Music is she

A female-led music festival is born

When Amira Al-Jiboori and Casii Stephan started playing music together in the fall of 2015, they found themselves impressed with the wide variety of talented female artists in the Tulsa music scene. 

“As we began meeting and becoming friends with some of these woman, we thought, ‘why don’t we plan an all-female led showcase?’” Al-Jaboori said. 

Though they figured their solid relationships with local bar managers would make it a simple thing to accomplish, they ran into difficulties getting everyone organized, so it fizzled for a while. 

“But the dream was still very much alive,” Al-Jaboori said.

Around the same time, Ryan Howell, who had recently started working at River Parks with the goal of increasing and diversifying its programming, attended one of their shows.

Howell knew Al-Jiboori and Stephan from booking them for another music festival, and mentioned that he’d been thinking about how great a female-centric event could be. With that, the ball was rolling.

“It seemed like a natural idea to turn it into a one day music festival,” Stephan said. 

So Howell pitched the idea to his boss, got the OK, and out of a small idea meant to support and showcase women, MisFEST: Music is She Music Festival was born.

To be held May 13, 2017 at River West Festival Park, and in partnership with Tanninger Companies and Fowler Toyota of Tulsa, MisFEST is the first-of-its-kind for Tulsa. 

“A lot of festivals are built around a certain genre of music,” Howell said. “MisFEST crosses all those genres. Each artist was carefully selected to show the broad diversity of Tulsa’s female talent. We’re focused solely on music—highlighting powerful women playing powerful music and showing how they can shred on stage.” 

Indeed, MisFEST has booked some of the most dynamic acts in Oklahoma, from the harder driving rock of Fiawna Forte, KALO and Vagittarius to the country and singer songwriter stylings of Carter Sampson, Cassi Stephan and Rachel La Vonne to the rambunctious funk-and-soul style of Branjae. 

Busting stereotypes and expanding expectations of what women are doing musically is essential to the heart of MisFEST, and Al-Jiboori said festivalgoers should expect a wide range of talent to be on display. 

“Just because it’s ‘female-led’—don’t assume you know what that sounds like. Each woman expresses her art differently, and I want people to see that.” 

The name MisFEST—or Music is She—is meant to reflect the diversity and power of the women represented onstage, and to affirm the idea that women have a role, and a right, to be a vital force
in the Tulsa music scene, a concept that is especially moving
for Stephan.  

“To me it represents the role of the female in all aspects of being a musician, a sound engineer or in production. You have to feel the music, the beat, the flow … it’s a way of expressing her story. It’s her way of communicating her deepest thoughts and dreams.”

Stephan found herself so inspired by the concept—and the now rock-solid reality of MisFEST—that she wrote a poem now featured on the festival website:

“Music is the sway of her hair as is swings through the melodies in the air. Music is the stomp of her boot as she commands the drums and drives the percussion. Music is on the tip of her fingers as they dance over strings and keys. Music is in her muscles, bones and blood as she dances to a beat that no one knows but she. She is music and music is she.”

For more from Amanda, read her profile of Annie Ellicott.