Ten musicians get better the anthems of the feminist battle | Culture | EUROtoday

There was a music in Mar Álvarez’s childhood that “did not predict anything good.” She performed along with her pals to finish the sentences of the subject: “One Monday before lunch / a girl went to play / but she couldn’t play / because she had to…” “Ironing!”, they stated within the college yard. And they repeated the verse with every of the times of the week and the final phrase “was always ironing, sewing, sweeping, cooking, washing, hanging…”, says Álvarez now, with “one foot in his 50s.” Remember that in that choir they checked out one another and realized the dangerous omen for them. And they weren’t the one ones. Later, within the Nineties, some younger ladies within the United States, fed up with misogyny, sought to empower ladies by way of common tradition.

This is how the Riot Grrrl motion was born, with a particular cry that also resonates for Álvarez: “Girls in front.” “A proclamation that the Bikini Kill singer, Kathleen Hanna, repeated before concerts,” as a result of she needed the entrance rows, which at the moment have been violent areas dominated by males, to be full of ladies, she explains.

That protesting gesture happy Álvarez, who years later used the motto of the American punk band as a banner to call his undertaking Girls To The Front (GTTF). A band made up of 10 Asturian ladies (“or adopted by Asturias”) that recovers the anthems of the feminist battle. And it brings collectively the music legends who sought to finish the unfavorable prognosis for the feminine gender.

If there’s something able to breaking the establishment It’s rock and punk. “Music has always had that transformative power,” says Mar Álvarez. It is true that “things have changed for women.” Before “it was strange to see a female band. Now there are many more mixed groups or groups made up of women,” she says. He remembers his first band, Undershakers —whose poster hangs on the wall of his home, on the opposite facet of the display screen—: “When something exists and is seen, people integrate it as normal,” he summarizes.

The band Girls to the Front is dedicated exactly to that visibility. In her concert events she performs a repertoire that covers six a long time of music written or popularized by ladies: from Aretha Franklin to Amy Winehouse, together with Tina Turner, Gloria Gaynor and The Bangles. There can be house for references in Spanish comparable to Mari Trini, Jeanette, Luz Casal or Rocío Jurado. Women who’ve made a spot for themselves in music with their work.

However, this equality has not but been transferred to all areas of the music business. For Álvarez, one of many nice weaknesses continues to be behind the scenes. “The terrain of musical production is very little conquered,” he says. “There are far fewer women producers, sound technicians or event programmers.” When essential selections—which artists are scheduled, which albums are produced, which tasks are supported—are nonetheless largely concentrated in male arms, steadiness turns into tough. “How many women have a recording studio where groups bring their music to be produced?” she asks. “There is even less presence there.”

This reflection coexists with a newer concern: the expansion of rejection of feminism amongst some younger folks – between 15 and 29 years previous who take into account it a instrument of political manipulation. In addition to GTTF, Álvarez has a music college, the place he teaches youngsters and adolescents, and his expertise provides him a distinct picture, way more hopeful than the surveys. “I have students who are immersed in the idea of ​​the most absolute equality,” he maintains. The Asturian would break a spear for all that youth in her lessons: “Through art they are also finding a way to respect each other.”

The impression of their music strikes from the classroom to the stage, though they reject the concept of ​​giving classes. “We don’t want to educate anyone,” Álvarez clarifies. “The main idea is to enjoy and make people enjoy.” The demand “always accompanies us due to the fact that we are women musicians,” she factors out, “separately and together.” All the members have needed to make their method within the Asturian scene in areas the place they have been usually a minority. It is inevitable that “the demand is transversal in our lives.” Therefore, when requested what they’d launch a brand new collective cry towards as we speak, the GTTF founder can’t consider one other extra essential combat, solely celebration.

“Now we are very used to a lot of music being made,” says Álvarez, confronted with the chance that sure tasks “simply become an attractive label and have nothing of substance.” “Millions of things are done every day and there is a lot that can sound a little cookie-cutter.” The Asturian misses different instances, when music was created with “more calmness and had more emotion.” “We live in a time in which we are a little saturated with proposals” with the only real function of promoting.

In his case, it was not like that. The proposal was born with the concept of ​​“celebrating music made by women and their fight for civil rights.” In 2021, the Princess of Asturias Foundation contacted Álvarez to present him that task. She simply requested, “Can I put the band together however I want? ‘Yes, of course,’ they said.” So he selected every of the members for a selected factor: Slightly little bit of every little thing, jazz, soul, rock, punk, pop, classical… “It was what I wanted,” he emphasizes, “a complete group” made up of Aroa González, Eva Toca, Lucía Quintana, Mariajo Baudot, Silvia Fernández, Mapi Quintana, Fee Reega, Cristina Montull and her sister Alicia Álvarez.

The ten musicians that make up the band – some of their twenties, others “with one foot in their fifties” – come from very totally different backgrounds and mix the undertaking with different teams and jobs. But once they get collectively, says Álvarez, one thing particular occurs: “Live we are a hurricane.”