Marjo Smolander: podcast manuscript, narration, sound editing
Elina Seye: interviews, narration
Jenni Hanikka: narration
Kadidiatou Bah, Marieta Dembele, Bintou Koita, Fatouma Maiga, Ouassa Sogoba: interlocutors
Sinimuso (Kadidiatou Bah, Marieta Dembele, Jenni Hanikka, Bintou Koita, Fatouma Maiga, Ouassa Sogoba, Marjo Smolander): music
As an initiative of Finnish folk musicians Jenni Hanikka and Marjo Smolander and with the help of Malian singer Salomé Dembélé, a new Malian-Finnish band started forming in September 2022. The five Malian and two Finnish musicians of the group all have backgrounds in different musical traditions and play different instruments. During the rehearsals, each one shared a song or a musical idea with others, and these ideas were then developed and arranged together. At the end of the first intensive rehearsal period, the new band was given the name Sinimuso, “Women of the Future”. The musical collaboration continued in early 2023 with more rehearsals and the recording of the songs for an album to be released in 2024.
During the rehearsal periods in Bamako, Mali, the project participants often discussed what it is like to work as a woman in the male-dominated music industry. Also the expectations for young women to get married and have children, particularly strong in Mali, were often mentioned. Sometimes children of band members were present in rehearsals, and the theme of motherhood came up repeatedly in discussions. Although there are many differences between Mali and Finland with regard to women’s rights and the social expectations that women face, the difficulties that the Sinimuso band members had experienced during their musical careers, were clearly a factor that motivated their participation in an all-female group.
This podcast presents thoughts on womanhood and musicianship, as voiced in interviews made with Sinimuso members by researcher Elina Seye, as well as the development of the Malian-Finnish musical collaboration.
Sinimuso podcast
CONTENTS
- Preface / Elina Seye & Nina Öhman
- No future? Female Instrumentalists in the Austrian Jazz Scene / Magdalena Fürnkranz
- When the Singer Hires the Musicologist: Chaabi Habibi, an Action Research lead by Female Moroccan Musicians in Belgium / Hélène Sechehaye & Laïla Amezian
- A window into the World of South Indian Female Percussionists in Kerala / Karin Bindu & Retnasree Iyer
- Becoming “Women of the Future”: Malian-Finnish Conversations about Being Musicians and Women / Marjo Smolander, Sinimuso & Elina Seye