women in music 7

6duC...5Zeg

18 Feb 2024

Country music[edit]

Gender discrimination and sexism occurs frequently in country music. Starting in the 2010s, a popular subgenre has developed: bro-country, which has lyrics that have been criticized for sexually objectifying women and framing them as assets for men's use.[154] Some popular bro-country artists include Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, and Blake Shelton. Gender discrimination and sexism has become more prominent in this genre over time, going backwards compared to some categories like rap and pop. Dr. Eric Rasmussen, a professor in the College of Media and Communication and Texas Tech University, argues that compared to the 1990s and 2000s (decade), the country music of the 2010s discriminates more against women. Some of the ways they discriminate include, "talking more about women's appearance, [showing] women in tight or revealing clothing, comparing women to objects, referring to women in slang [terms] versus their real names, and portraying women as distrustful and cheaters."[155]
Bro-country may be influenced by historical aspects of Southern culture which have been associated with racism and sexism. Women in country music continue to face these issues and often find no way to directly deal with them. Kacey Musgraves, a recording artist, describes her experience with sexism in country music by stating that if a label fails to get a woman's song off the ground, it is immediately blamed on their personality or the fact that they are female, or that they did not make a radio station program director feel important.[citation needed] Women like Kacey Musgraves, no matter what they do or change, will almost always fall under some form of scrutiny from her male competitors.[citation needed]
Dolly Parton has been successful in country music for over 55 years.
A large number of women singers in the country music genre have been influential to the industry through their success. Despite the popularity of male country artists and the discrimination that is displayed throughout their music, many female artists have worked their way past, leading them to achieve multiple accomplishments.
Dolly Parton, a female country singer who has been in the industry for over 55 years, developed a successful career for herself. Parton consistently created new projects to release to her fans and was described as "unstoppable" by Rolling Stone magazine.[156] These projects include over 45 musical albums, multiple film features, a Dollywood theme park, and the creation of a production company.[157]
Carrie Underwood, the iconic American Idol winner, also created a lasting impact in the country music genre. With over 251,000 units sold, Underwood's album Cry Pretty was her fourth album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 list.[158] Blown Away, Play On and Carnival Ride were the other three albums that also reached the top of the charts. These achievements led her to become the first woman singer to have four country albums as number one in the all-genre Billboard 200.[158] Underwood had multiple other number ones throughout her career, surpassing many other popular artists, as she left a strong impact on the female country music industry.
A women's rights activist and animal lover, Miranda Lambert, is another woman known to have a dominating career within the music industry. Her songs titled "Over You" and "Heart Like Mine" took over the Billboard charts and country music radio stations in 2010 and 2011.[159] As a solo female artist, she writes her music through honesty and reality.[160] The messages sent through her music are intended to help other women not to feel alone as they go through difficult life situations. Lambert uses the fame she has earned from the music industry and works with charities like the Humane Society as a way to give back.[161]

Jazz[edit]

Ella Fitzgerald performing with Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Milt Jackson and Timme Rosenkrantz in September 1947, New York
While women have been underrepresented in jazz as instrumentalists, composers, songwriters and bandleaders, there have been many female singers. Bessie Smith sang both the blues and jazz. Lena Horne first appeared in the Cotton Club as a teenager. Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday were known for their ballads during the swing era. Shirley Horn sang both jazz and blues. Nina Simone sang jazz, folk and Rhythm and blues. Etta Jones sang rhythm and blues and jazz. Anita O'Day is known for her contributions to Bebop. Betty Carter sang during the post-bop era. Mary Lou Williams was a singer and pianist during the swing and hard bop eras. Sarah Vaughan is known for her singing in the Cool jazz era. Other singers include Rosemary Clooney, Diane Schuur and Flora Purim. Contemporary jazz singers include Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Melody Gardot and singer-bassist Esperanza Spalding. Spalding has spoken out and advocated for discussion of the current discrimination in jazz. In 2017, Spalding spent 77 hours straight creating an entire album titled Exposure to help change herself. It quickly became "a display of dauntless prowess and grand ambition" and showed, to thousands of people, a woman working confidently within the male dominated space of a recording studio.[162]

Classical music[edit]

Cecilia Bartoli onstage in 2008 Kathleen Battle
Classical singers typically do both live performances and recordings. Live performances may be in small venues, such as churches, or large venues, such as opera halls or arts centers. Classical singers may specialize in specific types of singing, such as art song, which are songs performed with piano accompaniment, or opera, which is singing accompanied by a symphony orchestra in a staged, costumed theatrical production. Classical singers are typically categorized by their voice type, which indicates both their vocal range and in some cases also the "color" of their voice. Examples of voice types that indicate the range of a singer's voice include contralto, mezzo-soprano and soprano (these go from the lowest range to the highest range). Examples of voice types that indicate both the singer's range and the "color" of her voice type are coloratura soprano and lyric soprano. Whereas popular music singers typically use a microphone and a sound reinforcement system for their vocals, in classical music the voice must be projected into the hall naturally, a skill for which they undertake vocal training.

