It’s no secret that we love music here at ECWO HQ.
Alongside our Senior Project Manager, Diane Coetzer, having spent decades as a music journalist –she was once flown from South Africa to Switzerland to interview Phil Collins! – our Associate Director, Dorothy Grandia, has a Master in Music from The New School in New York and spent many years as a professional opera singer. You will also find all members of our team at different music events throughout the year, but especially this summer with the 48th edition of the NN North Sea Jazz Festival next up for us – undoubtedly one of Rotterdam’s most renowned music gatherings!
There’s so much to discover on our playlist which is full of new songs from established artists and songs from new artists, all threaded together by our continued commitment to providing a platform for women and gender non-conforming individuals in whatever we do. Oh, and if you’re not on Spotify, you will find the playlist details at the end of this story with links to YouTube performances where possible!
Multilingual, intergenerational band
Among the highlights is Filipina American rapper Ruby Ibarra whose song “Bakunawa” stunned the judges of the annual NPR Tiny Desk Concert with “its multilingual, intergenerational” lineup. The song about Filipino folklore and motherhood features June Millington, who, together with her sister Jean formed part of the trailblazing 1970s all-female rock group Fanny. They were, writes Audrey Carpioa in Vogue, a “band that broke all the rules in the early 1970s, playing in major venues and opening for acts like Deep Purple, Steely Dan, and Jethro Tull. They were no manufactured pop group; the girls wrote their own music and were masters of their instruments, defying gender expectations of the era. Oh, they were also Filipino immigrants”.
There are also contributions by hip-hop poet and playwright Kae Tempest who came out as non-binary in 2020 and who says of their song, “Statue in the Square” that “there is power in showing up for yourself and showing up for your people”. Bells Larsen is also included, the album Blurring Time – featuring the song “514-415” - “designed to align with the timeline of his transition”. As Larsens’ bio puts it, he “intentionally recorded his previous “high” voice and instrumentation in 2022, waited for his voice to drop after beginning testosterone, then asked frequent collaborator and longtime friend, Georgia Harmer to write vocal arrangements for his new “low” voice, helping him harmonize with his past self — an intentional, multilingual act of surrendering to change”.
Songs with a conscience
Songs with a social conscience include Fiona Apple’s “Pretrial (Let Her Go Home),” which has been described as a “searing protest anthem shaped by years of court watching, community organizing, and deep listening to the women impacted by pretrial incarceration”, as well as Kim Gordon’s “BYE BYE 25!”, a new version of the 2024 release which sees the American artist swap the original lyrics – which describe Gordon packing for a trip - for words that the current US administration has flagged and used to cancel grant projects, research proposals, and more.
Self-introspection and relationships surge to the fore in different ways on the playlist, via songs like “Lotus” by Little Simz with Michael Kiwanuka and Yussef Dayes, which is a powerful reflection on the alienation brought about by fame – a state echoed in Doechii’s must-listen track “Anxiety” – to Lola Young’s breakout anthem “Messy”. Also included are Anna Wolf’s nakedly emotional “Dear Daddy”, UK singer-songwriter Nilüfer Yanya’s melodic new track “Where To Look”, Palestinian Canadian artist Nemahsis’s love song “Stick of Gum (with a video featuring only family members and shot in the family’s hometown Jericho, Palestine), the uniquely soulful sound of Baby Rose’s “That’s All” and many more great songs.
Here's the Spotify link and the full list of songs with links to YouTube videos where possible! (Note that some of the songs are rated E).
“I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!” – CMAT
“Lotus” – Little Simz, Michael Kiwanuka, Yussef Dayes
“Henry, Come On” – Lana Del Rey
“Pretrial (Let Her Go Home)” – Fiona Apple
“Bakunawa” – Ruby Ibarra, Ouida, Han Han, June Millington
“Statue In The Square” – Kae Tempest
“Cry Baby” – Sunny War, Valerie June
“Vampire Empire” – Adrianne Lenker
“My Baby (Got Nothing At All)” – Japanese Breakfast
“Where To Look” – Nilufer Yanya
“Snapping Turtle” – S.G. Goodman