Ella Suena, an international initiative that makes women in music visible

What began as a homemade idea on a street in the state of Hidalgo, with just five participants, has transformed in just over five years not only into a growing collective of female drummers in Mexico: it is today an important movement of international reach that annually brings together more than 500 women performers of that and other instruments – from Latin America and Europe – and has a resonance on social networks of almost 2 million people.

Such is, in summary, the story of Ella Suena, an artistic and social project headed by the drummer of Argentine origin Cintia Concia with the purpose of making female talent visible, promoting gender equality and demanding greater inclusion of women in the music industry.

“This project was born to give visibility to women in music in a peaceful way, creating presentations and spaces where they can show themselves,” explains the cultural manager in an interview with The Day.

“There is also political work, since we are promoting a law so that there are more women on stages and in the music industry in general, not only singers, but also instrumentalists, audio engineers, lighting and technical equipment.”

As part of that company, in March of last year, in the context of Women’s Month, the collective held a drum festival in the Senate of the Republic, with the participation of 15 drummers from Hidalgo, Chiapas, Michoacán, Querétaro and Mexico City.

This activity will be replicated tomorrow in the same venue on the occasion of International Women’s Day, but expanded. “It will be called Sounds of equality; In this presentation we will give a voice to women deprived of liberty, indigenous people and orphans. It will be a concert with singing and music from guitars and drums,” Concia anticipates, who adds that the action will be repeated in Morelia, Michoacán, on a date to be confirmed.

Regarding the progress of the aforementioned legislation, he clarifies that it has not yet been finalized. “We know that there are other movements working on similar laws, and we believe that it has a political cost, but we continue to insist.”

In her opinion, it is an imperative legal framework, since less than 20 percent of those who make a living from music in Mexico are women, despite the fact that in the specialty schools, she says, participation is almost half and half. “This shows that inequality is not in training, but in access to job opportunities within the industry. Furthermore, it is often believed that having women visible on a poster is enough, but when the entire team behind it is analyzed – musicians, technicians, staff– the proportion is once again very unequal.”

Art behind the walls

Concia describes Ella Suena’s most recent initiative as a “great challenge”: bringing music to women deprived of liberty. Under the title She’s Got the Groove: Sounds of freedom, It took place in mid-January at the Federal Center for Social Rehabilitation (Cefereso) number 16 –exclusively for women–, located in Morelos.

The activity was the fourth and “most complicated” of an initiative sponsored by the Yamaha brand and its social movement She’s Got the Groove, with which Ella Suena has collaborated since 2019.

“It was very complicated, because it is a space that you normally do not think of entering. They are vulnerable populations.

“They told us that they had gone through delicate situations, including ‘a wave of suicides’ some time ago. Bringing them music was very important,” says the drummer.

The workshop-concert was held as part of a family camp. “It was not only with them (the women deprived of their liberty), but also with their families, that they were able to enter the prison. Many times we want to do prevention from the outside, but here we were able to do it from within, bringing messages to both them and their children.”

Around 200 people participated, including inmates and their families. Of the inmates, about 30 took the percussion workshop, while the rest received a concert-conference with messages of prevention and improvement.

“Prevention is not just based on saying: ‘no to drugs,’” explains the interpreter. “We work from giving value to life, to dreams, to personal purpose. We use music as a tool. When someone dares to play, they break fears, nerves and discover that they can start something different. That shows that you can start again.”

The event, he stressed, “leaves a clear lesson: music does not open bars, but it does open internal spaces where hope breathes again.”

From the street to cyberspace

Ella Suena was born in 2019 due to the evident lack of women on drums. The first event, in Pachuca, Hidalgo, brought together five participants from various professions.

“During the pandemic we grew a lot through the Internet, online festivals and social networks. Today we have ambassadors in other countries and an international network,” says its founder. Participation is 500 women a year, and its reach on social networks is around 1.8 million people, according to a recent count, he adds.

The link with Yamaha was strengthened when the collective’s work, included in She’s Got the Groove, was awarded first place in a global contest for social initiatives promoted in 2019 by that Japanese instrument brand.

In addition to the prison incursion, Concia specifies that the other three actions of that social exercise, carried out in the last semester of last year, consisted of a workshop in a home for girls in Zacatecas, in October; a prevention workshop for almost a thousand students at a high school in Hidalgo, in November, and a presentation with more than 20 drummers in the Chamber of Deputies, in August.

“Why do we continue?” asks the cultural manager. “Because we see the change. From five drummers at the beginning, today we are much more than 20 per activity. More and more girls are inspired, more and more women have their voice. We believe that for change to be real, public policies and legislation are needed, in addition to cultural work,” he signs.

“We do not believe that only good will will achieve this; we are convinced that if this law is promoted, the panorama will change completely: new generations will no longer wonder if women can be drummers.”

Along with her public actions, Ella Suena produces a television program in streaming, broadcast live on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. on their YouTube account and Facebook profile, where it is possible to access previous broadcasts. Drummers and players of other instruments from Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain and Germany have participated.