Annie Lennox: 'Women need to wake up. There's so much to do'

from the Independent UK:




Annie Lennox: 'Women need to wake up. There's so much to do'
Pop's 56-year-old Diva sings less and less these days, but she's eager to take to the stage for a rash of feminist activities this week. Susie Mesure meets Annie Lennox

Sunday, 6 March 2011


Piano chords sound from the next-door dressing-room, signalling an end to my wait; the Diva of pop is finally here. I listen, in vain, for a refrain I might know: from "Sweet Dreams", perhaps, or "Why". I'd even settle for "Walking on Broken Glass", her irritatingly catchy solo number that defined an entire summer for my generation. But before I can make anything out, the music stops and, seconds later, there she is, Britain's most successful female artist.

In her pinstriped trousers and black jacket, with her elfin crop shorter than ever, there is no mistaking Annie Lennox, the Aberdeen-born queen of androgyny, whose penchant for suits back in the 1980s kept alive speculation about her sexual orientation long after her break up – romantically speaking – with Eurythmics' front man, Dave Stewart. Her eyes are instantly drawn to the grand piano in the green room at London's Royal Festival Hall, but my hopes of more tunes are quashed when she heads not for the piano stool, but the sofa.

Her choice is symbolic: given an audience, Lennox, 56, would rather make a different sort of noise. Barring the odd gig, she has swapped her stage mic for a soapbox and couldn't be happier. "Maybe I've just been there and done that," she says of her three-plus decades in the music world, which have seen her notch up worldwide album sales of more than 80 million and win countless awards, including eight Brits, a record for a female singer.

.....(snip).....

Lennox wants all those gyrating booties to help shake people out of the "complacent" stupor that has stalled the feminist movement of late. She is fed up of what she dubs the "I'm-a-feminist-but" attitude, asking: "Why are we not valuing the word feminism when there is so much work to be done in terms of empowerment and emancipation of women everywhere?" Warming to her theme, she cranks up those soft Aberdonian tones a wee notch, asking: "Why are we sitting comfortably within our own bubble and thinking it's all been done and, really, living with the full benefits – all the things that have been achieved so far – when so much of it was done by our great-grandmothers?" She quickly answers her own question. "We, ourselves, are obsessed with celebrity culture and we think that this is all there is, that the Western world is all there is. We take things for granted. I think we are complacent; we're hypnotised by our consumerist culture, hugely, which is just so luxurious and fabulous." ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/annie-lennox-women-need-to-wake-up-theres-so-much-to-do-2233619.html

And really like the love she shares in this song, I think it can not be of bad when of love.

Annie Lennox - Shining Light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfJeQDkz4JU


And also love this song also.
Don´t let it bring you down- by Annie Lennox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1x6u1rkxS4


Actually I like many of her songs :D


:loveya:

Very fortunate to have grown up with her music and her "being".

:headbang: :loveya:

and timely message from Ms. Lennox. So much more to be accomplished, it's true. Past time to give the Corporate Megalomaniacs the ol' heave ho.

Grace Jones too, not sure why they're linked in my memory.

K&R!

we know what feminism is and we never shirk from the word. We are trying our best in these hard times for women. We have not gone anywhere and we are not complacent. We have always numbered men among our members.

We all know people who have feminist values but can't bring themselves to use the word "feminist" to describe themselves. As with "liberal," rightwingers have taken another word and --almost--ruined it. But we stand in their way.

Join us in working for women's rights and in reclaiming feminism. Join at www.now.org/join and also read our website for what we have been doing/saying.