is "Bam Bam", labeled as a "well-known reggae anthem" by the BBC. Devi was born in 1963 in Northern India to a lower-caste family. She was married at 11 to a man in his 30s, but was abandoned by her husband and birth family as a teen when the marriage fell apart. Over the next several years she was assaulted unremittingly; for her caste, for her gender, for her marital status. By the time she was 20, she was living a life of dacoity, leading a group of bandits (hence her colloquial name "The Bandit Queen of India"), and evading capture. In the movie dramatization of her life, it is a brutal scene of gang rape that leads to Devi's slaughter of 22 men, a real-life crime for which she was charged, imprisoned, and eventually murdered. After being released from prison (and just after the release of Bandit Queen, the movie), Devi sought and won a seat in Parliament. In 2001, at the age of thirty-seven, Devi was shot repeatedly at point-blank range as she approached her front door, where she died. Apart from this information, though, very little is known for sure. That's an enormous part of Devi's celebrity. She was illiterate for her entire life; hence any writing about her was dictated at best. Arundhati Roy's scathing indictment of Bandit Queen's filmmakers ran under the name "The Great Indian Rape Trick" in 1994, and is an incredibly passionate, detailed account of the ways Devi's caste and educational background were used as vehicles to exploit her and sell her story. Perhaps most notably, Roy's essay was instrumental in the creation of a judgment in India that states the rape of a still-living woman cannot be depicted in any form without her permission. Olive Morris Olive Morris was born in Jamaica in 1952, and moved to London with her family aged 9. She lived most of her life in South London and was a key figure in local history (specially in Brixton) and a inspiring community leader. She was a member of the Black Panther Movement; set up Brixton Black Women's Group, was a founder member of The Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) and was central to the squatter campaigns of the 1970s. She was actively involved in grassroots politics, and was famous for her strength and for her lack of fear. She believe in and practiced direct action whenever she came across injustice, suffering innumerable arrests and constant police harassment. She spent three years in Manchester, taking a Degree in Social Sciences and during that time she co-founded with local women the Manchester Black Women's Coop and the Machester Black Women Mutual Aid Group. She was a keen traveller and visited China in 1977 as part of a delegation of Marxists students from Manchester University. She died tragically young in 1979 at age 27. Sylvia Rivera hailing from Puerto Rico/USA was a tireless advocate for all those who have been marginalized as the “gay rights” movement has mainstreamed. Sylvia fought hard against the exclusion of transgender people from the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act in New York, and was a loud and persistent voice for the rights of people of color and low-income queers and trans people. Sylvia’s focused her attention to centralizing issues of systemic poverty and racism, and prioritizing the struggles of queer and trans people who face the most severe and multi-faceted discrimination. Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, better known by her stage name M.I.A., is a Tamil-British recording artist, songwriter, painter and director. Although born in London, M.I.A. was brought up in Sri Lanka and India, where her father set up the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students, that campaigned for a separate Tamil state. The treatment of the Tamils by the Sri Lankan government is one of the biggest preoccupations in her work and she cites the portraits of Tamil Tigers who had been killed or reported missing in action as among the pieces she is most proud of. "None of those people are alive and that was their last moment to say what they wanted to say," she observes. Resources http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/fatoumata-diawara-malis-voi... http://www.radicalwomen.org/Lolita_Lebron.shtml http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/book-reviews/16070-leila-khaled... Revoultionary Women :: A Stencil Book <<Accessed Online >> http://www.amazon.com/Revolutionary-Women-Stencils-Queen-Neighbourhood/sim/16... http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/mia-singer-pol... 2013 Resource Guide
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