Think about the female artists in your life and how they have shaped you as a person. Who has been an inspiration to you? Who has made an impact on your being? These are questions everyone should take a few minutes to ponder, and then silently thank those women who come to mind. How about your peers? Who would they choose to honor and celebrate? We decided to find out just that.

Living: Nicole Blackman. [check out the earpollution nicole blackman interview. --ed.]

Worked with (among others): KMFDM, Golden Palominos, Recoil.

Must Have: Blood Sugar, Incommunicado Press, 2000. Collection of poetry and lyrics.

Why: Nicole Blackman is not afraid to go into the dark places of the heart and unflinchingly cut through all its blackened morass to expose the contempt, anger, despair, self-loathing, fear, desire, lust and longing we hide in its shadowy corners. Whether singing, speaking or writing, her voice is an unnerving weapon. Half angel, half siren--entirely sweet oblivion.

"And I sink into white pillows
and feel you unfold against me
with moonbeams beating
noiselessly at the window.

And heaven is caught between us
like a wish too uncool to speak."

[...]

Would love to have her perform because she is honest and passionate about her art. You never feel a pretentiousness, never feel she is making it up. She could be talking about herself, about you, about me, about no one and everyone.

"We used to hate people
now we just make fun of them
it's more effective that way."
                    --"Dogma"

Living Elsewhere (hopefully someplace better): Billie Holiday.

Why: Lady Day was one of the jazz greats. Though she spent much of her 44 years as an addict, even copping dope on her deathbed, the emotional intensity of her voice was nothing less than sublime, and hopefully it won her a better place in the afterlife. Would love to sit at her feet and hear her sing "God Bless the Child" and "Fine and Mellow."

Craig Young
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
Earpollution
Age 29

If you could go out on a date with any female vocal artist, who would you choose?

I would go out on a date with Tori Amos. I think that she would be so interesting to chat with, and what more could you ask for than to have a terribly stimulating conversation with Tori Amos?

Robert Graham
Job Captain
Starbucks
Age 23

If you could be any well-known female vocal artist, who would you want to be?

Possibly Björk for her uncompromising personal spirit that is so easy to fall in love with. Possibly Kristin Hersh for her simultaneous strength and beauty.

Sarah Lukacs
Sales and Marketing Coordinator
Age 26

Which female vocal artist has been an influence on your life?

The first person that comes to mind is Tina Turner. I grew up listening to her, my mom loved her. I have great respect for her incredible staying power: she has been around as long as I can remember and her music is just as fabulous as when I was a kid. I also really respect that she is a total "bad-ass broad" and shined a bright light on domestic violence by getting out of an abusive marriage and then speaking out about it. She is "The Original Diva" in my mind, and I believe she paved the way for all of the "soul sista's" of our current age.

Tayshia Farra
Legal Assistant
Age 33

What female musician inspires you the most, and why?

Diamanda Galas is the woman musician that has made the most lasting impression on me because of the sheer terror her voice instilled in me and the reality of the topics--such as AIDS and sodomy--she has used as performance vehicles. In her performance Schrei X she expressed an emotional landscape of madness, dementia, rape and imprisonment. Yahooo.

What strikes me most about her is that she is an "Artist," a woman with power and integrity as opposed to the entertainment industry whores à la Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera that are touted as role models to today's growing young women.

She says of journalist's reactions to her music: "Because it doesn't offer entertainment, they can't imagine that people want to hear it. They look at music as a placating medium...I separated my work from a safe and useless concept of music back in 1974. Music that is truly meaningful contains a distillation of reality--and usually that's tragedy." She's scary and she's got soul.

Bill Wolford
Singer/Songwriter

Iva Bittová is the musician who has inspired me the most. She's a violinist and singer from Lelekovice, Czech Republic, and plays her own music. The first time I saw her (1987), she and drummer Pavel Fajt were playing in a bullring in Provence, with heat lightning and bats stirring the muggy July sky. She is a very intense and open "soul" singer, and her violin playing is intuitive and very refined. Often she performs with no P.A. at all, which creates a very intimate listening experience. She's absolutely stunning. A master. (Mistress?)

Amy Denio
Composer

Paula Maya
Singer for b.n. maya

My biggest female inspiration has to be Mahalia Jackson, the gospel singer. Her voice is so huge and honest. She feels the music more than anyone I've ever seen. She spent most of her life performing for free in poor Black churches. She combines great music with an even greater purpose. She was the voice for a lot of people at a time when their own voices weren't always recognized. I really like Tracy Chapman, too; I don't know much about her but I love her music.

Leland Jones
Emcee
Insult2Injury

Ethel Raim is the female musician who most moved and inspired me, in fact nearly defined my life. Ethel is a gifted singer, arranger and arts manager. She, along with Martin Koenig, introduced Balkan music to the West through their seminal research there in the 1960s and '70s. They produced a number of recordings and Ethel held workshops around the country. For years, Ethel and Martin have run the Center for Traditional Music and Arts in New York City. Ethel came out of Pete Seeger's inner circle. She was a singer and the main arranger for the treasured group The Pennywhistlers, who were recording in the mid-'60s with the likes of Theodore Bikel--songs from Russia and the Balkans. One could make the case that the Pennywhistlers inspired all of the Balkan women's choirs that are found around the United States today.

I thank God that she came to Seattle in 1970. I had recently joined a local group, Koleda, under the direction of Dennis Boxell that performed the music and dance of the Balkans. (By the way, that group spawned many talented artists including choreographer Mark Morris and local celebrity Sandy Bradley.) I first saw Koleda at the Moore Theater in 1970. I was 15 years old, sitting in the balcony of the Moore Theater, attending a variety show organized by the Buddhist Nichren Shoshu sect, of which I was a member at the time. It was as if I were hit by lightning in the center of my being. It moved me so deeply that I began rehearsing with the group that spring. They were in the process of making a recording and put me in the choir since I had sung in school choirs since fourth grade. It was all very exciting and a real lifesaver, which I'll describe in a bit.

Technically, as a singer, she provided an excellent example of the unique vocal timbre, pronunciation, regional style and all the myriad detail that goes into traditional Balkan singing. Her attitude captured the joy and depth of the genre.

One two-hour workshop and then Ethel was gone, however she fueled a passion that has defined my life ever since and, in a sense, saved my life. One of my brothers, a very talented pianist, had committed suicide after a year of rehabilitation suffered from another botched suicide attempt. That was in October, 1969. Just about a month later, in early December, my father died of a massive heart attack. I was swamped by the tragedies, as was my family. I saw Koleda just a couple months later, in February, 1970. By the time I graduated, I had lived in 18 different houses and apartments between Seattle and Fairbanks, Alaska. In 1975, my mother died of cancer. In 1985, my other brother disappeared off the face of the Earth. The Balkan community took me in and has sustained me with a warmth and inclusiveness for which I forever will be grateful.

I don't believe my interest in Balkan music would have been sustained had it not been for Ethel Raim and that workshop. I strongly believe, had it not been for Balkan music, my life would have been a shambles and I probably would have died years ago. Because of that community, I am alive. Their example has been my guiding light as a teacher and performer of Balkan music. As a teacher, I share all of my material openly and generously. As a singer, I sing from the very innermost part of my soul and try to touch the center of my audience's hearts. I consciously try to take them away from their tough and scrappy day-to-day lives and help them feel something deeper. Ethel plays a major role in that philosophy.

Anyone in the West who is involved in Balkan music and culture owes a deep debt of gratitude to both Ethel Raim and Martin Koenig.

Mary Sherhart
Balkan singer