#020
Spice Girls
Effie
Madge and Mabel
Biddie, see them on the beach
Or in New
York City, Tina Louise
And there’s Hazel and Mavis
Can you name, name, name
Name ’em today?
The B52s – 52 Girls
Nasci e fui criado rodeado só de mulheres. Daí que esta semana decidi abordar o tema dos girl groups.
Invocando as miúdas do titulo desta M4we, as Spice Girls eram um comedido hashtag Rriot antes do tempo do #me too mas só mesmo porque a emancipação feminina na pop internacional já rolava há muito mais tempo. Apesar de termos tido alguns bons exemplos nos anos 80 (por cá tivemos as Doce e as Cocktail) foi só nos anos 90 que a indústria musical voltou à carga com algo que tem existido desde os primórdios da pop e que nos anos 60 já havia virado atómico.
É por isso que passo em revista 40 agrupamentos exclusivamente femininos, alguns icônicos outros tão rigorosamente “subterrânicos” que fazem os Pop Dell’ Arte soarem a banda de bailarico. Se por um lado a escolha de Hate the Girl das Marine Girls, banda post punk de Hatfield e lugar para a primeira aparição de Tracey Ann Thorn que viria a ficar conhecida nos Everything but the Girl serve só como entry point histórico, por outro deixo as Raincoats da nossa Ana da Silva ou as Shaggs, ambos os grupos foram apontados por Kurt Cobain como suas major influences. Posso mesmo dizer que a banda das manas Wiggins não é própriamente projecto de miúdas de smudged eyeliner nos olhos e a sua notoriedade actual (a Light in the Attic acabou de re-editar o único disco delas) é a ineptidão delas em tocar um rock convencional; a banda foi descrita num artigo da Rolling Stone como “parecendo lobotomizadas cantoras da família von Trapp”. Terry Adams, da NRBQ, comparou as linhas e estruturas melódicas do grupo às composições de free jazz de Ornette Coleman e Frank Zappa um dia disse que elas eram melhores que os Beatles. Toma e embrulha.
Decidi começar com Bad Weather, verdadeira obra-prima da música popular e contributo de Stevie Wonder para umas Supremes já sem Diana Ross no ano de 1973. É a história típica de um love affair que soa, na voz de Jean Terrell com o apoio de Mary Wilson e Lynda Laurence, a um apelo contra o arrependimento em relação a um episódio amoroso.
E muito se vai passando enquanto deambulamos por esta saga. Por um lado ouvimos G.I. Joe das Charmaines, trio vocal feminino proveniente de Cincinnati, Ohio e que gravavam para a Fraternity Records, servindo ainda como cantoras de apoio para Lonnie Mack, Little Willie John, James Brown, Conway Twitty e muitos outros. G.I. Joe é um daqueles grandes clássicos da Northern Soul. A versão escolhida é a bem mais rara fast version que passava em modo heavy rotation nos tempos da Old Stafford Soul All-Nighter nos anos 80.
Por outro lado The Bobbettes, a prova de que a industria não consegue controlar os espíritos mais indomáveis. Grupo formado em 1955 para cantar no Glee Club em New York sob o nome The Harlem Queens e que deram nas vistas quando da actuação numa amateur night do Apollo Theater o que deu direito a assinarem pela Atlantic, a qual pediu logo para suavizarem o tom com uma mudança de nome. De seguida a editora pediu também as meninas “branquearem” seu primeiro hit, “Mr. Lee”, transformando assim uma música sobre o quanto elas odiavam o director da escola numa delicodoce xaropada. Quando uns anos mais tarde decidiram set the record straight com I Shot Mr. Lee, a editora recusou-se a editar essa canção e elas ficaram finalmente livres para voltar ao seu estilo mais arrojado e original nascido nos projects. Rapidamente estavam assinadas por Teddy Vann e uma nova versão era editada pela Triple-X que ao chegar ao numero 56 da Billboard fez, ironicamente, com que a Atlantic editasse a versão originalmente recusada.
