Mahsa Salali | piano, voice, movement
Roxanna Albayati | cello, voice, movement Lumanzin | electronics, voice, movement |
Here Are Girls is a creative collaboration between Mahsa Salali (British-Iranian), Roxanna Albayati (Iranian-Iraqi-British), and Lumanzin (Syrian-Brazilian), three artists who found a connection through the similarities and differences between their musical and cultural backgrounds. As an experimental performance trio we focus on music and body improvisation, mixing piano and cello with electronic sounds, trying to keep women in focus to discuss our position in society.
We met in London during summer 2021 and have been performing and improvising on different musical musical ideas. The concept of Here Are Girls, has developed over years of our individual creative practices as female musicians in the art industry. Given that all 3 artists belong to different diasporas, the struggle of belonging and expressing one’s personal voice as an outsider has materialized heavily in this project. The project is a physical and musical exploration of the expectations and constraints which weigh on women through traditional and modern-day struggles. Specifically ideas around how female bodies are presented - the notion of modesty - and how the physical as well as the mental impact it has on women. Our name takes inspiration from the poem "Here Are Girls" by Elisabeth Hewer |