"Soon We'll Be Found" - song by Sia

from the album Some People Have Real Problems (2008)

Bjork's Moon, Sylvia Plath's shoes and Kate Bush's snow

"So rememeber, if you wander the desert, and its near sundown, and you are perhaps a little bit lost, and certainly tired, that you are lucky, for La Loba may take a liking to you and show you something - something of the soul." (Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With The Wolves, p.24)

Bjork, Moon, from the new album Biophilia


Bell Jar, drawing by Sylvia Plath, part of the exhibition of unseen drawings by the poetess now being exhibited at the Mayor Gallery in London until December 17th 2011.


Kate Bush on a rare interview for BBC Radio 4's Front Row, 2011 (please click on the link that is this post's title for the full interview with Kate).

Worshipping at the Altar of Dance

"Dance, dance...otherwise we are lost."



Whether you love dance as a practice in itself, or possess a latent desire to express yourself, I could not reccomend this film enough.

But is it a film, is it a documentary? I can tell you what PINA is not: It is not a chronological nor literally biographical depiction of Pina Bausch's life and carrer.

PINA is in fact a fitting, moving and inspirational tribute to one of the major figures in (contemporary) dance in the world. A woman who has broken the boundaries and influenced the worlds of dance and theatre - and will continue to do so on the years to come.

This film was originally intended to be a joint effort between film maker Wim Wenders and Pina Bausch herself. Her unsuspected passing charges the documentary, especially through the genuine grief on many of her dancers' commentaries. And yet, even under the palpable longing for Pina' strength and presence, the film succeeds at being alternatively light hearted and passionate in equal measure.

It's said no one was really aware of Pina's health condition until the time of her death. It can be said then that whatever is visible from Pina inner world it is so through her art alone.

Her dancers enable the external manifestation of her inner landscape; a snapshot from a distant but colourful land perhaps. A land paved at times with water, sand or lunar surfaces; populated with chairs, arms outstretched, embraces, whispers and fall from grace. Tight dresses, suits, torsos, legs, arms, blood. Nakedness, expansion and restraint. For me persnally, these are enough reasons to encourage the witnessing of Pina Bausch's fortitude.

And if after watching it you don't feel like dancing, you might at least feel like you should be living your life more fully.


PINA by Wim Wenders is out now on DVD. For more information, interviews and clips, visit the movie's official website by clicking on this post's title.

One Voice - Patti Smith

In the garden of consciousness
In fertile mind there lies the dormant seed
When blooming as charity
Conscience breathes a sigh of relief
The confessions of sleep
The awakening seed
Moved by love to serve
We celebrate all
Merit in life
Ah, the confessions of sleep
Unfolding peace
As we extend
According to need
And you will hear the call
All action great and small
Received joyfully
Heaven abounds
Let love resound
If he be mute
Give him a bell
If he be blind, an eye
It he be down, a hand
Lift up your voice
Lift up your voice
Lift up your voice
Give of your mind one mind
Give of your heart one heartGive of your voice
One voice

song by Patti Smith and Jay Dee Daugherty.

from Patti Smith's album Gung Ho (2000)

Nobel Peace Prize 2011

A post long overdue.

The Nobel pecae prize of 2011 was awarded to

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Prseident of Liberia),




Leymah Gbowee (from Liberia) and




Tawakkul Karman (from Yemen)




"for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work".


The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 is to be divided in three equal parts between Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work. We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society.

In October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325. The resolution for the first time made violence against women in armed conflict an international security issue. It underlined the need for women to become participants on an equal footing with men in peace processes and in peace work in general.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is Africa’s first democratically elected female president. Since her inauguration in 2006, she has contributed to securing peace in Liberia, to promoting economic and social development, and to strengthening the position of women. Leymah Gbowee mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections. She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war. In the most trying circumstances, both before and during the “Arab spring”, Tawakkul Karman has played a leading part in the struggle for women’s rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen.

It is the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s hope that the prize to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman will help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent.