Black women[edit]

Marian Anderson in 1940
Marian Anderson (1897–1993)[163] was an African-American contralto of whom music critic Alan Blyth said: "Her voice was a rich, vibrant contralto of intrinsic beauty."[164] Most of her singing career was spent performing in concert and recital in major music venues and with famous orchestras throughout the United States and Europe between 1925 and 1965. Anderson became an important figure in the struggle for black artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused permission for Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall. With the aid of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, 9 April 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. She sang before a crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions. Anderson continued to break barriers for black artists in the United States, becoming the first black person, American or otherwise,[citation needed] to perform a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on 7 January 1955.[165]

Classical singers[edit]

A short list of classical singers includes:

Sexism and discrimination of female musicians[edit]

Some of this section's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help improve this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed. (April 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Whether in hip-hop, country, or popular music, female musicians and performers from all genres experience discrimination and sexist treatment.[166] The three prominent forms of subtle discrimination experienced by female singers are being mistaken for non-musicians, lack of artistic control compared to their male counterparts, and having their sexuality, age, and femininity constantly scrutinized.[167] In many cases, female musicians are dismissed into inferior roles, such as a "gimmick," "good for a girl," and "invisible accessory."[167] Males lead most of the music projects and female musicians' artistic freedom is constrained by male bandleaders or managers.[167] Another prevalent form of discrimination towards female vocalists and musicians in the music industry is sexual misconduct.[168] Many female musicians are afraid to come out about their experiences with sexual assault because their stories are dismissed as being overly sensitive to what is considered normal in the music industry. In the turn of twentieth century, however, many female vocalists such as Kesha, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa came forward with their stories, helping shape the anti-harassment movement. Additionally, under the MeToo movement, more stories of misconduct and discrimination in the music industry are being re-examined.[169] Dua Lipa has spoken out about sexism in the music industry, saying that "women struggle to get recognition", as often the success of big female artists is discredited by a "man behind the woman."[170]
Another form of sexism in the music industry appears in the lyrics.[166] There are five major themes in lyrics from all genres that facilitate female discrimination, noted here by Sarah Neff: "portrayal of women in traditional gender roles, portrayal of women as inferior to men, portrayal of women as objects, portrayal of women as stereotypes, and portrayal of violence against women."[166] Utilizing a series of sexist markers, studies have found that countless lyrics entails sexist themes, including "depicting women in traditional gender roles, describing relationships with women in unrealistic ways, and attributing a woman's worth strictly on the basis of her physical appearance."[171] Sexism in music is well-documented for genres such as rap and hip-hop, but with newer research, this holds true for country music, rock, and other genres as well.[171]

World music[edit]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Bi Kidude (1910s–2013) was a Zanzibari-born Tanzanian Taarab singer. She has been called the "queen of Taarab and Unyago music."[172]Angham, Egyptian pop star.[173]
Women play an important role in world music, a musical category encompassing many different styles of music from around the world, including ethnic music and traditional music from Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Asia, and other regions, indigenous music, neotraditional music, and music where more than one cultural tradition intermingle (e.g., mixtures of Western pop and ethnic music). The term was popularized in the 1980s as a marketing category for non-Western traditional music.[174][175]
Brazilian actress, singer and dancer Carmen Miranda became known in the West as an exotic supplement in Hollywood films in the 1930s, akin to dancer Josephine Baker before, and the voice of exotica, Yma Sumac, after her. In the 1960s Elis Regina was the most prominent female bossa nova singer,[citation needed] which influenced popular music around the world. In the 1960s and 1970s Argentinian folk singer Mercedes Sosa, South African Miriam Makeba, and Greek Maria Farantouri were also recognized for their engagement against the oppressive political situations in their home states. Sosa singing "Gracias a la vida", Makeba's "Pata Pata", and Farantouri's collaboration with composer Mikis Theodorakis were musical icons of the struggle for human rights. The "Queen of Salsa" Celia Cruz immigrated from Cuba to the United States in 1966.
With the rising interest in the then so-called world music in the 1980s old recordings of long established artists were re-discovered for a global audience and distributed worldwide; well known in their home country – sometimes stars with legendary status – like Arabic singers Umm Kulthum, Asmahan, and Fairuz, the Algerian raï singer Cheikha Rimitti, Asha Bhosle – the most prolific playback singer for Bollywood film soundtracks, Romani Esma Redžepova, Mexican ranchera singer Chavela Vargas, and the Mahotella Queens from South Africa; or they were recorded for the first time (by Caucasian males) like Cesária Évora from Cape Verde, Stella Chiweshe from Zimbabwe and Afro-Peruvian Susana Baca.
There are many women world music performers, including: Ann Savoy, Bi Kidude, Brenda Fassie, Chabuca Granda, Chava Alberstein, Cleoma Breaux Falcon, Dolly Collins, Elizabeth Cotten, Frehel, Gal Costa, Genoa Keawe, Googoosh, Hazel Dickens, Jean Ritchie, Lata Mangeshkar, Leah Song, Lola Beltrán, Lucha Reyes, Lucilla Galeazzi (The Mammas), Lydia Mendoza, Maria Tanase, Mariam Doumbia, Nada Mamula, Ofra Haza, Oumou Sangare, Rita Marley, Rosa Passos, Roza Eskenazi, Safiye Ayla, Salamat Sadikova, Selda Bagcan, Shirley Collins, Valya Balkanska, Violeta Parra, Warda, Marta Gómez and Zap Mama.

