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In World War II II, women took a lot. When American men were sent abroad, they worked in aircraft factories, made ammunition, made airplanes. Most people know this or at least know the name Rosie the Riveter. It is not so well known what happened after the end of the war. When the soldiers came home, they took many of the jobs the women were doing. But the freedom and spread of new technologies at the time sparked something else, something almost lost in history: a new wave of female musicians in their own league.
British mathematician and composer Delia Derbyshire lived in Coventry during the Blitz. His electronic compositions – abstract sounds created by the loop of the tape and the technique of changing the sound known by the name concrete music– They were inspired by the sirens of airstrikes he heard at the time. “That’s electronic music!” says in the documentary Sisters with Transistors. Derbyshire joined the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and worked on the theme of the song Doctor Who. Ron Granier, the man who recognized him for composing the theme, always said that Derbyshire should get the composer’s credit for his arrangements. In the 1960s, the BBC preferred to keep its Workshop contributors anonymous, so the work of Derbyshire he never got recognition.
Sisters with Transistors, Who is playing at this time Through his collaboration with the New York Metrograph Theater, he is full of stories like this. Directed by Lisa Rovner and built through a series of archival interviews, the XX. It is a detailed history of women who tried to take on the sound of a new electrified world over the centuries. In the aftermath of World War II, from new technologies to new noises, to traces of their music that are still heard on pop charts today. Sisters is to introduce women to the history of electronic music. “The story of women is about silence and that silence is breaking,” avant-garde musician Laurie Anderson explains in the film’s narrative. “Where there was once silence, now there is beautiful noise.”
Noise is key. The female composer, the film says, was attracted to electronic music because she lived on the margins. They didn’t have to be involved in the mainstream male-dominated music industry — or with radio stations, record labels, or concert halls. Synthesizers and tape machines allowed women to work around the rigid industry and made complete adjustments themselves. They can invent their own instruments and sounds. Like the internet that allows musicians to reach larger audiences, Sisters with Transistors He says these tools gave way to artists. “Technology is a tremendous liberator,” explains composer Laurie Spiegel. “It explodes power structures.” (A very convenient quote considering Spiegel’s music find his way Hungry games, a film about blowing up power structures.)
For Pauline Oliveros, this meant recording all the sounds outside her San Francisco apartment and making soundscapes using household items using a bathtub or toilet paper rolls. Oliveros created a tape delay system so he could perform his compositions live, and he created the San Francisco Tape Music Center, which became the core of the city’s experimental music scene in the 60s. (He also did it against sexism writing The New York Times 1970s.
Not all the musicians in the film remain outsiders. Suzanne Ciani found commercial success composing music for commercials and even appeared The Late Show with David Letterman. Ciani is an exception. Most had never seen much success and some had serious setbacks. Bebe and Louis Barron, pioneers of electronic music, for example, lost their feud with the Union of Musicians in the 1950s. Forbidden planet they are believed to be “electronic tones” —not music — and therefore cannot be rewarded. (See also: What happened to Derbyshire Doctor Who work.)
Sisters with Transistors ends with a very traditional: Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1968, it was released by Wendy Carlos Activated Bach, A collection of songs by the musician recreated by Moog. Until then the use of the synthesizer was limited to experimental music; Turned on it deviated from these avant-garde roots and paved the way for the synthesizer to enter popular music. The finish is suitable, if anticlimactic. Carlos ’music set the tone for the future of music, even though it is now being seen as part of his history.
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