Oslo, October 7, 2011

find out more about their work and about the Nine Nobel Women by clicking on the links on this post's tile.

text and images source: www.nobelprize.org

Niki de Saint Phalle at Gimpel Fils

An exhibition with works by late artist and visionary Niki de Saitn Phalle (1930 - 2002) has opened tonight at Gimpel Fils in London.

vive l'amour

Spanning over 40 years of creative endeavours of this great artist, the exhibition encompasses with its key artworks the pain, fun, darkness, colours, boldness and child-like eccentricity conveyed on St Phalle's sculptures, drawings and paintings.

Gimpel Fils has a long tradition of representing de artistic avant gard in London (Yves Klein, Susan Hiller, Josef Albers amongst many other illustrious names).

The exhibition goes until November 12th and it's free. If the weather in London starts to get too grey for your liking, drop by and discover that even from the darkest corners of our souls, we can find colours to express the resiliance of the human heart.

Gimpel Fils is located just behind Bond Street Station (central Line).
30 Davies Street London W1K 4NB UK
tel. +44 (0)20 7493 2488
fax. +44 (0)20 7629 5732
email. info@gimpelfils.com

Kate Bush to release new album

"50 Words For Snow" is the title of Kate Bush eagerly anitcipated follow up to Aerial (2005). Six years is not such a long time waiting considering how long it took for Kate Bush to return to the studio since her 1993 release, The Red Shoes (1993).

The album is out on the 21st of Novemeber, and for those who cannot wait that long, you can pre-order on through Kate Bush's official website www.katebush.com (click on the link that is this post's title and you'll get there!)

The album's first single Wild Man, was broadcast exclusively on BBC Radio 2 yesterday (Oct 10th). You can listen to the track here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0156ky4 (the track starts at 1:46:35 in case you do not fancy listening to 2 hours of radio on the computer!)

The Mistress Bookshelf: Dreamers of a New Day by Sheila Rowbothan

I will try and share some suggestions for interesting and enlightening reads. This one's on my Christmas wish list!

I stumbled upon a review of this particular book on the latest issue of BBC History magazine - from which I present an extract here on this post. For the original review, please click on the link that is this post's title.



Dreamers of a New Day: Women who Intevented the Twentieth Century
by Sheila Rowbotham
RRP: £10.99

review by Sue Wingrove

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries a confluence of factors encouraged women to envisage changes in their circumstances.

Discoveries in science and technology, the rise of global trade and a world war were among developments which inspired – and seemed to offer the chance for – real political and social change.

In this book Sheila Rowbotham, professor of gender and labour history at the University of Manchester, looks at how, from the 1880s to the 1920s, women “armed with only the sketchiest of maps” tried to take control of their destinies. She covers not just Britain but also the United States where besides the politics of gender and class was added that of race, as African-American women struggled to bring that onto the agenda.

The author has deliberately “sought out obscure dreamers” who questioned prevailing assumptions, adding to the pantheon of women’s history a whole new cast of characters. This is a story of hundreds of different movements, campaigning on everything from welfare reform to the right to ride a bicycle.

On every aspect of change there were conflicting ideals, typified by that surrounding the right to practise contraception – or even the right to write about it. Did it allow women to choose motherhood or did it simply enable men to expect sex whenever they wanted?

Those who sought to keep women from taking a wider role liked to characterise the vanguard as unsexed, oversexed or simply deranged. So although campaigners may have had different agendas, they would all learn, in the words of reformer Mary Beard in 1912, that “everything that counts in the common life is political”.

It was a message the world would hear again, in another great period of struggle for women’s rights: “the personal is political” was a frequently heard feminist rallying cry in the 1960 and 1970s.

Sue Wingrove is former deputy editor of BBC History Magazine

!WAR Premiere at the Whitechapel Gallery

Finally, after 40 years in the making, the documentary tracing the history of the Feminist Art Movement in the United States is, as they say, in the can!

"!WOMEN ART REVOLUTION A Secret History" by Lynn Hershman Leeson will be screened at the Whitechapel Gallery on October the 15th at 3PM; followed by a discussion with the director lead by Whitechapel's Chief Curator Achmin Borchardt-Hume.

Tickets are £6 (there are also concessions for members, students and OAPs)

To book tickets, please click on the link that is this post's title.

