Music: Faarrow

This article is part of our Create & Cultivate 100 List created in collaboration with KEDS, you can view the full Music List Here.

Touching the world through song.

Somali sisters Siham and Iman Hashi makeup the Canadian pop duo Farrow, a name which combines combines the translation of their names into English -- Iman means "Faith" and Siham means “Arrow." They released their debut EP “Lost” in 2016, with tracks like “Shut Up” and “Chasing Highs,” both deal with subjects of empowerment.  

They released since “Rule the World,”  a jazz-infused pop track in 2013 and then took a three-year intermission while working on their EP with producer Elijah Kelley. The majority of the tracks are written and produced by the sisters and Elijah. 

The sisters are also political refugees from Somalia, who took refuge in Canada. Born in the Somali capital of Mogadishu they fled the country after war broke out in 1991. They are the the first female Somali artists to sign a major deal with a U.S. label. 

Though to the music world they are “pop,” Faarrow sees their work a bit differently. “We feel like the culture clash of our upbringing really shaped who we are as women and artists,” they share. ‘Our music is what we like to call underdog, girl power anthems and has the spirit of breaking out and wanting to be heard.” 

They’ve found that “the biggest challenge,” to their work has been, “people trying to put us in a box when there are so many layers to us.” It’s music they’ve said is “pop with undertones of hip hop and rhythmic African percussion. It's a fusion of everything.”

Having recently walked away from their record label, they gained more insight into themselves and their music. “The relationship between us became so toxic that we had to walk away. The biggest thing we learned was when a situation creates chaos within yourself, the best thing to do is let it go.”

"When a situation creates chaos, the best thing to do is let it go.”

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These are wise words from women, but this duo also describes themselves as “ageless.” 

Siham and Iman are wearing Keds' Triple Metallic and Triple Solids.

“Being able to see yourself in every woman regardless of race, class, religion..." the site duo says. "When that happens empowerment is just a byproduct.” 

Boundless as well. In the last five years they say their relationship to their career has changed for the better. “We've completely let go of the notion that a label or anyone for that matter can make or break us. We are the architects of our lives.” Dream gigs include performing at the World Cup. They like to keep it in the family. “Dad was a professional soccer player in Somalia and I think we'd secretly be fulfilling one of his dreams as well,” they share. 

As for secrets to success? “We're taking responsibility for everything that happens in our life both good and bad. Thankfully it’s mostly good.”  

Their music and their capital "P" Purpose, which includes working with the UNHCR, keeps them going. “We know that our musical gift is our tool to touch the world.”

Styling provided by Reservoir LA. Hair and makeup provided by Glamsquad. Photography courtesy of Light Lab and Woodnote Photography.

Music: Anna Bulbrook

This article is part of our Create & Cultivate 100 List created in collaboration with KEDS, you can view the full Music List Here.

Taking us all to #GIRLSCHOOL

After spending the last ten years onstage performing with bands like Edward Sharpe and The Airborne Toxic Event (work which nabbed the violinist/musician a Grammy, hello) GIRLSCHOOL founder Anna Bulbrook noticed a lack of women on-stage with “increasing urgency.” 

GIRLSCHOOL, an LA-based music and arts festival that celebrates and connects female-identified artists, leaders, and voices in an inclusive, action-oriented, and forward-thinking way launched one year ago, with its first annual weekend-long festival. It was dubbed FIELD DAY WEEKEND, hosted at the Bootleg Theater in LA.

As someone who has been playing music nearly her entire life, the multi-instrumentalist knew she had to find the answers to questions she couldn't stop asking herself: "How can we generate the positive force to change this dynamic? How can we celebrate and lift talented women past the local level? How can we flip the script and make it cool to be a talented woman in rock?" 

The festival was the first part of the puzzle and this month marks GIRLSCHOOL’s second festival. “For me,” explains Anna, “it has become an amazing reason to intentionally connect with other women doing cool things in the space of music and intersectional feminism.” She can’t imagine her life without the community she's building and continues to learn from other powerful women along her journey.

Her favorite life advice comes from Fabi Reyna, who started She Shreds, the women’s first guitar magazine who told her, “Get a little better every time.”

"It's scary to do something new, especially in public, and you can't skip steps," shares Anna. "But the beautiful thing is that action begets action begets more action."    

Older for Anna doesn’t necessarily mean wiser: “I have a major professional crush on Tavi Gevinson, for being unabashedly precocious, and for celebrating her diverse talents.” But she will admit there has been plenty of self growth since running away with a band at 23. “I'm so glad I drank the rock'n'roll Kool-Aid” she laughs, “and I'm glad it worked out. I've had so many wild experiences from being in a band!” But she’s also “grateful to be growing into this next phase of life, and to be getting to build something for my community.”

