Customer Reviews

Radical Harmonies

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This documentary is a must for everyone! It traces the roots of woman's music from the "early days" to the present. It was very nostalgic for me remembering many of the women's concerts and festivals I had attended years ago. Considering the number of women performers, most of them are represented in the video. A few might be missing but I think this tape is wonderful. A great gift for your womyn friends!!! Thank you Dee Mosbacher!

Put on your birkenstocks, strum your guitar, and sit back and love the
energy of this documentary. Or just watch it for the unprecedented history and well-made documentary. It's wonderful, regardless of your age,
gender, sex, or sexuality. It's informative, it's inspiring, it's a
tribute to women's and lesbian music and history, and it's definitely "RA
RA" in the best of ways. You will laugh, you will learn, you will
sing-along, you may even get a little moisture in your eyes -- and you
will definitely come out empowered.

Producer/Director Dee Mosbacher has made a masterpiece to tribute the
women who paved the road for women's and lesbian liberation. Focusing on
the Michigan Women's Music Festival -- but really telling the story of so
much more in the grand scheme of women's liberation -- the film has
interviews with music greats (and queer feminist icons) like Amy Ray,
Tracy Chapman, Melissa Ethridge, Ani Difranco, Holly Near; the list goes
on. Each one speaks poignantly, emotionally, and politically about what
the festival means to them, and how women's music has been such a great
part of the women's liberation movement. There are also clips from
Michigan festivals throughout its history, of the performances, the
speeches, and the audience.

Not only has Dee Mosbacher been an Academy-Award nominee for documentary
filmmaking, Radical Harmonies also won Best Documentary at the San
Francisco LGBT film festival and Best Soundtrack at OutFest L.A.. There is
no doubt that this is a masterpiece -- both the film itself and the story
it tells.

I am a "50-something" native Texan lesbian who discovered this music in the early 80's at Book Woman in Austin (after driving a long time to get there). At that time there was very little "community" or sense of belonging for us. The womyn's music literally saved my life!

Watching this documentary was fun, informative and very nostalgic for me. The beginnings of the movement are talked about, as well as the development of Olivia Records, Ladyslipper distribution, women's music concerts and festivals, etc. There are also interviews with a lot of the women involved, including Cris Williamson, Holly Near, Margie Adam, Linda Tillery, June Millington, Mary Watkins, members of Sweet Honey in the Rock and more. Not only did the women compose and perform but they had to learn production, sound and technical equipment, setting up festivals and concerts, distribution, etc. They were truly pioneers!

Not all of the women involved were lesbian. The movement was about all women. Several different cultures and genres were included as the movement evolved.

Since watching the dvd, I have begun listening to my music from that time period again. It's amazing how much of the music speaks to our current issues. I highly recommend this documentary to anyone (especially women) who are interested in the "herstory" of women's music. It's very positive, uplifting and empowering.

I found this at my library and we loved it so much, we bought a copy. What a great presentation of the Herstory of Women's Music! The documentary is very well-paced and filled with exquisite performances of "Wimmen's Music's" most luminous and well loved performers, both when they were young as well as older.
I would dare to call this the "Woodstock of Lesbian/Women's Music". The courage of so many women to create an actual entire infrastructure to put Women's Music out there in the public domain will be illuminating and informative to those who never had this genre on their radar from the '70s through the early '90s.
This is an important section of our history. Highly recommended!