Visit: www.womenartrevolution.com

Don't miss the opportunity to witness history!

Coming Soon...New Album by Cat Power

Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) is currently adding the finishing touches to the eagerly antecipated follow up to her last album, The Greatest (2006).

In the meantime, get yourself acquainted with the soulful frailty of this great American chanteuse.



Performed on Later with... Jools Holland, 2006.

The Price of Sex - a film by Mimi Chakarova

The real price of human trafficking:



from Women Make Movies' YouTube Channel.

www.wmm.com

www.catwinternational.org (Coalition Against Trafficking of Women International)

Dorothy Parker - Writer (1893 -1967)

I've recently purchased (on one of my meandering through the local Chatsworth Market) a second copy of Dorothy Parker's biography "What Fresh Hell Is This?" by Marion Meade. I have just started reading it, but I can tell already I'm in for a treat.

I do not know much about Parker's life at all - apart from the bohemian lifestyle which became part of her legend; and of course her sharp wit and melancholic cynicism at life's many disaventures.

I thought it'd be nice to share some of the wit for which she became renowned for and synonimous of. Her writing was a clear verbal portraiture of the carelessness and dissatisfaction of the times she was living in - the 1920s - the days in between the ravages of the WWI and WWII, when the former needed to be forgotten and the latter was seemingly unforseen.




A Certain Lady (1924)


Oh, I can smile for you, and tilt my head,
And drink your rushing words with eager lips,
And paint my mouth for you a fragrant red,
And trace your brows with tutored finger-tips.
When you rehearse your list of loves to me,
Oh, I can laugh and marvel, rapturous-eyed.
And you laugh back, nor can you ever see
The thousand little deaths my heart has died.
And you believe, so well I know my part,
That I am gay as morning, light as snow,
And all the straining things within my heart
You'll never know.

Oh, I can laugh and listen, when we meet,
And you bring tales of fresh adventurings, --
Of ladies delicately indiscreet,
Of lingering hands, and gently whispered things.
And you are pleased with me, and strive anew
To sing me sagas of your late delights.
Thus do you want me -- marveling, gay, and true,
Nor do you see my staring eyes of nights.
And when, in search of novelty, you stray,
Oh, I can kiss you blithely as you go ....
And what goes on, my love, while you're away,
You'll never know.

Search (2008) - Video by Luciana Francis (nee Saldanha)

Video by Luciana Francis (nee Saldanha).
London, 2008.
See more Luciana Francis' videos on Vimeo.

Andrea Arnold's film version of Bronte's classic novel

Edna St. Vincent Millay - Poet (1892 - 1950)

An Ancient Gesture

I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
Penelope did this too.
And more than once: you can't keep weaving all day
And undoing it all through the night;
Your arms get tired, and the back of your neck gets tight;
And along towards morning, when you think it will never be light,
And your husband has been gone, and you don't know where, for years.
Suddenly you burst into tears;
There is simply nothing else to do.

And I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
This is an ancient gesture, authentic, antique,
In the very best tradition, classic, Greek;
Ulysses did this too.
But only as a gesture,—a gesture which implied
To the assembled throng that he was much too moved to speak.
He learned it from Penelope...
Penelope, who really cried.

Bjork on Biophilia - BBC Radio Interview 2011

Broadcast on BBc Radio on the 13th 0f July 2011.

The exceptional Krystle Warren

I must confess I haven't heard of her immaculate performance at Jools Holland in 2009,nor have I heard of the concert at the Soho Theatre last year.

So I was in for a very special introduction to this extraordinary singer and performer as she entered the stage - in her shorts and plimsoles, carrying her estimated acoustic guitar - at the Shepherds Bush Empire prior to the eagerly anticipated performance of Joan as Police Woman that evening.

The voice, ladies and gentleman, this lady has it. And as with the late and much missed Jeff Buckley, dare I say, it's not only the earnest poetry of the lyrics but the way she delivers them; it's her singing that gets you. She sings with her face, her throat, her lips, her nostrils. And she cracks good jokes in between songs too. A talent that makes you feel at ease in her presence, not intimidated by it. Refreshingly inspiring, to say the least.