That means she’s more intentional in her choices. “I used to make life decisions in an instinctive or reactive way.” With GIRLSCHOOL she says she has a “clearer picture of where I want to go, and the kinds of people I want to share that process with, and am working to create those opportunities instead of 'catching' them.” Along this journey she says she's getting more patient, exercises daily with few exceptions, is taking on modern dance, and "has one excellent cup of coffee per day," that she likes to make herself.   

"When it comes to creating change, there is magic in critical mass."

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“There is power in knowing and loving each other in person,” explains the musician. "And when it comes to creating change, there is magic in critical mass. So, I love our frighteningly talented artists. I love the brilliant and dynamic team of women who are assembling behind-the-scenes to make GIRLSCHOOL better and better, and who bring my level up as a person in the world every day. I love the magic that happens when everyone gets together. I love feeling part of something bigger than myself. And I love learning how to be better as person, friend, artist, leader.”

As for what's next? "I want to raise a million dollars for charity. And I want to meet Michelle Obama." 

Styling provided by Reservoir LA. Hair and makeup provided by Glamsquad. Photography courtesy of Light Lab and Woodnote Photography.

Music: Lorely Rodriguez, Empress Of

This article is part of our Create & Cultivate 100 List created in collaboration with KEDS, you can view the full Music List Here.

The Empress has arrived. 

Empress Of, fill in the blank. Because it could be anything. 

The producer and musician (also, Libra) known to her parents as Lorely Rodriguez has been tinkering on the family piano from an early age. Coming from a musical family and a childhood spent listening to her dad's Beatles albums, the 27-year-old, studied classical and jazz for about 13 years. At 17 she got a laptop and has been making electronic music ever since. 

When she released her first album, Lorely revealed that it was written mainly in solitude in Mexico. A state of being, the musician shares, that “is so extreme and forces you to deal with a lot of your own personal shit." She claims, "I needed something really drastic like that for my first album because I didn’t really know what kind of album I wanted to make. To some extent, I always make music in solitude because…I work alone!"

Empress Of is her solo project, but the LA-native isn't sure she'd take the same approach again, at least not at the moment. "I don’t think I need to go to the extreme of being in a lake town by myself for a month right now,” she says. 

What she does need is more time to cook for herself, as well as “coffee and museums and weird ‘70s horror movies.” As well as playing live shows. “I love that part so much,” she says. She also maintains that though singles are the “immediate songs that grab a listener,” she “loves albums and will probably always make music thinking about that bigger picture.” She's currently working on her second album, an experience she's called an "emotional roller coaster-- not so much making the music, but playing it for other people." 

After moving home to LA from New York last year (the musician won’t tell us what coast she prefers, only admitting that she enjoys "not freezing"), she harps that she think it’s important to follow your intuition, “like Jewel song.” In all seriousness Empress Of knows the importance of “believing in the choices you make as it is your art and company you are representing.” 

More from Empress Of below. 

Who are the people you consider your mentors or influences and why? 

I look at the careers of people I really respect. Bjork has always been a big mentor for me. Frida Kahlo as well. 

What does female empowerment mean to you? 

That phrase means equality to me. Having the same opportunities regardless of your race, sex or sexual orientation.

How does it feel to be a woman in the music industry?

It feels great. It feels like all the other things you would imagine being a woman in most industries would feel like, challenging and under represented. I am very excited to work towards a day where I don't have to talk about being a woman making music and I can just talk about making music. But as far as the industry, I put my opinions out into my music so usually, most the people I work with know I won't put up with archaic mentalities. 

"I won't put up with archaic mentalities."

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What are some of the biggest challenges you've encountered along the way? 

Doing something else when the one thing you relied on isn't going to work. There is no formula for being a successful artist today. I try not to let that stop me or my career. Being really creative and thinking up the next and the next and the next thing to do is part of everyday of this job. 

What is the best piece of "real talk" advice you've received? 

I think the one thing that has always stuck with me is trust yourself. 

International Women’s Day is coming up. It's a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. If you could steer the conversation around International Women’s Day, what would that dialogue be about? 

I would love to talk about the future of women in the world. How can we educate future generations of men and woman on social equality so we can achieve even more progress?

Why Selling Out Doesn't Mean What It Once Did

"Selling out" has long been considered the scourge of the creative. The dollar sign death knell to the artistic soul. But relationships to career and goals change. Certainly, the economy has changed. And the dreams of our twenties take different shape in our thirties.

Life happens, moving us along-- sometimes unwillingly-- and we find ourselves in the crevice between the rock and the hard place, making important decisions about the "business" of our art. OR, in the best case scenario, this next step is so fluid, so sensible, we can't help but forge ahead.

