Playlist I

Female artists remain vastly underrepresented and undervalued in pop music. Music festival line-ups are heavily male; female artists are underrepresented on radio; and music awards nominee and greatest songs of all time lists often contain few female performers. What is true for female singers in general is even more true for older female artists. Older women’s voices are largely absent from mainstream media. Collecting women’s music, and older women’s songs in particular, can then serve as a strategy to quite literally make their voices heard and counterbalance the male-dominated musical culture. We have composed three playlists that each contain eight hours of music made by midlife and older womxn. About 350 singers have been included of around 85 different nationalities and 6 continents. The songs are in various languages and about various topics.

Conditions for tracks being included in the playlist are: (1) the lead singers and/or composers of the tracks identify as women at least part of the time; (2) they were born in 1971 or earlier (and thus will become/became 50 years old or older in 2021, or were already over 50 when they passed away); and (3) the tracks have been released when the lead singers/composers had reached the age of at least 45 years old.

You can listen to the playlist here:

Older women’s voices I
(name singer, date of birth, nationality, song title, date of release, age of singer on release)

• Gillian Hills (°1944; British) - Lili (2019/age 75)
• Laurie Anderson (°1947, American) - Bodies In Motion (2010/age 63)
• Grace Jones (°1948; Jamaican) - Love You To Life (2010/age 62)
• Skin (Deborah Anne Dyer) (°1967; British)/band: Skunk Anansie - Victim (2016/age 49)
• Neneh Cherry (°1964; Swedish) - Slow Release (2018; age 54)
• Björk (Björk Guðmundsdóttir) (°1965; Icelandic) – Arisen My Senses (with Arca) (2017/age 52)
• Kate Bush (°1958; British) - Snowflake (2011/age 53)
• Tori Amos (°1963, American) - Chocolate Song (2017/age 54)
• Zazie (Isabelle Marie Anne de Truchis de Varennes) (°1964; French) - Veilleurs Amis (2018, age 54)
• Lala Njava (°1958; Malagasy) - ‘Sweet Lullaby’ (2013/age 55)
• Youn Sun Nah (°1969; South-Korean) - In My Heart (2019/age 50)
• Dechen Shak-Dagsay (°1959; Swiss-Tibetan) - ‘Day Tomorrow’ (2015/age 56)
• Anohni (formerly known as Antony Hegarty) (°1971, British) - Karma (2018/age 47)
• PJ Harvey (Polly Jean Harvey) (°1969; British) - The Sandman (with Gillian Anderson) (2019/age 50)
• Meredith Monk (°1942; American) - Fathom (2011, age 69)
• Vashti Bunyan (°1945; British) - Heartleap (2019/age 69)
• Sainkho Namtchylak (°1957; Tuva) - The Echo Of Old Fairytales (2019/age 62)
• Mariem Hassan (°1958-2015; Western Sahara) - Arrabi Al Arabe (2012/age 54)
• Kamilya Jubran (°1963; Palestinian) – Yama (with Werner Hasler) (2019/age 56)
• Diamanda Galás (°1955; Greek-American) - All The Way (2017/age 62)
• Sidsel Endresen (°1952; Norwegian) - Wooing The Oracle (with Stian Westerhus) (2012/age 60)
• Liliana Vitale (°1959, Argentinian) - Danza Del Alba (with Veronica Condomi) (2017/age 58)
• Rim Banna (°1966-2018; Palestinian) - Language Of Silence (with Bugge Wesseltoft) (2018/age 52)
• Kim Gordon (°1953; American) - Murdered Out (2016/age 63)
• Marianne Faithfull (°1946; British) - In My Own Particular Way (2018/age 72)
