Years ago I was at some show in San Francisco and somebody handed me a one page double-sided flyer about what seemed like an art collective, Bazooka Productions, with art by LouLou Picasso and Kiki Picasso. It looked cool and in the ensuing years I picked up artwork by them when I came across it, including an LP, La Perversita, bought just for the cover. That was (gulp) about forty years ago. So, two days ago, I was looking around Super Super Sounds, a neat blog that focuses on looking through Bandcamp for good shit (there's a lot of not good shit on Bandcamp to sift through). There was a blurb about a French punk compilation on Bandcamp, and the cover looked like something by Kiki and LouLou Picasso, and as it turns out it was. So I go to the Bandcamp page and start to sift through the offerings of the label, Born Bad Records (which has a decidedly Cramps ring to it via the Born Bad compilations of songs the Cramps taught us). This was not the first place you'd expect to find a band like Star Feminine Band.
Star Feminine Band is an all girl band from Benin (Africa). Literally girls, ranging in ages from 10-17 (or thereabouts). They met at a music workshop for girls. Per The Guardian, André Balaguemon, the instructor and host of the workshop, said "Some of his proteges hadn’t ever seen keyboards or a drum kit when they signed up. Undeterred, he spent the first two weeks teaching them to clap to the beat." When you hear them you'll agree that they have come a long way. Read the thing at The Guardian, it tells the whole story. This is a movie waiting to happen.
Listen:
Star Feminine Band at Bandcamp
Visit:
'When we play, everyone dances!' Benin girl group Star Feminine Band at The Guardian
Born Bad Records at Bandcamp
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