class: center, middle, inverse, title-slide # Little leaders: Great women of music flipbook ## A Women’s History Month project ### Chris and Kyria Umphlett ### 2019-04-28 --- class: other_slide ### Project description An #rstats exploration of last.fm data on the 11 musical artists feature in the books *Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History* and *Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World*, both by Vashti Harrison. These are amongst my 7 year-old daughter's favorite books; she enjoys learning about these women as well as looking at the beautiful illustrations. Her favorite illustration was that of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a gospel singer who helped laid the foundations for rock and roll in the 1930s and 1940s. This led us to systematically learn about all of the musicians. Together we went through the books and found all musicians, obtained data from last.fm and listened to some of their music. We created a Spotify playlist with the most popular song of each artist that you can listen to: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5G774SxFRCAMYgXcGHOLPb Each song is embedded in a spotify player on each artist's slide as well. In addition you can read the short version of the artist's biography and learn about their songs' popularity with last.fm users and see similar artists. Kyria picked the colors of the bars on the charts, font and slide background colors, and helped design the layout of the artist slides. --- class: other_slide ### Technical stuff This project was also an excuse for me to learn the R package `xaringan`. The flipbook is made with `xaringan` within R Studio using an R Markdown document. [Much more information on that available here](https://bookdown.org/yihui/rmarkdown/xaringan.html). I have a [GitHub repo](https://github.com/chrisumphlett/little_leaders_musician_flipbook) where you can see the full code used to create the flipbook. I was inspired by this [ggplot flipbook made by Gina Reynolds](https://evamaerey.github.io/ggplot_flipbook/ggplot_flipbook_xaringan.html#1). This is a great introduction to creating graphics in R with the `ggplot` package. Some other packages I wanted to work were utilized: `lastfmr` to utilize the Last.Fm API and `ggimage` to create the scatterplot with pictures as the dot type. --- class: other_slide ### The books These books came out of a Black History Month project by the author and illustrator, Vashti Harrison. [Check out more on her web site.](https://www.vashtiharrison.com/little-leaders) ![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a36188_3d839cae9de54de6919ad7ffa94eab31~mv2_d_2175_2700_s_2.jpg/v1/crop/x_37,y_0,w_2102,h_2700/fill/w_374,h_485,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/a36188_3d839cae9de54de6919ad7ffa94eab31~mv2_d_2175_2700_s_2.webp)<!-- -->![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a36188_046178c6b4394e2da7b0aa548fc14083~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_374,h_421,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/a36188_046178c6b4394e2da7b0aa548fc14083~mv2.webp)<!-- --> --- class: other_slide ### Artists Overview The artists range in popularity from very popular to virtually unknown. The chart below shows the sum of listens of each artist's 100 most listened-to songs and their picture. ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/top100-1.png)<!-- --> --- class: artist_slide ### Sister Rosetta Tharpe <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/3O3Zzre0FPv6GNTeInm6Md" width="800" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> .left-column[ .small[ Last.FM stats Total Listeners: 86,174 Total Plays: 543,547 Similar Artists: Mahalia Jackson, Odetta, Big Mama Thornton, The Staple Singers, The Golden Gate Quartet ] ] .right-column[ .small[ "Sister" Rosetta Tharpe (1915 - 1973) was a pioneering U.S. Gospel singer and songwriter who attained great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and early rock accompaniment. She became the first great recording star of Gospel music, first surfacing on the pop charts in 1939 with "This Train", her version of the traditional gospel standard. Born Rosetta Nubin on the 20th March 1915 in Cotton Plant, Arkansas <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Sister+Rosetta+Tharpe">Read more on Last.fm</a> ] ] ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/tharpe_chart-1.png)<!-- --> --- class: artist_slide ### Ella Fitzgerald <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/78MI7mu1LV1k4IA2HzKmHe" width="800" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> .left-column[ .small[ Last.FM stats Total Listeners: 1,627,515 Total Plays: 28,119,525 Similar Artists: Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Frank Sinatra ]] .right-column[ .small[ Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 - June 15, 1996) was an American jazz vocalist with a vocal range spanning three octaves (D<U+266D>3 to D<U+266D>6). Often referred to as the "First Lady of Song" and the "Queen of Jazz," she was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. Fitzgerald was a notable interpreter of the Great American Songbook. Over the course of her 60-year recording career <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Ella+Fitzgerald">Read more on Last.fm</a> ]] ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/ella_chart-1.png)<!