Music, Voice, Message
People who identify as women
WSF is an online forum devoted to women’s voices in song, to the many songs by women, and to the many female musicians working in and with song, who have yet to be given the attention they deserve. The Women’s Song Forum provides an opportunity to expand and enhance knowledge and understanding of this rich and significant area of musical practice and scholarship, and – as the name “forum” suggests – aims to encourage discussion and debate across different interest groups. The forum aims to highlight compositions and performances of music that deserve more recognition.
At the heart of the forum is our commitment to diverse approaches and subjects and access by a wide-ranging audience. We normally publish 2-3 posts each month by members of our team and guest bloggers.
In the annals of songs that have been banned in the United States, no one would expect to find one of Carrie Jacobs-Bond’s songs.
Joy H. Calico confronts the musical and – in our pandemic times – the emotional implications of breathing and gasping in recent compositions, focusing on Chaya Czernowin.
Lenya’s voice, said to have combined “delicate sweetness and disdainful impassiveness,” evolved over 40 years. Stephen Hinton tracks this evolution through recordings she made of “Surabaya-Johnny.”
Stephen Hinton discusses the creative legacy of Lotte Lenya and Kurt Weill, who were partners in life and in art. A significant portion of that legacy is preserved in Lenya’s iconic recordings.
Here are eight beautiful works composed by women from Ukraine, many of them conducted and performed by women.
From accounts of individual women or performances to historical essays, from interviews with songwriters and performers to discussions of gender, race and culture in and through song.
