music rec post

This is part 2 of what I started over here, that is, this is the post of some of my favorite WoC musicians. Once more, this rec series started because of RaceFail 2009 (if you don’t know what this is about, the link goes to rydra_wong’s time line, which includes a link to a summary post). Like last time, I’m refraining from my own commentary on racism in favor of promoting these musicians (though I’m planning a post on what it means to be a Good Girl, and how that matters to this issue) but I will say this: one kind of oppression is not like another, and listening is sadly underrated. For the love of all that is holy, look up intersectionality somewhere.

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list (ETA: I'm not pretending to be an expert of any kind, is what I actually meant by that), nor is this a list where one artist is like another, because much like last time, these women do not sound like each other simply by virtue of being Women of Color. As for why they’re here, well, some of it is that as a singer and a lyricist and a person, I owe something to every one of these women. And it might be wishful thinking, because who doesn’t wish they sounded like Aretha Franklin or wrote like Nina Simone; and it might be self-confidence, because singing Beverley Knight’s Who I Am with my sister on stage made everything click, all at once; and it might be my journal title (Vienna Teng) or inspiration for lines in a poem (Vienna Teng) or the truest, brightest moment of happiness of my junior year at college (dancing with the girl I love best to “Pata Pata” because it reminded her of home).

Here, then, have seven musicians. Clicking on their names below the cut will take you to their MySpace page or homepage or Wikipedia page, depending on what felt the most informative. In all of these places there are links that let you know how to buy their albums and/or other merchandise. I also added links to Amazon’s stores for Nina Simone, Miriam Makeba, and Aretha Franklin. The sample songs I offer here is intended to encourage you to further support these artists and other musicians of color in making music. If you like it, please spend some money on them. The information I used for their short biographies mostly came from their Wikipedia pages, from Musician Guide or my own background knowledge.

( Ryeisha “Rye Rye” Berrain )

( Tracy Chapman )

( Aretha Franklin )

( Beverley Knight )

( Miriam Makeba )

( Nina Simone )

( Vienna Teng )