• Kahimi Karie (°1953; Japanese) - Nouveau Paradis (2010/age 57)
• Jane Birkin (°1946, British) - Ta Sentinelle (2020/age 74)
• Milva (Maria Ilva Biolcati) (°1939-2021; Italian) - Questa Notte La Luna (2007/age 68)
• Elza Soares (°1930; Brazilian) - A Mulher Do Fim Do Mundo (2015/age 85)
• Yoko Ono (°1933; Japanese-American) - I Love All Of Me (2018/age 85)
• Patti Smith (°1946; American) - Amerigo (2012/age 66)
• Anne Sofie von Otter (°1955; Swedish) - Pi (2016/age 61) (Kate Bush cover)
• Suzi Gardner (°1960; American), Donita Sparks (°1963; American), Demetra Plakas (°1960; American) and Jennifer Finch (°1966; American)/L7 - Burn Baby (2019/age 59-56-59)
• Courtney Love (°1964; American) - Miss Narcissist (2015/age 51)
• Sandy Lam (°1966; Hong Kong) - Rivers (2018/age 52)
• Sertab Erener (°1964; Turkish) - Ben Yaşarim (2020/age 56)
• Ulla Pirttijärvi (°1971; Finnish Sámi)/band: Áššu - Vulleš Heaika (with Harald Skullerud & Olav Torget) (2019/age 48)
• Luzmila Carpio (°1954; Bolivian) - Riqsiqa Kasunchik (2014/age 60)
• Iva Bittová (°1958; Czech) - Midnight (2018/age 60)
• Susana Baca (°1944; Peruvian) - Yo Vengo A Ofrecer Mi Corazón (2020/age 76)
• Mercedes Sosa (°1935-2009; Argentine) - Sabiéndose De Los Descalzos (with Julieta Venegas) (2009/age 74)
• Silvia Iriondo (°1955; Argentine) - He Sembrado Una Pasión (2020/age 65)
• Angelique Kidjo (°1960; Beninese-American) - Oya Diosa (2019/age 59)
• Oumou Sangaré (°1968; Malian) - Bena Bena (2017/age 49)
• Aster Aweke (°1958; Ethiopian) - Nafkot (2019/age 61)
• Kat Ex (Katherina Bornefeld) (°1960s(?); German-Dutch)/The Ex - Birth (2018)
• Moonlight Benjamin (°1971; Haitian-French) - Simidò (2020/age 49)
• Madonna (°1958; American) - I Don’t Search (2019/age 61)
• Alison Goldfrapp (°1966; British)/band: Goldfrapp - Anymore (2017/age 51)
• Jody Watley (°1959; American) - Nightlife (2013/age 54)
• RuPaul (RuPaul Andre Charles) (°1960; Jennifer Lopez (°1969; American) - Medicine (2019/age 50)
• Jennifer Lopez (°1969; American) – Medicine (with French Montana) (2019/age 50)
• Peaches (Merrill Nisker) (°1966; Canadian) – Vaginoplasty (with Simonne Jones) (2015/age 49)
• Marie Daulne (°1964; Congolese-Belgian)/band: Zap Mama - Getaway (2018/age 54)
• Macy Gray (°1967; American) - White Man (2018/age 51)
• Chrissie Hynde (°1951; American) - Dark Sunglasses (2014/age 63)
• Kristin Hersh (°1966; American) - Loud Mouth (2018/age 52)
• Buffy Sainte-Marie (Beverly Sainte-Marie) (°1941; Indigenous Canadian) - The Priest Of The Golden Bull (1992/age 51)
• Kiran Ahluwalia (°1965; Indian) - Raina (2018/age 53)
• Angélique Ionatos (°1954; Greek) - La Route (2015/age 61)
• Tania Saleh (°1969; Lebanese) - I Hate Everything (2021/age 52)
• Noura Mint Seymali (°1950; Mauretanian) - Ghlana (2016/age 66)
• Urna Chahar-Tugchi (°1969; Inner Mongolian) - Zandan Hureng (with Kroke) (2018/age 49)
• Omara Portuondo (°1930; Cuban) - Tabú (2004/age 74)
• Hinewehi Mohi (°1964; New Zealand Māori) - Āta Tū Mai (2019/age 55)
• Huong Thanh (°1960; Vietnamese) - Trắng đêm (2017/age 57)
• Savina Yannatou (°1959; Greek) - Ah Mon Dieu (with Primavera en Salonico) (2009/age 50)
• Ghalia Benali (°1968; Belgian-Tunesian) – Vaslat (with Mahan Farzad) (2021/age 53)
• Fairuz (Nouhad Haddad) (°1934, Lebanese) - Ams Intahena (1987/age 53)
