In the Blog

The Elizabeth Riley Band on music and politics: Women’s Worlds 2011

June 27th, 2011     by Julia Horel     Comments

This is the fifth in our series of Idea Bursts. Please check out the first, second, third and fourth!

Today’s audio burst is “The Elizabeth Riley Band on intergenerational exchange.”

Transcription follows the podcast.

Love what you’re hearing? Hate what you’re seeing? Want to speak up? Info on the Idea Bursts series, including how to submit your own, follows the transcription of today’s podcast.

The Elizabeth Riley Band talks politics (mp3)

[musical intro] All together? Ya. Okay. We are the Elizabeth Riley Band. So there. [laughter] We kind of like being an all women band. There’s a certain ease/ yeah/ collegiality/ double x chromosome/ food/ chatting/ we always eat a lot. Not too much ego/ That’s right/ Speak for yourself. [laughter] Okay, how is our music political? Being I think just women, sets a precedent, in one thing, you know, that we’re, it just comes natural to me that music and politics or being political is hand in hand. It’s not separate for me somehow/ but a lot of your songs are about specific political incidents or an event or a news issue or something like that. So that’s what you want to talk about in your music. Yeah, I think, what i wrote on that site that we were looking at the other day, the songwriters site and figure our what it is that i like writing. It’s things that are inconceivable to me, that are very difficult to figure out, right, in reality and who can, so music becomes the only place to voice, to feel like you actually have some power to change something, through music/ yeah. Alot of my songs are sort of angst about relationships and whatever/ the personal is political/ so that’s like the personal. yeah/ it’s true eh?/ i think a lot of what you figure out in relationships, there’s a political dimension to your personal life. you don’t always know about it or think about it. I think songs can be really powerful tools for exploring different ideas but also just as mobilizing arts and i think, that’s one thing that we’ve kind of built a repertoire of songs that really speak to women’s lives in a more political way, which i like because it allows us be active in trying to change things as wellb because when you highlight these things in an art form/ that’s right/ you can get at it at a much deeper level I think. Thanks everybody! We’re the Elizabeth Riley Band. Ciao baby. Bye! [musical outro]

Listen up! Check out these provocative and compelling “idea bursts” intended to spark conversations on key issues leading up to and during Women’s Worlds 2011 (WW 2011, a global feminist conference being held July 3-7 in Ottawa, Ontario). We encourage everyone of all generations to embrace and explore these ideas. Get your mind moving, thoughts jumping.

This series of short commentaries is initiated by the Young Women’s Leadership Team (YWLT) to ensure that young women’s ideas, organizing, and thoughts are present at this global congress.

Create your own! Record your thoughts before WW 2011. Upload your own Idea Burst to youtube.com and tag it “#ww2011burst” or “#ww2011.” Or if audio is your thing, post your Idea Burst to AudioBoo, make it “public,” and use the same tags. And if you plan on being at the congress, visit our intergenerational drop-in space to share your ideas in our BURST booth (Deja Vu Lounge, Room 230 Morisset Hall, University of Ottawa).

For more information contact us at youth@womensworlds.ca.

Tags:

« The Elizabeth Riley Band on intergenerational exchange: Women’s Worlds 2011

Myth Nine: Fat is Lazy »