Inspirational Women Over Fifty: Avril Yospa

Continuing on the theme of building a platform from which to celebrate the creativity of women over fifty & thus making visible the inspirational work that we quietly chip away doing while no-one in the media is noticing, tonight's blog is about another of my amazing friends, Avril, who has just got back from performing for two months in India.

Avril Yospa is retired from a 15 year career as a midwife, which let's face it, is pretty amazing in itself ...  but having stopped birthing babies, at the age of 67, she is now focused fully on birthing songs as a musician, songwriter and performer, just like as she did in the 70's with the band Prana who played Glastonbury 6 years on the trot, touring the US and parts of Europe, In fact, Avril is known locally as 'Avril the Song' and many of her chants can be heard upon the lips of those at Marches or sat around camp fires. Her chant 'Mother Earthship' has been recorded in many different languages all over the world on youtube and soundcloud and is used for one of the dances of Universal Peace.

I first met Avril when I was the Director of Celtic Womenfest for the National Botanic Garden of Wales in partnership with Community Music Wales. I held a series of very special improvisation workshops at my place for Women in Tune, giving accomplished women musicians the opportunity to come together and perform in a woman only recording set up. The sessions were a great success and went onto be played at the Festival itself in the Great Glasshouse, used as dance music for the Contemporary dancers with Artscare Gofal Celf. You can hear one of the 15 minute tracks as background music in this rehearsal video.

When Avril came to these sessions, I had never met her before. She seemed quiet and reserved, but when we all started to play, that's when she really came into her own. So experimental and brave. I remember, she had amongst her treasures, a set of glockenspiel blocks and laid them on different surfaces to get different sounds ... I was blown away.

Photo of Avril with her Grandaughters ... 

Since, then, Avril has come to my Ukulele and Songwriting Courses at the National Botanic Garden of Wales  and then when I was Poet in residence at the Dylan Thomas Boathouse, I invited her as a guest to play with me one afternoon.

She is almost always out performing and when she is not out performing, she is at home playing with family (who seem to be following in her footsteps) and/or friends.

CLICK HERE FOR ONE OF AVRIL'S SONGS ABOUT AN OWL THAT CAME TO VISIT

I make a point of looking out for whatever adventures she is going to get up to next and then I saw on her facebook page that she was away to Agonda, India with her guitar and her friend, fellow musician, Garima Ulrich.

I loved watching her posts telling us about her wonderful performances, how they secured their own floor spots and built up a local following.








How often do we read about women of our age packing up their sarong and their guitars to fly off to India for two months to play their music? Never! And what's more, they have bookings to go back and do it all again next year.

So that's why I am writing about it here. Let's inspire each other to be free, to follow our hearts, to open our creative souls and learn to listen to our most sacred calling. Just because we hardly ever read about the inspiring lives of women over 50, doesn't mean it isn't happening ...