E é isto que me fascina e que acabou por ser a força motriz da selecção desta semana: “This is a man’s world, this is a man’s world / But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl”. A história de como as mulheres foram dando sucessivos gritos do Ipiranga até terem uma voz própria num mundo musical controlado por homens onde a sua perseverança era vista como uma extravagância, em pé de igualdade com japoneses que cantam fado ou ingleses que tomam a alternativa na Plaza de Marbella.
É uma história de irmãs e amigas, familiar na forma como defende o motto de como a união faz a força. Das Dreamers às ESG, como se existisse uma linha condutora entre as The Dreamliners, um grupo de chicanas de San Antonio no Texas e as manas Tetseo, quatro irmãs com um repertório de canções folclóricas de Nagaland na India e que cantam no dialeto Chokri da tribo Chakhesang.
Uma narrativa “tricotada” por parcerias como a da inglesa Siobhan Fahey das Bananarama com a americana Marcella Detroit que se tornaram a dupla Shakespear’s Sister a partir do seu hit de 1989 “You’re History” mas que só evidencia ainda mais outras inclusões como as pioneiras espanholas Las Chic, as clássicas The Shangri-Las, a obscura escolha de Kiiro No Sekai das japonesas J Girls ou do tema I Could Have Been Your Girlfriend (If You’d Asked Me To) das Coming Up Roses, banda que integrava a portuguesa Midus, enorme baixista que depois do projecto Roquivários emigrou para o Reino Unido.
Entro numa recta final de luxo com Strong Foundation das The Debutantes, agrupamento formado em Detroit em 1964, pela então cantora de 14 anos Jan McClellan, que recrutou Lynn Hawkins na guitarra rítmica e Diane Abray na bateria. Embora tenham passado por inúmeras mudanças na formação, permaneceram um agrupamento feminino durante toda a sua existência.
Sigo logo de seguida para as Barry Sisters, as duas irmãs Claire e Merna Bagelman, judias nascidas na Bronx. Sua carreira como cantoras de jazz com fortes influências yiddish estendeu-se desde o final dos anos 30 até o início dos anos 70.
Quando a versão de Bei Mir Bist Du Schön das The Andrews Sisters virou um enorme sucesso, o músico e compositor Sam Medoff decidiu iniciar o programa de rádio Yiddish Melodies in Swing na novaiorquina sintonia WHN. As Barry Sisters apresentaram-se regularmente no programa desde 1937 até meados da década de 1950. Na televisão, apareceram nos programas The Ed Sullivan Show e The Tonight Show de Jack Parr. Foram uma das poucas bandas americanas a visitar a União Soviética em 1959 e também entretiveram as tropas israelitas durante a Guerra do Yom Kippur em 1973.
Assinadas pela RCA nos anos 30 como The Bagelman Sisters, elas mudaram o nome artístico para The Barry Sisters, gravando vários 78s e 45s, bem como 11 LPs até 1973.
Goodnight My Someone é uma canção escrita pela dupla Charlotte Strouse e Lee Adams e editada em 1961 como lado B do single Goodnight My Someone que voltou a ter uma re-edição mais recente numa das deliciosas compilações da Trunk Records mais concretamente no exótico Britxotica Goes East! – Persian Pop and Casbah Jazz from the Wild British Isles!
E acabo mesmo em beleza dando o lugar no pódio a Letritia Kandle de quem incluo o tema Where Was I das suas The Kohala Girls, banda feminina de steel guitars, formada em 1932 em Chicago. Neste man´s world onde se fala incessantemente de Les Paul ou Joe Meek deixou-se de fora a verdadeira “guitar hero” que em 1937 foi uma verdadeira pioneira da música electrica ao usar o primeiro amplificador de guitarra, o “Grand Letar” e assim acabou por inventar um novo som que iria mudar para sempre a pop. Gostaria que todos soubessem mais sobre esta incrível mulher e por isso incluo aqui um link profuso em informação: http://muleskinner.blogspot.com/2010/11/letritia-kandle-female-electric-guitar.html
Desejo-vos um fim de semana cor de rosa.
#staysafe #musicfortheweekend
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Effie
Madge and Mabel
Biddie, see them on the beach
Or in New
York City, Tina Louise
And there’s Hazel and Mavis
Can you name, name, name
Name ’em today?