• Totó La Momposina (Sonia Bazanta Vides) (1940; Colombian) - Tanguita (2020/age 80)
• Tanya Donelly (°1966; American) - Wild Love (2016/age 50)
• Bettye LaVette (°1946; American) - Blackbird (2020/age 74)
• Dorothy Masuka (°1935-2019, Zimbabwean-South-African) - Mzilikazi (2001/age 66)
• Cesária Evora (°1941-2011, Cape Verdian) - Sentimento (2009/age 68)
• Etenesh Wassié (°1971; Ethiopian) - Akal Yene Abeba (with Mathieu Sourisseau) (2018/age 48)
• Ingrid Chavez (°1965, Mexican-American) - Memories Of Flying (2019/age 54)
• Liliana Herrero (°1948; Argentine-American) - Ámbar Violeta (2019/age 71)
• Asha Bhosle (°1933; Indian) - Rishte Bante Hain (with Kronos Quartet) (1987/age 54)
• Abida Parveen (°1954; Pakistani) - Mera Dard (2020/age 66)
• Natacha Atlas (°1964; Egyptian-Belgian) - The Other (with Jason Singh) (2019; age 55)
• Claire Diterzi (°1970; French) - A l’ Abri Des Flammes (2018/age 48)
• Lene Lovich (°1949; American-British) - Craze (2005/age 56)
• Meshell Ndegeocello (°1968; American) - I Wonder If I Take You Home (2018/age 50)
• Jayashree Singh (°1950s?-2018; Indian)/band: Skinny Alley - Swunk (2007/age ?)
• Nina Hagen (°1955; German) - Bitten der Kinder & An meine Landsleute (2011/age 56)
• Mercedes Péon (°1967; Galician Spanish) - Deixaas (2018/age 51)
• Esma Redžepova (°1943-2016; Macedonian) - Zaidi, Zaidi (2016/age 73)
• Bebel Gilberto (°1966; Brazilian-American) - Bolero (2020/age 54)
• Malouma (Malouma Mint El Meidah) (°1960; Mauritanian) - Deyar (2017/age 57)
• Ceumar (Ceumar Coelho) (°1969; Brazilian) - Tô Aqui (2019/age 50)
• Sussan Deyhim (°1958; Iranian) - Take You Home (2020/age 62)
• Lucinda Williams (°1953; American) - You Can’t Rule Me (2020/age 67)
• Nena (Gabriele Susanne Kerner) (°1960; German) - Forelle (with MADUH) (2020/age 60)
• Joni Mitchell (Roberta Joan Mitchell) (°1943; Canadian) - Hana (2007/age 64)
• Vivien Goldman (°1952; British) - I Have A Voice (2020/age 68)
• Dianne Reeves (°1956; American) - 32 Flavors (2014/age 58)
• Chara (Miwa Watabiki) (°1968; Japanese) - Echo (with Yuki) (2020/age 52)
• Julieta Venegas (Julieta Venegas Percevault) (°1970; Mexican) - Quién Podrá Saberlo (with Dom La Nena) (2021/age 50)
• Sandee Chan (°1970; Taiwanese) - Where Are You Headed? (2019/age 49)
• Anja Garbarek (°1970; Norwegian) - Lazy Predator (2018/age 48)
• Sinikka Langeland (1961; Norwegian) - Wolf Rune (2021/age 60)
• Gal Costa (°1945; Brazilian) - Recanto Escuro (2011/age 66)
• Magos Herrera (°1970; Mexican) - Rojo Sol (with Paola Prestini) (2020/age 50)
• Lou Rhodes (°1964; British)/Lamb - In Binary (2014/age 50)
• Rebecka Törnqvist (°1964; Swedish) - Rosemary & Mathematics (2017/age 53)
• Linda Perry (°1965; American) - The Letter (2021/age 56)
• Ana Torroja (Ana Torroja Fungairiño) (°1959; Spanish) - Cuando Tú Me Bailas (2020/age 61)
• Juana Molina (°1961; Argentine) - Paraguaya (2017/age 56)
• Alzira E (Alzira Espindola) (°1957; Brazilian) - A Terra (with Corte) (2017/age 60)
• Alanis Obomsawin (°1932; Canadian Abenaki) - Odana (1988/age 56)
• Azam Ali (°1970; Canadian-Iranian) - All That Is Left Is Sky (2020/age 50)
• Brigitte Fontaine (°1939; France) - Le Tout Pour Le Tout (2020/age 81)
• Carla Bozulich (°1965; American) - Glass House (with Freddy Ruppert) (2018/age 53)