Because living the dream implies that there is only room in your life for one.

We don't think that's true.  

It's something that Anna Bulbrook, violinist/musician and now, founder of GIRLSCHOOL, an LA-based music and arts festival that celebrates and connects female-identified artists, leaders, and voices in an inclusive, action-oriented, and forward-thinking way know something about. This past January GIRLSCHOOL launched its first annual weekend-long festival, called FIELD DAY WEEKEND at the Bootleg Theater in LA. The goal is to spearhead "creative or community-based events, online editorial content, and collaborations with organizations that create or support positive change." 

So we chatted with Anna about gold records (she's got one), living "the dream," and why building a business was the next smart and oh-so-soulfilling step.  

How has your relationship to career changed from your early twenties until now?

When I was 23, I left my corporate job and ran away with the circus—I mean an indie rock band—for what turned into ten years. I saw an opportunity and I needed to see how far we could take it. With nothing to lose but a job I was lukewarm about at best, I’m so glad I did.

… Because we took it pretty far. We put out several studio albums on major labels, toured the world, did a bunch of TV shows, music festivals, all that good stuff. I even have my gold record hanging up somewhere.

That said, I’m in a different place now. I’m 33. I’ve gotten to “live the dream,” and see it through to its logical conclusion. I now want the ability to drive my future for myself. I want to put my money where my mouth is, and to make something that serves others. I want to support women in music. And I want to build a business that can carry me into my 40s and 50s. (And unless you’re in U2, that business is not being a sideman in an alternative rock band.)

"I want to support women in music. And I want to build a business that can carry me into my 40s and 50s."

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I also want some creature comforts: I want to be home on weekends and holidays. I want to participate in the cultural life of my city. I want to be present for my friends and relationships. That stuff is all real.

A lot of creatives feel the pressure to ‘stay the course’ with their dreams, sometimes to their detriment. When and how do you think “giving up” makes sense? 

Rigidity is the enemy of… everything. Throughout life, what you want can and will change. Your needs change. Your identity can change. Maybe your family situation changes, and it clarifies things. Maybe you just wake up one day and see things you never saw before. (That has happened to me a couple of times now.) These changes can happen slowly or instantaneously. And when they happen, there is zero shame in changing course, admitting that your feelings have shifted, or acknowledging that an earlier approach doesn’t work anymore.

I try to look at it as exploring and being open to what needs to happen, rather than “giving up.” The single most important thing in life is to do things as opposed to not doing them—even if that means closing a chapter to make room for something new, or taking a break to earn some income for a while.

Adrien Young, Anna Bulbrook, and Jasmine Lywen-Dill. Photo by Jen Rosenstein.

Why did you decide that this point in your career was the right time for Girlschool?

I didn’t think too hard about it. As soon as it occurred to me to do it, I went for it. If I had slowed down to think it through, would I have talked myself out of it? Would I have missed out on all this learning? Or would I have found a different challenge to take on? The beauty of signing yourself up to do something, and then figuring it out, is that doing is incredibly powerful. You can’t decide if something was successful, or fun, or completely sucky, unless you’ve done it first.

Without that first test-run of Girlschool, we wouldn’t have proven that this great un-met need existed. We wouldn’t have attracted an assembly of amazing women to work together to build Girlschool into a proper little music festival and brand. And we wouldn’t have discovered all the other ways that Girlschool can help to create a space and a platform for talented women to connect. 

How do you strike the balance between being creative/following your passion and also making money? 

I think transitions are by definition intense. When I went from working full time to being in a band, I spent a full year pulling 60-hour work weeks, plus recording with two bands, plus using all of my vacation days to go on tour. (The things you do when you’re 23!) It was hard, and I didn’t sleep a lot, and I wasn’t in the best shape. But at the end of that year, I had played on two records that changed the course of my entire life (the first The Airborne Toxic Event album, and the first Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros album), and I was in a very, very different place than when I started.

"Rigidity is the enemy of… everything."

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This year, I’ve been in a double transition. My band is on hiatus, so I’ve had to rebuild my income in addition to building Girlschool. This year, I worked harder than I did when I was 23 for less money. I took a lot of risks, I made mistakes (which I hate doing), I didn’t sleep a lot, and I recently bought some “relaxed fit” jeans. But I made it work because I care too much about Girlschool to not find a way.

I should add that in addition to earning money by playing violin, I landed a summer-long producing job this year because of… Girlschool. And even though it slowed me down a little bit with Girlschool stuff, I was happy to have the job because it supported me while letting me sharpen my Girlschool skills in a bigger sandbox.

So when I say that it’s OK to do things differently than you ever have before, I mean it.

Also, “relaxed fit” jeans are amazingly comfortable.

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