Krystle Warren performing Circles, on later with Jools Holland in 2009.

For the Love of Joan!

If you were at one of the gigs on the current tour you will know what I am talking about. If you were not, I urge you to catch this lady live.

Joan Wasser (aka Joan as Police Woman) is, unashamedly and generously, emotional and equally dignified and kick ass in her performances. Her concert (accompanied by Tyler Wood on his magic keyboards and Parker Kindred on his understatedly talented drumming) in London last Friday (Sept 09th 2011) was pretty much the most complete; the best performance I have ever seen - and I've seen a few.

I will do a separate mention to her mate, the exceptional Krystle Warren, next.

Gwyneth Lewis - Poet and Writer (b. in Wales in 1959)

SEA VIRUS

I knew I should never have gone below
but I did, and the fug of bilges and wood
caught me aback. The sheets of my heart
snapped taut to breaking, as a gale
stronger than longing filled the sail
inside me. To be shot of land
and its wood smoke! To feel the keel
cold in a current! To see the mast
inscribing water like a restless pen
writing a fading wake! It’s true,
I’m ruined. Not even peace will do
to keep me ashore now. Not even you.


Lewis delivering the Wales Millennium Center key source: www.gwynethlewis.com

Please click on the link that is this post's title to listen to the "Great Lives" programme of today (16th August 2011) on BBC Radio 4 where Lewis has chosen Emily Dickinson as her "Great Lives" topic.

Nancy Wake (1918- 2011) Resistance Fighter

As read on The Independent on the 8th of August 2011.

Australian Nancy Wake, who as a spy became one the Allies' most decorated servicewomen for her role in the French resistance during World War II, has died in London, officials said today. She was 98.

Code named "The White Mouse" by the Gestapo during the war, Wake died Sunday in a London nursing home, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said.

"Nancy Wake was a woman of exceptional courage and resourcefulness whose daring exploits saved the lives of hundreds of Allied personnel and helped bring the Nazi occupation of France to an end," Gillard said in a statement.

Trained by British intelligence in espionage and sabotage, Wake helped to arm and lead 7,000 resistance fighters in weakening German defenses before the D-Day invasion in the last months of the war.

While distributing weapons, money and code books in Nazi-occupied France, she evaded capture many times and reached the top of the Gestapo's wanted list, according to her biographer, Peter FitzSimons.

"They called her the 'la Souris Blanche,' 'the White Mouse,' because every time they had her concerned ... she was gone again," FitzSimons told Australian Broadcast Corp. radio on Monday.

"Part of it was she was a gorgeous looking woman," he said. "The Germans were looking for someone who looked like them: aggressive, a man with guns — and she was not like that."



France decorated her with its highest military honor, the Legion d'Honneur, as well as three Croix de Guerre and the Medaille de la Resistance.

The United States awarded her its Medal of Freedom and Britain, the George Medal. Her only Australian honor did not come until 2004, when she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia.

Born Aug. 30, 1912, in the New Zealand capital of Wellington, Nancy Grace Augusta Wake was the youngest of six siblings. When she was 2 the family moved to Sydney, but her father left the family soon after and returned to New Zealand.

Wake became a nurse before an inheritance from a New Zealand aunt enabled her to run away from home in 1931 and fulfill her dream of traveling to New York, London and Paris, she said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. in 1985.

After studying journalism in London, she became a correspondent for The Chicago Tribune in Paris and reported on the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany. A 1933 trip to interview Hitler in Vienna led her to become committed to bringing down the Nazis.

"I saw the disagreeable things that he was doing to people, first of all the Jews," she told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio in 1985. "I thought it was quite revolting."

When World War II broke out in 1939, she was living in the French city of Marseille with her first husband, French industrialist Henri Fiocca. She helped British servicemen and Jews escape the German occupying force.

Her husband was eventually seized, tortured and killed by the Gestapo. But Wake managed to escape in 1943 through Spain to London, where she received the espionage training before helping to lead the French resistance in its final days.