-- --> --- class: artist_slide ### Marian Anderson <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/4GjGERtbwIar3ys4KqeA6g" width="800" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> .left-column[ .small[ Last.FM stats Total Listeners: 8,273 Total Plays: 45,755 Similar Artists: Marilyn Horne, Leontyne Price, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Luisa Tetrazzini, Elly Ameling ]] .right-column[ .small[ Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 - April 8, 1993) was an African-American contralto best remembered for her performance on Easter Sunday, 1939 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Anderson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She joined a junior church choir at the age of six, and applied to an all-white music school after her graduation from high school in 1921, but was turned away because she was black. The woman working the admissions counter replied, "We don't take colored" when she tried to apply. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Marian+Anderson">Read more on Last.fm</a> ]] ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/anderson_chart-1.png)<!-- --> --- class: artist_slide ### Josephine Baker <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/7stpeZplK3IUyiIFBE9UIU" width="800" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> .left-column[ .small[ Last.FM stats Total Listeners: 45,190 Total Plays: 259,606 Similar Artists: Mistinguett, Jean Sablon, Damia, Lucienne Boyer, Lucienne Delyle ]] .right-column[ .small[ Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 - April 12, 1975), born Freda Josephine McDonald, was an American-French dancer, actress and singer, sometimes known as "The Black Venus". Although born American, she became a French citizen in 1937. Early life Born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Carrie McDonald. Her father is identified as vaudeville drummer Eddie Carson by the official biography of her estate. She was of mixed ethnic background: Native American/African American. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Josephine+Baker">Read more on Last.fm</a> ]] ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/baker_chart-1.png)<!-- --> --- class: artist_slide ### Mahalia Jackson <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/4GjGERtbwIar3ys4KqeA6g" width="800" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> .left-column[ .small[ Last.FM stats Total Listeners: 169,560 Total Plays: 987,737 Similar Artists: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Golden Gate Quartet, Odetta, The Staple Singers, Mavis Staples ]] .right-column[ .small[ Mahalia Jackson (October 26, 1911 - January 27, 1972) was an American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel". Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. She was described by entertainer Harry Belafonte as "the single most powerful black woman in the United States". She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Mahalia+Jackson">Read more on Last.fm</a> ]] ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/mahalia_chart-1.png)<!-- --> --- class: artist_slide ### Nichelle Nichols <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/4Kz6JGnhwVtoV1IwbNWAt8" width="800" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> .left-column[ .small[ Last.FM stats Total Listeners: 1,190 Total Plays: 5,890 Similar Artists: Gene Roddenberry, Alexander Courage, Warp 11, Brent Spiner, Frantic Dogpaddle ]] .right-column[ .small[ Actress best known as Star Trek's Lieutenant Uhura. She sang with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before turning to acting. She studied in Chicago as well as New York and Los Angeles. During her time in New York, Nichols appeared at the famous "Blue Angel" and Playboy Clubs, as a singer. She also appeared in the role of Carmen for a Chicago stock company production of Carmen Jones. Nichols toured the United States, Canada and Europe as a singer with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Nichelle+Nichols">Read more on Last.fm</a> ]] ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/nichols_chart-1.png)<!