Empowering songs: amplifying women

March 28 is International Women in Music Day! Women have shaped music in so many ways and this Thursday, The Colorado Sound shines a spotlight on them with a daylong musical tribute. Crank up the volume on female musicians, producers, songwriters, industry executives and more from around the world. Listen for the influential legends, who defied norms and shaped the sound of generations. We’ll also highlight those who are making strides into the future. We invite you to discover and let the music move you. 🎵

Featuring

Producers

Sylvia Massey – This Grammy Award winning producer, engineer and mixing master owns the world’s largest vintage microphone collection. She has a legendary client list, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Aerosmith, Taylor Hawkins, Johnny Cash, Tool and many more. She began her career working at Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard before becoming a staff engineer at Larrabee Sound in West Hollywood. She operated RadioStar Studios near Mount Shasta in Weed, California for over a decade, is an author, was a visiting professor at Berklee College of Music and has taught at the Abbey Road Institute.

Susan Rogers – Professor, sound engineer, record producer, a renaissance woman in the music world. Best known for her work with Prince during the height of his popularity, she was his staff engineer for albums like Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day, and Sign o’ the Times. You can thank her for the sweet guitar solo in “Let’s Go Crazy.” After engineering for Prince, she went on to produce for acts like David Byrne, Barenaked Ladies and Toad the Wet Sprocket. She has a doctorate in music cognition and psychoacoustics from McGill University.

Musicians

Arooj Aftab – The first Pakistani artist to win a Grammy Award in the category Best Global Music Performance for her song “Mohabbat” in 2022. Born in Saudi Arabia to Pakistani expats; she moved to Pakistan at age 10, then taught herself to play guitar and learned to sing by listening to artists like Mariah Carey, Begum Aktar and Billie Holiday. Now, she has one of the most distinct and beautiful voices in music.

Black Belt Eagle Scout – Katherine Paul’s amazing band name reflects her blend of Pacific Northwest rock with the music traditions of the Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. She was raised in the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community on the Puget Sound in Washington and is based out of Oregon. Katherine is a multi-instrumentalist who has released an EP and three studio albums.

Les Amazones d’Afrique – A world music supergroup from Mali. They came out swinging with their debut song in 2015 “I Play the Kora,” a global call for women to come together to fight injustice. The kora is an instrument, combining lute and harp, that is native to West Africa. Women were banned from playing the instrument for many years. Their music is quite unique, great harmonies while combining pan-African styles with pop music.

Label Founder

Estelle Axton – Co-founder of Stax Records with her brother Jim Stewart. Axton and her brother turned the Capitol Theatre, located in an urban neighborhood in Memphis Tennessee, into a recording studio of worldwide renown. Her accomplishments include signing and developing music legends like Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding and Booker T & the M.G.’s.