Wake continued working for British intelligence in Europe after the war until 1957, when she moved back to Australia and married British fighter pilot John Forward. She moved back to Britain in 2001, four years after Forward's death. She never had children.

According to her wishes, Wake's body is expected to be cremated privately and her ashes scattered next spring at Montlucon in central France, where she fought in a heroic 1944 attack on the local Gestapo headquarters.

Pernille Fischer Christensen - Film Director, Writer, Actress

Born in Denmark in 1969.


trailer from Christensen's 2006 feature film "A Soap"

Summer Read Tip: Pauline Black memoir "Black by Design"

When as a young girl brought up by white parents in Britain, Pauline was told by her mother that she was adopted. The revelation sparked Pauline's search for her own cultural identity, as well as those of her original parents.

You can listen to the interview with Pauline on today's Midweek on Radio BBC4:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b012fqn2 (or click on the link that is this post's title).


The text below was taken from Pauline's official website: www.paulineblack.co.uk

"Pauline Black born 23rd October 1953, Coggeshall, ENGLAND of Anglo-Jewish/Nigerian parents.

Pauline Black has spent the last 30 years maintaining the fierce independence that she first forged in her early days as lead vocalist with legendary platinum selling 2-Tone band 'The Selecter'.
During that time she has always tried to do what she fells is right, honest & true. She considers her female mixed race status gives her a unique insight into the twin evils of racism and sexism that still beset the world and render the original message of the 2-tone movement as relevant today as it was in 1979.

Since then, she has built her considerable reputation through singing, songwriting, acting, presenting, broadcasting and writing.
She has garnered several singing and acting awards along the way. Never content to just rest on her laurels or pursue the road of easy celebrity, Pauline has delivered 9 studio albums throughout her career, chronicling her particular view of the precious world that we inhabit.

In 2007, eager to expand her musical repertoire still further, she toured "The Very Best of Nina Simone & Billie Holiday" with her "Blue Jazz Trio", to critical acclaim. 2008 saw her pursue another musical passion when she presented and performed on BBC4 TV's "Soul Britannia" series and then joined the "This Is Soul Tour 2008" performing alongside soul legends Eddie Floyd & Geno Washington.

In 2009, the "30th Anniversary of the 2-Tone Movement", she elected to return to her first love ska music, not in a nostalgic re-union mood, (although she is very proud of her 'Selecter' past & is still eager to celebrate that history in the future), but as a respected solo artist, forging new relationships with musicians in Argentina, Brazil & Australia. On Oct 3rd 2009, she headlined at the "100 Nicetos Festival" in Buenos Aires, Argentina in front of 30,000 people backed by Hugo Lobo's ska/reggae influenced band, "Dancing Mood", plus a 30 piece string orchestra, choir and Nyabinghi drummers.

At the start of the new decade, 2010 finds Pauline building on last year's success. Concerts & festivals have been booked throughout the year, showcasing new & old material from her entire career, with her new 6-piece band. Highlights of her solo show include old favourites like "On My Radio" & "Missing Words", new songs "Eyes On The Prize" & "Total Control" and a brilliant ska/reggae salute to Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black" ("obviously written for me", jokes Pauline at concerts).

A new recording project with her new band is currently in the pipeline & her long-awaited memoir "Black By Design" is finished & has a firm publishing offer. A movie "Three Minute Hero" is at the script writing stage and will tell the story of Pauline, Neville Staple & ex-boxer Errol Christie back when Coventry was gripped by 2-tone fever . These three projects will give her many fans a chance to see what makes this singular artist tick. Pauline Black is a unique woman with a multi-faceted talent."


"From the left: Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders), Deborah Harry (Blondie), Viv Albertine (The Slits), Siouxsie Sioux (Siouxsie & the Banshees), front: Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex), Pauline Black (The Selector).

Harking back to the famous photograph taking by Michael Putland for the New Musical News in 1980, Pauline Black, lead singer of two tone band The Selector interviews Viv Albertine (The Slits), Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex), Siouxie Sioux (Siouxie and the Banshees) and Gaye Advert (The Adverts) about their experiences as female musicians of the “new wave” in the late 70s, early 80s."
(Photo and caption source: 'Slow Songs and Fast Hearts' website: www.fasthearts.com)

WSPA Humane Chain : Help stop the cruel live animal export trade

Please take only fiv minutes of your time to sign this petition.