The B52s – 52 Girls
I was born and brought up surrounded only by women. That is why this week I decided to address the topic of girl groups.
Invoking the girls of the title of this M4we, the Spice Girls were a restrained Rriot hashtag before these #me too times but only because the female emancipation in international pop had been going on for much longer. Although we had some good examples in the 80’s (here we had Doce and Cocktail girly pop bands) it was only in the 90’s that the music industry returned to something that existed since the beginning of pop music and that in the 60’s had already turned atomic.
That is why I review 40 exclusively female groups, some iconic others so strictly “underground” that make Pop Dell ’Arte sound like a casino lounge act. If, on one hand, the choice of Hate the Girl by Marine Girls, Hatfield’s post-punk band and Tracey Ann Thorn’s first appearance, she who would become known in Everything but the Girl serves only as a historical entry point, on the other hand I bring you our Ana da Silva’s The Raincoats or the Shaggs, both groups identified by Kurt Cobain as his major influences. I can even say that the Wiggins sister’s band is not really a project of smudged eyeliner girls and that their current notoriety (Light in the Attic just re-published their only album) is their ineptitude in playing conventional rock ; the band was described in a Rolling Stone article as “looking like lobotomized singers from the von Trapp family”. NRBQ’s Terry Adams compared the group’s melodic lines and structures to Ornette Coleman’s free jazz compositions and Frank Zappa once said they were better than the Beatles. Take it like a man Ringo…
I decided to start with Bad Weather, a true masterpiece of popular music and Stevie Wonder’s contribution to the Supremes in 1973 already without Diana Ross. It is the typical story of a love affair that sounds, in the voice of Jean Terrell with the support of Mary Wilson and Lynda Laurence, like an appeal against repentance over a love affair.
And much is going on as we wander through this saga. On one side, we might listen to G.I. Joe by The Charmaines, a female vocal trio from Cincinnati, Ohio who recorded for Fraternity Records, serving as supporting singers for Lonnie Mack, Little Willie John, James Brown, Conway Twitty and many others. This is one of those great Northern Soul classics and the version chosen is the much rarer fast version that went through heavy rotation in the days of Old Stafford Soul All-Nighter in the 80s.
On the other side, The Bobbettes, proof that the industry cannot control the most indomitable spirits. A group formed in 1955 to sing at the Glee Club in New York under the name The Harlem Queens and which became known when performing at an amateur night at the Apollo Theater, which gave them the chance to sign with Atlantic, record company that immediately asked them to soften the tone with a name change. Then they also asked the girls to “whiten” their first hit, “Mr. Lee”, thus transforming a song about how much they hated the school principal into a syrupy candy song. When a few years later they decided to set the record straight with I Shot Mr. Lee, they refused to publish that song and the group was finally free to return to their more daring and original style born in the projects. They were quickly signed by Teddy Vann and a new version came out through Triple-X which, upon reaching number 56 on the Billboard, ironically pushed Atlantic to put out the version originally rejected.
And this is what fascinates me and which ended up being the driving force of this week’s selection: “This is a man’s world, this is a man’s world / But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl”. The story of how women gave successive cries of freedom until they had their own voice in a musical world controlled by men where their perseverance was seen as an extravagance, on an equal foot with Japanese who sing fado or English who “take the alternative” in the Plaza from Marbella.
It is a story of sisters and friends, familiar in the way it defends the motto of how unity is strength. From Dreamers to ESG, as if there was a guiding line between The Dreamliners, a group of chicanas from San Antonio in Texas and the Tetseo sisters, four sisters with a repertoire of folk songs from Nagaland in India and who sing in the Chokri dialect of the Chakhesang tribe.
A narrative “knitted” by partnerships like that of the English Siobhan Fahey from Bananarama with the American Marcella Detroit that became the duo Shakespear’s Sister after their 1989 hit “You’re History” but that only proves even more right other inclusions such as Spanish pioneers Las Chic, the classic The Shangri-Las, the obscure choice of Kiiro No Sekai from the Japanese J Girls or the theme I Could Have Been Your Girlfriend (If You’d Asked Me To) by Coming Up Roses, band that integrated Portuguese great bass player Midus who, after the Roquivários project, emigrated to the UK.