Eastern music[edit]

Arabic music[edit]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
A group of musicians, including women performers, from a Baghdad musical theatre group in the 1920s Umm Kulthum, one of the best performers in Arab music history[176]
Arabic music is an amalgam of the music of the Arab people in the Arabian Peninsula and the music of all the varied peoples that make up the Arab world. In Egypt during the medieval era, male professional musicians during this period were called alateeyeh (plural), or alatee (singular), which means 'a player upon an instrument'. However, this name applies to both vocalists as well as instrumentalists. Male professional musicians were considered disreputable and lowly, and they earned their living playing at parties. Female professional musicians in Egypt were called awalim (pl) or al'meh, which means a 'learned female'. These singers were often hired on the occasion of a celebration in the harem of a wealthy person. They were not with the harem, but in an elevated room that was concealed by a screen so as not to be seen by either the harem or the master of the house. The female awalim were more highly paid than male performers and more highly regarded.
In the 9th century, using male instrumentalists was harshly criticized in a treatise[which?] because they were associated with perceived vices such as playing chess and writing love poetry. Following the invasion of Egypt, Napoleon commissioned reports on the state of Ottoman culture. The report reveals that there were guilds of male instrumentalists who played to male audiences, and "learned female" singer/musicians who sang and played for women audiences.

Chinese music[edit]

A half-section of the Song dynasty (960–1279) version of the Night Revels of Han Xizai, original by Gu Hongzhong;[177] the female musicians in the center of the image are playing transverse bamboo flutes and guan, and the male musician is playing a wooden clapper called paiban.Five of the seven stars. Left to right: Bai Hong, Yao Lee, Zhou Xuan, Li Xianglan, Bai Guang. The last one Qi Zhengyin is not one of the seven stars. (missing in the picture are Wu Yingyin and Gong Qiuxia)Members of SNH48 performing. Left to right: He Xiaoyu, Zeng Yanfen, Yi Jia'ai (易嘉爱) and Li Yitong.
In Chinese music, music was a major activity for women during ancient times, especially for learnèd women. Women performers were associated with the guqin since ancient times. The guqin is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family. It has traditionally been favored by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement. A woman guqin player was Cai Wenji, associated with the piece Hujia Shiba-pai 《胡笳十八拍》.
Women musicians also play a key role in Chinese folk music. In southern Fujian and Taiwan, Nanyin or Nanguan music is a genre of traditional Chinese folk ballads. It sung by a woman accompanied by a xiao flute and a pipa, as well as other traditional instruments. The music is sung in the Minnan topolect. The music is generally sorrowful and typically deals with the topic of a love-stricken woman.
The Chinese pop (C-pop) music industry in the 1930s and 1940s was dominated by the Seven Great Singing Stars, who were the most renowned singers of China in the 1940s. Zhou Xuan, Gong Qiuxia, Yao Lee and Bai Hong emerged in the 1930s; afterwards Bai Guang, Li Xianglan and Wu Yingyin became popular in the 1940s. After 1949, the early generations of C-pop were denounced by the Chinese Communist Party as Yellow Music as it saw pop music as sexually indecent (the color yellow is associated with eroticism and sex in China). Only after the end of the Cultural Revolution, by the early 1980s, could Yellow Music be performed again.
Nowadays, after China's extensive political and cultural changes of the past 50 years, Chinese popular music has been increasingly emulating and taking inspiration from the styles of popular music of South Korea (K-pop) and of Japan (J-pop), both of which it now closely resembles. As such, during the 2010s, several girl groups have been established based both on the Japanese model, like SNH48 (created in 2012) and its sister groups, as well as on the Korean model, like Rocket Girls, created in 2018 from the Chinese version of a Korean reality television talent competition show. These groups have achieved significant success, with the debut EP of Rocket Girls selling over 1.6 million copies.[147] Despite this, solo Chinese female artists continue to be much more popular overall in the country, as they have traditionally been.[178] Some of the most recently popular solo Chinese female singers include Faye Wong, G.E.M. Gloria Tang, Lala Hsu, 胡66 [zh], Ada Zhuang, Kelly Yu, Chen Li (陳粒), Feng Timo, Bibi Zhou, Shuangsheng [zh] (双笙), Tia Ray, Vanessa Jin (金玟岐) and Jane Zhang.[179]

