For many years the society has categorised people, things, behaviour and their characteristics by the binary division of masculine and feminine. Some examples of it linger on, shape our society and, by doing that, affect individual lives more than we think.
But what does femininity really mean? What does it take to be “ladylike” and who is benefiting from women having to fit into these categories?
Is playing the double bass feminine or is being a feminist ladylike?
I have chosen my new piece to be the space from which to question the definition of those terms.
But what did those things mean tens of thousands of years ago?
What if those biases were not natural to human kind but rather recent phenomena considering the many hundreds of millennia of human existence?
The newest studies on those distant times prove that the domination of man is indeed a social construction and hopefully just a very long phase that we could perhaps finally pass.
Feminism has been trying to get through with its core messages for over half a century, but new scientific discoveries prove them right.
In my piece Lady Sapiens I want to give women the roles that they might have had tens of thousands of years ago – hunters, leaders, thinkers, artists, shamans, healers, inventors.
I believe that a world that restarts hearing a woman’s voice is a better place and I hope that being “ladylike” would finally mean whatever anyone chooses to fill the definition with.
I have invited three powerful women to accompany me in this research of femininity. I am curious and happy to play with those highly accomplished and appreciated musicians and to discover new musical horizons with this rather specific and unusual instrumentation of two double basses, a cello, a violin, vocals and electronics.
My piece is inspired by the book “Lady Sapiens” by Thomas Cirotteau, Jennifer Kerner and Eric Pincas, published in 2023 under Collection Proche.
Lady Sapiens is co-commissioned by Ha Concerts, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Jazzkaar Festival. At Jazzkaar this piece is getting its second premier with a new lineup.
Ensemble:
Mingo Rajandi – double bass, voice, electronics (Estonia)
Maarja Nuut – violin, electronics, voice (Estonia)
Eugénie Defraigne – cello, voice (Belgium)
Regina Udod – double bass, voice (Estonia)