- clockwise, from top left - Les Reines Prochaines, Gaggle, Disband, Pulsallama
Today I’m highlighting women’s collectives, specifically the whimsical, cunning sounds of arty female musical troops featuring the likes of Ann Magnuson, Barbara Ess, Dianne Torr, Barbara Krueger, Pipilotti Rist and Valie Export.
In New York City, between 1979 - 1982, artists such as Ilona Granet, Donna Henes, Ingrid Sischy, Dianne Torr, Martha Wilson, Barbara Ess, Daile Kaplan and Barbara Kruger came together as Disband and performed clever confrontational acapella ditties to gallery crowds.
Around the same time, in the same city, Pulsallama was also gathered gusto and performed for two years, from 1981 to 1982, as a twelve piece (later seven-piece) bass/percussion/vocal troop featuring Ann Magnuson, Wendy Wild, Jean Caffeine, Stacey Elkin, Charlotte Slivka, Katy K, Min Thometz, Judy Streng, Andé Whyland, Dany Johnson, Lori Montana, Kim Davis and April Palmieri.
Meanwhile, over in Switzerland, Les Reines Prochaines, has been on a mission since 1987 to bring multi-language, multi-instrumental feminist show spectacles to the continent. Over the past 20+ years, core member Muda Mathis has worked in various formations with Pipilotti Rist, Sus Zwick, Fränzi Madörin, Michèle Fuchs, Barbara Naegelin, Gabi Streiff, Sibylle Hauert, Teresa Alonso and Regina Florida Schmid.
The next level of female frolic is the 22 member strong Gaggle choir, formed in 2008 and based in London. They bring the circle back around - contorting the traditional choir concept at the same time as they honor the inherent fortitude and beauty of women’s voices singing in unison.
Witness below a video of their remix of “The Brilliant and the Dark,” a cantata for women’s voices first performed by 1000 women volunteers at the Royal Albert Hall in 1969. Then enjoy this 40 minute mixtape of collective female nonsense!
Track listing:
Disband- Missiles and Pistols
Gaggle - Hidden Army
Pulsallama- Oui Oui
Pulsallama - The Devil Lives In My Husband’s Body
Gaggle - I Hear Flies
Disband - Sad
Inflatable Boy Clams - I’m Sorry
Les Reines Prochaines - Opfer Dieses Liedes
Disband - Everyday Same Old Way
Valie Export & Monsti Wiener - Bananen
Les Reines Prochaines - Der Urwald
Gaggle - Crows
Pulsallama - Ungawa Pt. II (Way Out Guiana)
Les Reines Prochaines - Evening
Disband - Look at my Dick
DOWNLOAD: Collective Female Nonsense mixtape.mp3 (40 minutes / 92 MB)
6 responses so far ↓
1 caro snatch // 12 Jul 2010 at 22:27
nice one - not heard of any of these collectives..:>
2 nananaina // 13 Jul 2010 at 0:04
Thank you. ~.~
3 jake // 14 Jul 2010 at 17:13
what about the lexie mountain boys?
4 The Brilliant and the Dark’s All-Girl Gaggle Choir « The FADER // 14 Jul 2010 at 19:01
[...] The Brilliant and the Dark was a 1969 composition for a woman’s choir that explored women’s history from the Middle Ages to WWII, narrated through the eyes of “witch-hunters, embroiderers, crusaders’ wives, plague-stricken women, mourners and war workers.” This year, open-music archivists/artists Eileen Simpson and Ben White acquired permission to use the piece for a live “remix,” performed by the 22-woman Gaggle choir and filmed at The Women’s Library exhibition hall. Gaggle, shod in futuristic Eyes Wide Shut cloaks and rhombus-shaped hats, are alternately scary, evocative, and sympathetic—the video updates ’60s avant-garde choreography into a really DIY-looking aesthetic as it underscores the history within the clip. As contemporary feminist art goes, this is the kind of piece the institutions of the world should be trying to curate, rather than, you know, yet another group show about blood and the body politic. (via Jenny Woolworth) [...]
5 Jenny Woolworth // 15 Jul 2010 at 9:20
I knew I’d miss something, keep the suggestions coming! Especially looking for these kind of bands/groups/troops from outside N. America…
6 oui oui « sweetheart society // 17 Jul 2010 at 20:00
[...] Awesome downloadable mixtape of lady art/music collectives (Disband, Les Reines Prochaines, etc.) from Jenny Woolworth’s Women in Punk Blog. [...]
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