Indian music[edit]

The Indian Carnatic classical singer M.S. Subbulakshmi (1916–2004)
Indian classical music is the art music of the Indian subcontinent. The origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Hindu hymns. This chanting style evolved into jatis and eventually into ragas. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music. The major composers from the historical Indian classical music tradition were men. Modern women vocalists include D. K. Pattammal, M. S. Subbalakshmi, Gangubai Hangal, Hirabai Barodekar, Kesarbai Kerkar, Kishori Amonkar, Malini Rajurkar, Mogubai Kurdikar, Prabha Atre, Roshan Ara Begum and Shruti Sadolikar Katkar. One woman instrumentalist is Annapurna Devi.
In Indian folk music, lavani is a music genre popular in Maharashtra that is traditionally performed by women. Bhangra (Punjabi: ਭੰਗੜਾ) is a form of dance-oriented folk music of Punjab. The present musical style is derived from non-traditional musical accompaniment to the riffs of Punjab called by the same name. The female dance of Punjab region is known as Giddha (ਗਿੱਧਾ).
In the music of Bollywood (the centre of India's film industry) and other regional film industries in India, women playback singers have had a significant role, with the sisters Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, who have mainly worked in Hindi films, often referred to as two of the best-known and most prolific playback singers in India. In 2011, Bhosle was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history.[1]

Iranian music[edit]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Fātemeh Vā'ezi (Persian: فاطمه واعظی) (born 1950), commonly known by her stage name Parīsā (Persian: پریسا), is a Persian classical vocalist and musician.
Since the Iranian revolution, Iranian female solo vocalists have been permitted to perform for female audiences. Female vocalists can perform for male audiences only as a part of a chorus. Traditionally, it has been difficult for female singers to appear publicly. Women were only allowed to perform for religious rituals, called Tazieh, and men were generally forbidden to listen to women. Before the Revolution, Iranian women could only sing in private, while working, for other women, or during women's celebrations. Qamar ol-Molouk Vaziri (1905–1959) is one of the first female masters of Persian music. Female musicians include Delkash (1923–2004); Simin Ghanem (born 1944); Maryam Akhondy (born 1957), founder of Barbad Ensemble; Persian classical guitarist Lily Afshar; singer Shakila, winner of Persian Academy Award; the conductor Soodabeh Salem; Afsaneh Rasaei; Pirayeh Pourafar, founder of Nava Ensemble and Lian Ensemble; and Mahsa Vahdat.
The classical singer Fatemeh Vaezi (commonly known by her stage name Parisa) has given concerts accompanied by a female orchestra. After 1986 Maryam Akhondy started working with other Iranian musicians in exile. In 2000 Maryam Akhondy created the all-female a cappella group Banu which sung old folk songs that were part of women's activities and celebrations. Singer Sima Bina has taught many female students. Ghashang Kamkar teaches both male and female students. Both Ghashang and Vaezi have criticized the patriarchal power structure in Iran for its treatment of female musicians.[180] Iranian folk-music performers include Sima Bina, Darya Dadvar, Monika Jalili, Ziba Shirazi, Zohreh Jooya, and Shushā Guppy. Iranian pop performers include Googoosh, Hayedeh, Mahasti, Leila Forouhar, Pooran, and Laleh Pourkarim. World music performers include Azam Ali and Cymin Samawatie.

Japanese music[edit]

The Japanese idol girl group AKB48 is the best-selling act in Japan by number of singles sold.
Japan has the largest physical music market in the world, with US$2 billion in 2014 and the second largest overall music market, with a total retail value of 2.6 billion dollars in 2014.[181] The physical singles market is dominated by Japanese idol women artists, with 9 out of the top 10 best-selling singles in the country in 2015 belonging to either the idol girl group AKB48 or its "sister" and "rival" groups.[182] AKB48 has had the best-selling singles of the year in the country for the past six years[as of?] and the group is also the best-selling act in Japan by number of singles sold.[183] Japanese American singer and songwriter Hikaru Utada has the best-selling album in the country, First Love.[citation needed]

Jewish music[edit]

There is literary evidence from biblical books such as The Book of Judges that women (including Miriam, Deborah and Hannah), participated in musical traditions that included singing lamentations and playing instruments. However, women are not mentioned in references to liturgy. Women were eventually banned from liturgical worship (kolisha). Though they would continue to have a role in the musical rituals of the domestic sphere at home, burials and weddings, these customs were not documented as liturgical music (and its creators and performers) were.[184]