Sunday, May 25, 2008

American Music Festival 2

In my previous posting, I called attention to the absence of women from the press release for the 68th Annual American Music Festival. David Bukszpan wrote back with more information, and to say he could see why I was concerned about the press release: the Festival will include music by Mahaia Jackson, Bessie Smith, Billy Holiday, Amy Beach, Margaret Bond, Mary Lou, Barbara Hendricks, Kathleen Battle, Marian Anderson, Gospel Harmonettes, Bernice J. Reagon and Sweet Honey in the Rock.

Update, May 29: Yes, that's Mary Lou Williams. And the playlists for this festival were drawn up late, and the press release thus didn't include everyone.

2 comments:

sarah said...

Just out of curiosity, did he explain why all those women were left out of the press release? And is the Mary Lou in the list Mary Lou Williams?

Lisa Hirsch said...

Good questions. I have asked.