SheBoom

“SheBoom defined Girl power long
before The Spice Girls or Xena, Warrior Princess appeared on the scene.”

Twenty Scottish women drummers,
probably joined by the same amount of local women, marching through the centre
of Ljubljana, performing an infectious mix of Afro-Brazilian samba, African,
Latin-American and Celtic rhythms: an opening to the 4th CITY OF WOMEN International
Festival of Contemporary Arts which will be loud and memorable.
SheBoom is their name. If you
haven’t heard of them, you might have heard their percussion backing on The Pet
Shop Boys’ album Bilingual.
Or maybe you saw them on T.V. in
September last year, when CNN reported on the ecstatic atmosphere in Glasgow
immediately after the Scottish vote for more independence.
These women started rehearsing on
their heavyweight surdos, high-pitched repeniques, tom-drums, snare-drums,
tambourines, shakers, bells, congas and bongos back in 1993. Since then,
they’ve delighted crowds in Scotland, England, Germany and Spain. The
Independent newspaper described their gig in London’s Royal Albert Hall as: “An
astonishing all-women troupe of drummers, whose thunderous hammering filled
Albert Hall like some joyous primal scream”. This year they
released their first CD. Ecstatic and funny.

Line-up: tom-drums: Carole Davis, Sheila Doogan, Mary Connor, Jenny Spence, Elaine
Wardrope, Adrienne Hannah, Karen Martin, Bex Woodsford, Joyce Nicholson, Kim
McCormick, Trish McKay, Chris Morrow; repenique: Gail Graves, Emma More, Linda
Mahoney, Helen Smith, Chris Morrow; snare-drums: Emma More, Linda
Mahoney, Sarah Leanney; surdu: Magda Ang, Isabel Park, Lori Sullivan, Helen
Smith.

In collaboration
with Retina Ljubljana - Metelkova
With the
generous support of The British Council, Slovenia
Sponsorsed by
British Airways