I enter a luxurious final stretch with The Debutantes’ Strong Foundation, a group formed in Detroit in 1964, by then 14-year-old singer Jan McClellan, who recruited Lynn Hawkins on rhythm guitar and Diane Abray on drums. Although they underwent numerous changes in training, they remained a female group throughout their existence.
I immediately segue into the Barry Sisters, Claire and Merna Bagelman, two jewish sisters born in the Bronx. Their career as jazz singers with strong Yiddish influences extended from the late 1930s to the early 1970s.
When The Andrews Sisters’ version of Bei Mir Bist Du Schön became a huge hit, musician-songwriter Sam Medoff decided to start the Yiddish Melodies in Swing radio show on New York’s WHN. The Barry Sisters appeared regularly on the show from 1937 to the mid-1950s. On television, they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show as well as Jack Parr’s The Tonight Show. They were one of the few American bands to visit the Soviet Union in 1959 and also entertained Israeli troops during the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Signed by RCA in the 1930s as The Bagelman Sisters, they changed their stage name to The Barry Sisters, recording several 78s and 45s, as well as 11 LPs until 1973. Goodnight My Someone is a song written by the duo Charlotte Strouse and Lee Adams and published in 1961 as the B side on the 7” Goodnight My Someone and had a more recent re-edition in one of Trunk Records delicious compilations, more specifically in the exotic Britxotica Goes East ! – Persian Pop and Casbah Jazz from the Wild British Isles!
And I cross the finish line coming up trumps giving her rightful place on the podium to Letritia Kandle of whom I include the theme Where Was I by The Kohala Girls, a female steel guitar band, formed by her in 1932 in Chicago. In this man´s world where Les Paul or Joe Meek are talked about and revered incessantly, this true and always left out “guitar hero” who in 1937 became a true pioneer of electric music by using the first guitar amplifier, the “Grand Letar”, ended up inventing a new sound that would change pop forever. I would like everyone to know more about this incredible woman and that is why I include here a link profuse in information: http://muleskinner.blogspot.com/2010/11/letritia-kandle-female-electric-guitar.html
I wish you all a pink weekend.
#staysafe #musicfortheweekend
The Supremes – Bad Weather
Plastiscines – (Zazie Fait De La) Bicyclette
Vanity Six – Nasty Girls (12 Inch Mix)
Judi and The Affections – Ain’t Gonna Hurt My Pride
J Girls – 黄色の世界
Sunset Gun – Be Thankful for What You’ve Got
The Ikettes – (Never More) Lonely for You
The Coconuts – If I Only Had A Brain
Chic-Lets – I Want You To Be My Boyfriend
Las Chic – Pon Un Anillo En Mi Dedo
Shangri-Las – Leader Of The Pack
ESG – Erase You
Marine Girls – Hate the Girl
The Beverley Sisters – The Sphinx Won’t Tell
The Slits – Typical Girls
The Belles – Melvin
The Girls – Chico’s Girl
Plommons – Last Train to Liverpool
The Three Bells – He Doesn’t Want You
Shakespear’s Sister – You’re History
The Like – Narcissus In A Red Dress
Strawberry Switchblade – Since Yesterday
Chantels – Eternally
Tetseo Sisters – Hiyo
The Andrew Sisters – Last Night On The Back Porch
The Raincoats – Animal Rhapsody
The Bangles – I’m in Line
Pinky Chicks – Soba Ni Ite
Sugababes – Overload
Mak Les Soeurs – Solsken
The Contessas – Gimme Gimme
Coming Up Roses – I Could Have Been Your Girlfriend (If You’d Asked Me To)
The Satin Bells – I Stand Accused (Of Loving You)
The Charmaines – G. I. Joe (Fast Version)
The Exceptions – What More Do You Want
The Shaggs – You’re Somethin’ Special To Me
The Dreamliners – From One Fool to Another
The Debutantes – Strong Foundation
The Barry Sisters – Why Don’t You Do Right
Letritia Kandle and the National Grand Letar with The Kohala Girls – Where Was I