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She Shreds x WORD Present: Women of the World SXSW


February 27, 2020
Written by
Cynthia Schemmer

We teamed up with WORD to present Women of the World SXSW, a showcase of groundbreaking music by and from women all over the world.

We are so excited to announce the She Shreds x WORD SXSW official showcase, Women of the World. This year, we partnered with WORD, a woman-owned LA-based creative agency with a mission to support, connect, and empower businesses invested in elevating our communities. Together we have curated a SXSW experience that promotes unity through a showcase of groundbreaking music inspired by and from women all over the world.

Women of the World SXSW

Who: Amanda Black, Lido Pimienta, Kiana V, Moonchild Sanelly, La Doña, Lady Donli, Madame Gandhi, San Cha, Karma Rivera, VIAA, 79.5, Cumbiatón, and more!
What: She Shreds x WORD Women of the World SXSW Showcase
Where: Cheer Up Charlies
When: Thursday March 19, 2020, 8PM – 2AM. Doors at 7PM.
RSVP via Facebook

Women of the World SXSW will feature a lineup of performers who fuse traditional genres with contemporary style. These artists spin their individual identities and cultures into a refreshing global sound, and expand on what it means to be a musician in 2020:

San Cha

A singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, San Cha is known for her visceral and explosive live performances. Fans of cumbia and punk, bolero and electro, flock to see San Cha’s emotional renditions of traditional Mexican rancheras and original songs that queer conventions of identity, power and love. Her latest album, La Luz De La Esperanza, is written in the form of a surrealist telenovela and effortlessly mixes Spanish and English for a bold confrontation of tradition while respectfully honoring it. 

La Doña

Credit: Natalie Aleman

San Francisco-born Cecilia Cassandra Peña-Govea composes songs that explore her radical brown femininity, inspired by love, sex, pain, and natural disasters. The Mexican-American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist grew up performing professionally as a trumpeter in her parent’s conjunto, eventually mastering instruments such as the guitarrón, vihuela, guitar, and Latin percussion. Identity informs all parts of Peña-Govea’s process as she creates a new style of reggaeton—“Femmeton”—and composes cut-throat rancheras al estilo Tejano, influenced heavily by Bay Area hyphy styles, lowrider culture, Mission muralismo, and musica de la (U.S./Mexico) frontera.

Lido Pimienta

Afro/Indigenous/Colombian/Canadian/punk/folklorist/traditionalist/transgressive/diva/angel—there are so many layers to Canadian-Colombian singer Lido Pimienta’s identity. Her new album, Miss Colombia, takes her ecstatic hybridity to a new level, building on the “nu” intersection of electronica and cumbia established by her first two albums, Color (2010) and the Polaris Prize-winning La Papessa (2016). Miss Colombia overflows with the kind of understated genius that promises yet another breakthrough.

Cumbiatón

Cumbiatón is an intergenerational cultural movement which utilizes music as a vessel to heal and uplift oppressed hood communities. Cumbiatón has rooted itself in the beautiful barrio of Boyle Heights, California and has branched out to cities like San Francisco, Seattle, and New York. Cumbiatón’s vision in all 4 cities is to center womxn and queer people of color both on the dance floor and in the DJ booth. We center our collective experiences to create culturally rich events by us, for us. We do this because la Cumbia es Cultura.

Madame Gandhi

Kiran Gandhi, aka Madame Gandhi, is an electrofeminist singer, percussionist and activist. She released her debut EP, Voices, in October 2016, featuring guest appearances from Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs and Alt-J guitarist Joe Newman. The second installment in the three-part EP series, Visions (2019), focuses on looking inward to imagine the best version of the self, the community, and the world. Prior to her solo work, Gandhi drummed with politically-minded rapper/electronic artist M.I.A. and has also drummed for acts such as Krewella, Lizzo, Thievery Corporation and Kehlani.

VIAA

An LA transplant from Ohio, VIAA has been soaring since branching off as a solo artist, opening for major acts such as T-Pain, Marc E Bassy and Twin Shadow. Her music balances energetic, danceable beats with earnest female empowering lyricism. Layered with sparkling vocal harmonies, sticky hooks & nostalgia, she keeps you coming back for more; to a familiar place you may have never been to, but that you love, nonetheless.

Karma Rivera

Karma Rivera is an American rapper of Puerto Rican descent. Born in Chicago and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Rivera attracted attention in Portland through a series of single releases and film-worthy live performances that can be easily mistaken for a summer house party. With her clever, edgy lyricism and riotous stage persona, Rivera has established herself as one of the brightest rising stars of the Portland hip-hop scene.

79.5

Attempting to pigeonhole 79.5 into something as narrow as a single genre would be an ill-advised, if not impossible, task. The New York City band sounds like someone spinning a radio dial with such passionate intensity that all the stations blend together into a single, transcendent, almost spiritual force. It’s disco to the beat of modern house; it’s a Supremes cover of a Cardi B banger; it’s Roland Kirk playing jazz through one saxophone, funk through another, and the most earwormy pop tune the 1970s could muster through a third.

Kiana V

Kiana V is an R&B artist from Manila, gaining traction and leading the underground music scene with her performance and sound. The successful release of her early singles, Grey EP (2018), and debut full-length See Me (2019), as well as her live performances throughout Southeast Asia showcase the evolution in her songwriting and performance and bringing her to where she is today.

Amanda Black

Amanda Benedicta Antony, aka Amanda Black, was born in Mthatha, in the province of the Eastern Cape. The Afro-soul singer-songwriter released 2016’s Amazulu, her debut album that was certified platinum three weeks after its release, and 2019’s Power. Black’s music tells authentic African stories, weaved with creative storytelling and poetry, showing that she is not only an artist, but one who evokes a unique and timeless voice for this generation. 

Moonchild Sanelly

Moonchild Sanelly’s original brand of electro-pop-ghetto-funk has gained her a reputation as South Africa’s most unique performer. A superstar on her home turf, from her award-winning debut album, Rabualpha, to her recent collabs with Beyonce, Gorillaz, Die Antwoord, Wizkid and Diplo, with many more in the works. Her electrifying stage energy, infectious voice, killer hooks, and unique style make her one of the most sought after acts in South Africa today, whilst her outspoken approach to female sexual empowerment makes her one of the most poignant.

Lady Donli

If you threw R&B, hip hop, alternative jazz, and Afrobeat into an earth wooden bowl and crushed them to bits with raspy, energetic vocals, you might make Lady Donli. Ohio born, Abuja raised, and UK educated, Lady Donli recently released her debut album, Enjoy Your Life, to much critical acclaim. At 23 years old, she is forging her own path as one of the next global African superstars.

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