f44 F


or female musicians this involves changes in working practices, most obviously impacting on time spent away from home. Sarah Coxson is (as Reid says) “A brilliant agent” and a single mum who built up her business from the back room at home. Sarah is used to “working with mothers who are musi- cians. Part of my role is trying to make it happen for them to carry on touring, planning around holidays and including childminding in the package.”


Delyth Jenkins says, “I never had any


difficulty as a female musician; my only difficulty was raising a family and getting out there. My career was on hold when the children were small. If you have a gig and they’re ill it’s very hard. My husband and I separated, but he did look after them sometimes. As a single parent it’s dif- ficult for women to balance that. For mothers who are self-employed musicians, it’s even more difficult. My greatest cre- ative achievement is my two daughters, but I’m proud I managed to hang on to my musical career.” Jenkins is currently work- ing in a duo with her daughter Angharad, herself now celebrating ten years in top Welsh band Calan, and their duo album Llinyn Arian is about to be released.


Whilst every mother I spoke to for this feature says that they are only able to con- tinue with their career thanks to enormous support from their colleagues, partners, friends and wider family, women’s equal right to work involves a shift in assumptions rooted in wider society/the hierarchy. Demand for equal pay that can be seen sim- ply in terms of basic human rights, whispers alarm into the ears of men afraid of women’s changing roles and how their own roles must change in relation to them.


Equal pay raises issues of recognition. Recognition matters not just for personal gratification but because it’s an important aspect in getting work, particularly (again) if you’re a self-employed folk musician. It’s also a factor in how much you can earn.


Top: Angharad & Delyth Jenkins Middle: HEISK. Below: Rachael McShane


This is impacted by women’s own ‘agreeableness’. Because we don’t speak up about what we do, Harbour argues, it’s assumed we haven’t done it. Her work is a case in point. Anyone who has seen or heard Spiro will know that their music is instrumental, composed, exquisitely detailed and transcendent. The music is often inspired by traditional tunes, which might be suggested by one of the band. As might other musical elements. But she is the main composer. She says people are always surprised. “I’m the only woman in the band, and if they consider it at all, they never think I could be the main composer.”


Part of the recognition issue, MacMas- ter says, is that “We’ve bought into narra- tives that eat into our own confidence. I find myself doing it all the time, under- mining myself as a way of fitting in.” Mac- Coll concurs. “It’s such a Scottish thing to play yourself down, it’s drummed into young women that to be confident and to assert yourself is not a positive thing. Echo- ing down the generations, this will only have an effect on women and not inspire women to make music.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148