-- --> --- class: artist_slide ### Nina Simone <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/1VKsbTJ78G5bnfyoPz46LA" width="800" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> .left-column[ .small[ Last.FM stats Total Listeners: 1,798,932 Total Plays: 40,249,907 Similar Artists: Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington ]] .right-column[ .small[ Eunice Kathleen Waymon (21 February 1933 - 21 April 2003), better known by her stage name Nina Simone, was an American singer-songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music. Simone aspired to become a classical pianist while working in a broad range of styles including classical, jazz, blues, soul, folk, rhythm and blues, gospel, and pop. Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on 21st February 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina, USA, one of eight children. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Nina+Simone">Read more on Last.fm</a> ]] ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/simone_chart-1.png)<!-- --> --- class: artist_slide ### Violeta Parra <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/5U7MyRNbuZrWkyAI4bm3Ja" width="800" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> .left-column[ .small[ Last.FM stats Total Listeners: 63,480 Total Plays: 984,012 Similar Artists: Víctor Jara, Victor Jara, Los Jaivas, Inti-Illimani, Quilapayún ]] .right-column[ .small[ Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval (4 October 1917 - 5 February 1967) was a Chilean composer, songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist. She pioneered the Nueva Canción Chilena (Chilean' New Song), a renewal and a reinvention of Chilean folk music which would extend its sphere of influence outside Chile. In 2011 Andrés Wood directed a biopic about her, titled Violeta Went to Heaven. Parra was born in San Fabián de Alico, near San Carlos <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Violeta+Parra">Read more on Last.fm</a> ]] ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/parra_chart-1.png)<!-- --> --- class: artist_slide ### Calypso Rose <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/26Myj8FOTQdBMqfSUCwfzB" width="800" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> .left-column[ .small[ Last.FM stats Total Listeners: 24,288 Total Plays: 158,083 Similar Artists: Zoufris Maracas, Flavia Coelho, Lhasa, Harry Belafonte, Mighty Sparrow ]] .right-column[ .small[ McArtha Lewis, better known as Calypso Rose (born April 27, 1940 in Bethel, Tobago) is a Tobagonian calypsonian. Named after the American general Douglas MacArthur, Rose's earliest years were a crowded environment - 19 people in a one-bedroom house. When she was 9, she moved to live with an uncle in Barataria She began writing songs at the age of 15, and has written over 800 songs. In 1966 she wrote the song Fire in Me Wire, which has since become a calypso anthem. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Calypso+Rose">Read more on Last.fm</a> ]] ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/rose_chart-1.png)<!-- --> --- class: artist_slide ### Miriam Makeba <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/6tR8N0wgzIoKaI7fmh0J0O" width="800" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> .left-column[ .small[ Last.FM stats Total Listeners: 174,293 Total Plays: 1,477,003 Similar Artists: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Hugh Masekela, Angélique Kidjo, Orchestra Baobab, Salif Keita ]] .right-column[ .small[ Zenzile Miriam Makeba (1932-2008), also known as Mama Africa, was beyond dispute one of South Africa's true legends. Born March 4, 1932 in Johannesburg, Miriam Makeba was barely 21 years old when she, as a member of the Manhattan Brothers, reached for the stars in her home country. It didn't take long before Miriam Makeba's career was brought to another level. In 1966 she received a Grammy Award for the album An Evening with Harry Belafonte & Miriam Makeba, making her the first African artist to win a Grammy. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Miriam+Makeba">Read more on Last.fm</a> ]] ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/makeba_chart-1.png)<!-- --> --- class: artist_slide ### Buffy Sainte-Marie <iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/4MCI71gpCGwHsK2rv7c8pv" width="800" height="80" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> .left-column[ .small[ Last.FM stats Total Listeners: 77,753 Total Plays: 791,163 Similar Artists: Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Judy Collins, Joan Baez, June Tabor, Melanie ]] .right-column[ .small[ Buffy Sainte-Marie, OC (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. Throughout her career in all of these areas, her work has focused on issues of indigenous peoples of the Americas. Her singing and writing repertoire also includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism. In 1997, she founded the Cradleboard Teaching Project, an educational curriculum devoted to better understanding Native Americans. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Buffy+Sainte-Marie">Read more on Last.fm</a> ]] ![](little_leaders_musician_flipbook_files/figure-html/buffy_chart-1.png)<!-- -->