WSPA Humane Chain : Help stop the cruel live animal export trade

Dame Daphne Sheldrick (b. June 1934)

Please take time to listen to this wonderful broadcast of an interview with the extraordinary Dame Daphne Sheldrick from today's Woman's Hour on Radio BBC4.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b011tz8k

A documentary about her life "Born to be Wild" and work is out now on BFI IMAX cinema.

Nerina Pallot " History Boys"

from her forthcoming album "Year of the Wolf".

STOP PRESS: She's back!

Hey Tori fans,

We have some exciting news to report. Tori has a new album titled Night of Hunters set for September release. The album will coming out via the world’s most celebrated classical label, Deutsche Grammophon.

Here’s how Tori describes the new record:

"It's a 21st century song cycle inspired by classical music themes spanning over 400 years. I have used the structure of a song cycle to tell an ongoing, modern story. The protagonist is a woman who finds herself in the dying embers of a relationship. In the course of one night she goes through an initiation of sorts that leads her to reinvent herself allowing the listener to follow her on a journey to explore complex musical and emotional subject matter. One of the main themes explored on this album is the hunter and the hunted and how both exist within us.”
Hear exclusive tracks from Night of Hunters via the website and email soon.

EXCLUSIVE TOUR DATES

Tori will be heading out on tour this Fall in both Europe and the US.

The first of shows are listed below. Links to buy tickets and on sale dates can be found at toriamos.com/tours

9/28 Finland, Helsinki, Ice Hall

9/30 Russia, St Petersburg, Oktyabrsky Hall

10/2 Russia, Moscow, Crocus Hall

10/4 Luxembourg, Den Atelier

10/5 France, Paris, Le Grand Rex

10/7 Italy, Milan, Teatro Smeraldo

10/8 Italy, Rome, Auditorium Parco della Musica

10/10 Germany, Hamburg, Laieszhalle

10/11 Germany, Berlin, Tempodrom

10/13 Poland, Warsaw, Sala Kongresowa

10/17 Holland, Amsterdam, Carre

10/20 Norway, Oslo, Sentrum Scene

10/21 Denmark, Copenhagen, The Royal Theatre

10/24 Switzerland, Lucerne, KKL

10/25 Austria, Vienna, Stadthalle F

10/26 Germany, Frankfurt, Alte Oper

10/28 Belgium, Antwerp, QEH

10/29 Belgium, Brussels, Bozar

10/31 Germany, Essen, Philharmonie

11/2 UK, London, Royal Albert Hall

11/4 UK, Manchester, Apollo

11/6 UK, Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall

11/8 UK, Belfast, Waterfront

11/9 Eire, Dublin, Grand Canal Theatre




EXCLUSIVE MERCH DISCOUNT:

Limited Edition LOMO “Tori” (Camera, CD & Lens) Box Set

NOW $150 – from $185

In celebration of all of this, we are discounting the small amount of LOMO Limited Edition “Tori” Film Camera Box Set’s we have remaining at the Tori Store. This set comes with an unreleased double CD of Tori’s first ever performance in Moscow, Russia called ”From Russia With Love”. It also comes with an Exclusive “China Edition” lens set to use with the “Tori” camera (Wide Angle and Close Up). Box set also comes with exclusive Tori photo taken in Moscow, Tori Edition Lomo book as well as film. To get yours, visit the Tori Store: store.toriamos.com


Keep up to date with Tori via Facebook and Twitter!

www.facebook.com/toriamos

www.twitter.com/therealtoriamos

Niki de Saint Phalle (b. France 1930 - USA 2002)

A friend mentioned Phalle's work when we were discussing my next creative endeavour.

Find out more at her official website: http://www.nikidesaintphalle.com/

LS X

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915-1973)

This lady influenced Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, amongst others.

Ladies and Gentleman, Sister Rosetta Tharpe!

Follow the link to documentary on BBC IPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/xf8k7/