From suffragette anthems to electronic pioneers, here are the stories of trailblazing women in music
Janet Beat was one of pioneers of electronic music in the UK in the 1950s
Art is often political, especially when it’s made by women breaking new ground, going where no woman has gone before. Take the score “March of the Women”, composed by the English suffragette Ethyl Smyth in 1910. It became the theme song of the British suffragette movement. Apart from being jailed for her radical activism, Smyth was also a prolific composer and the first woman to have her work performed at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. Take a peek into her life and work in a virtual exhibition about women’s contributions to contemporary music, curated by the British Music Collection.
English suffragette Ethyl Smyth’s score, March of the Women. Pics/Wikimedia Commons
There’s also a haunting soundtrack by British sound and visual artiste Rebecca Horrox, composed for a short film titled “A Woman’s Work Is Never Done” in which British textiles artist Eliza Bennett embroiders her own palms to emulate the work-worn hands of women who do invisible but physically demanding work such as cleaning, cooking and caregiving. Learn more about the work of the serendipitously named Janet Beat, who has been one of the pioneers of electronic music in the UK in the 1950s. There’s a lot to discover in this exhibition, and it’ll take you down several rabbit holes across the Internet as you seek to learn more about these pioneering women in music who remain shrouded in mystery.
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