Listener Survey/Order form insert, Donation insert, and Lyrics/Photo insert included. Vinyl plays nicely (play-graded). Cover looks great; a few creases near edges; very light-scuffing, discoloration spots, and surface impressions (front/back); a few tiny surface abrasions on back. Inner-sleeve is original (generic white). Spine is easy-to-read with mild-wear. Shelf-wear along top/bottom-edge and corners. Opening is crisp with signs of light use and divots. Jacket made in Canada. (Not a cut-out.)
This album chronicles the third annual Sisterfire Festival, a gathering of women artists in various media and from various cultures. The musical portion includes a broad range of styles that takes in folk songs, spirituals, poetry, and Women's Music. The unifying thread is an orientation toward liberal politics, particularly on an international level. Sweet Honey in the Rock's medley travels from Chile to South Africa in its condemnation of government oppression and apartheid, while Alexis Deveaux's poem Everyone Is Nicaragua celebrates a country struggling against efforts by the U.S. to topple its government. The international flavor is extended through songs actually sung in languages other than English: Amparo Ochoa's Mujer in Spanish and Ronnie Gilbert's Ghannu Ma'i in Lebanese. Folksinger Cathy Fink's rendition of Si Kahn's Coal Mining Woman harks back to old unionist sentiments, and Holly Near (whose Redwood Records label released this LP) contributes her lively lesbian song A Perfect Night and recalls turn-of-the-century anarchist Emma Goldman in Emma. The album opens and closes with renditions of This Little Light of Mine and periodically features spirituals: Jane Sapp's Go Tell It on the Mountain, Moving Star Hall Singers' Oh Mother Don't You Worry 'Bout Me, and Flora Molton's Do Lord Remember Me. The performers are all women, and the subject matter reflects women's concerns, but the overall tone of the collection is oriented toward left-wing topical folk music, circa the mid-'80s.