http://tinyspark.sugarcube.net/articles/melodymaker0196.htm Melody Maker 1996-01 By David Bennun "[unknown title]" Björk picks the women who most affected her during her "maddest year ever", which is no doubt saying something. Vidgis Vigdis is the current president of Iceland, which demonstrates that, as an Icelander, you have a better chance of international recognition as a pop star than as a stateswoman. Whether this is of any significance, I have no idea. "It's her last year, and she has been the best President. We're having an election next year, but I can't think of any person that's going to replace her. I think it's going to be impossible. She's very fresh, she's got a very open mind, she's very well-educated, got a very loving heart. She came to my show in Iceland one and half years ago, and she just described it in purely love terms. I think leaders who are that way...it sounds really easy, simple and naive, of course they should be...but I don't think there's very many that can." PJ Harvey Polly Harvey, known to her many fans as PJ, is one of the leading beat stars among young people today. You may already have heard of her. "I HAVE to be very boring and predictable and everybody's going to puke, I mean, Polly's still my hero. I can't think of anyone, especially not a girl, that's outdone her. I could talk about her for 9 hours. I think the new album is brilliant. Polly's got very, very many sides to her. She used to play a brass instrument in an orchestra. Everybody just thinks she's the rock chick, but it's got absolutely nothing to do with that. think she's going to stick in there for another 50 years, simply doing new things. I don't really think I have a lot in common with her. I don't know her very well, but we've met a few times. We send each other presents. She sends me a little - no, it's a secret, it's too personal. It's not really good to say that." Nicolette / Leila Arab Distinctive singer with "Shut Up And Dance" and, more recently, on Massive Attack's last album, Nicolette has recently released her own single "No Goverment", about how great it would be if there were no goverment, like in Somalia. Leila Arab is a member of Björk's band, concentrating on live mixing. "Musically I admire Nicolette. I think she's going to come up with something gorgeous now, apart from being this divine gorgeous person. And I really admire Leila. I thinks he is the voice of a new generation, you know, people that are not English, but they are English. She comes from an Iranian background. It seems to be the majority of English youth, that's coming up now, are people that are not from here at all, that have got all of these other references and points of view from English music." "It seems that English music has got so far from rock, just an international mess of everything., because everybody's been influenced all over the world by the same things because of radio and TV. It's brilliant, we have to let go of the past and think in universal terms. I don't think MTV is God. I think it's just one of the things that's come up in society. I get really angry when I think of all the opportunity MTV has to communicate the world, and they are missing out on 90 per cent of it because they are so conservative, and it just sucks. Once again it's the lack of faith in normal people. Everybody thinks normal people are stupid, which is just bollocks." Jane Campion New Zealand film director who gained worldwide fame with "The Piano", featuring a mute Holly Hunter, a nude Harvey Keitel, and a beached piano. She has yet to be pencilled in for the "Die Hard" series. "I've been a big admirer of her since day one. I know "The Piano" came out last year, but anyway. I just love how she's so obedient to her instincts, I think that's so rare. I would love to work with her. That's the only person I've ever thought of myself doing music film with." "I usually don't think of people in terms of sex. I don't like it when people are only one sex, you see. I like it when they're both. Part of this kind of woman-feminism bollocks that's been going on this century is that a lot of them misunderstand it in the way that they have to be feminine. So a lot of women's literature, art, whatever is only feminine. Which is crap, because the best male authors are both. when I read a lot of feminist literature, it just pisses me off. Jane Campion is one of the few people who manages to be both" Martina Tricky's singing partner, who performs the unprecedented feat of being selected in both the Women and Men Of The Year categories. "I love the way that her voice makes sense of Tricky's chaos. She sees the logic in it, even though she is singing his words, her interpretation is half of it all. It's what I've been saying to Tricky - even when you work with the best singers in the universe, it just doesn't come anywhere close, because the chemistry between them is so immaculate. It's like this underground rust-free steel cord between them that I'm not even sure they know about. To find your other half musically, maybe it's just once in a lifetime." "I don't want to take anything away from Tricky, because I think that album is the best for years and years, but I think people really underrate her. I saw them at Reading, and it was brilliant how Martina had really developed, come into full bloom. They just flourished. Reading was wonderful. When they put my name up in fireworks, it was a surprise to me. I didn't know they were going to do it. I never got to see it. This year's gone so mad, though. It's probably been my maddest year ever. I've personally won my biggest victories and lost my biggest battles this year. It's been very dramatic." Astrid Lindgren / Tove Jansson Scandinavian authors and creatores of, respectively, Pippi Longstocking and the Moomins. Fot those who don't know, Pippi was a prepubescent anarchist blessed with a treasure chest full of doubloons and immense physical strength. The Moomins began as a family of cute, adventuresome trolls, but their later appearances were marked by a Bergmanesque delicacy and gloom. "I didn't realize until I started reading the books for my son what a fucking rebel Pippi Longstocking is like. Fuck the feminists, I'll put them in the fire and burn them all, whatever, but Pippi Longstocking - yesss! Punk, Sex Pistols, they're fake compared to her. Her message was, no parents, unlimited money, you don't go to school, you eat when you want to, you sleep when you want to. She was the strongest person in the world, so if the police try to stop you doing things, you just put them in the air and throw them away". "And Tove Jannson. Those drawings and those books. When people mention Winnie the Pooh being Taoist, he's nothing compared to the Moomin literature. They're just immaculate tales. My favorite character is the loner with the pipe, who never owns anything - I don't know what you'd call him in English. (Snufkin- Moomin Ed)). But as you get older, you have to identify with the real Moomin, because he was the most human of them all. I understand the Scandinavian-ness to it, although most Icelanders would rather be shot than be called Scandinavian. There's a big pride thing going on there" Gong Li / Lata Mangeshkar Gong Li is China's favorite actress, the star of (among others) "Raise The Red Lantern" and "Shanghai Triad". The late Lata Mangeshkar is the most revered female playback singer in the history of Indian cinema "Since I moved to England, I've ended up being obsessed with Indian and Asian things. My film collection now is 80 per cent Asian, since I moved to London. Gong Li is gorgeous, and Lata Mangeshkar, she is just my queen. I went to Southall and got all her tapes. I don't identify much with English culture. I don't identify with black culture either. It seems to be a lot of English people, they want to be Aretha Franklin, but that's not my problem. But I definitely, really identify with a lot of Asian stuff. Maybe it's because when I was little, I used to be nicknamed China Girl." "Can you be sure to put in Storm and Chemistra as well - ace DJs. They're very brave and very true to themselves. And some woman I can't remember the name of, who had a photographic exhibition of bodies in mud, which she made into some kind of wallpaper. And that's it, really."