Fanny Chiarello - BASTA NOW: Women, Trans & Non-binary in Experimental Music

Basta Now: Women, Trans & Non-binary in Experimental Music is a non-academic essay by French poet, novelist and music enthusiast Fanny Chiarello. It’s also the first book to be published by Permanent Draft, an all-female record label and micro-press founded by musician Valentina Magaletti and writer Fanny Chiarello, dedicated to promoting contemporary female, non-binary and transgender artists. Basta Now is essentially a huge (yet admittedly not definitive) overview of 2,371 womxn in the global experimental sound & music scene. It's been written in playful and compelling prose and stylishly presented with photos, illustrations, and discographies. “This book has nothing against men, it’s just not about them.” (Fanny Chiarello) “In 2017, I set out to identify women from around the world making experimental music, who I considered worthy of more attention. Ever since, I've been adding names almost every day to an ever-expanding document, with a short biography for each, collated from online press or the artist’s website. For a long time, I wondered what form to give to this database. I didn't want an academic approach, moreover I am neither a musicologist nor even an essayist but a novelist and a poet. When Valentina and I decided to found our all-female experimental music label, we thought it was time to give it a try. My book does not claim to be exhaustive, not even to cover the innumerable fields covered by the term "experimental music", but it will invite readers to open up and set out to discover a very rich and largely unrecognised universe. I think of all the curators who say that they would like to move towards a parity of guest artists but that they don't know where to find women, and I dream that this book will be part of the answer – not as it would prescribe but as it would just say "Hey guys, open your eyes, they are just there, they are everywhere..." (Fanny Chiarello) -- Basta Now serves as a joyful read, a beautifully designed object, and a timely reminder of a prevailing bias in the contemporary arts landscape. Fanny Chiarello has previously published novels, poetry, and children’s literature in France, notably A Happy Woman: One Month in New York with Meredith Monk. Basta Now is her first book written in English.