Just got a copy in the mail of the new independant film *Hot Flash*, a short documentary about the female blues band Saffire! Uppity Blues Women. If you don’t already know them, the Saffire ensemble currently records for Alligator Records in the U.S., and is a racially mixed group of roots musicians all over 50 who write and play the kinds of blues Sippie Wallace, Memphis Minnie, Bessie Smith, and Ma Rainey used to sing.
     In the 1950s when marketeers and revisionist historians decided that the image of the blues, especially the electric blues, was going to be dominated by men, the ongoing contributions of female vocalists and instrumentalists to the form were significantly downplayed and often forgotten. Part of why Saffire! exists is to disabuse younger music fans of this cultural chauvinism.
          Directed by Sarah Knight,  and  produced by Knight and Barbara Ghammashi, the documentary  has been touring  the international film festival circuit for the past year, waiting for a new album and tour to help widen the movie’s target audience.   I am one of many talking heads interviewed for the project, being one of the few pop critics for mainstream publications willing and able to review Saffire! concerts and recordings in recent years.   Sadly, my American peers seem inclined to view Saffire! as an ephemeral novelty act  despite their skill as instrumentalists and singers.   Many critics  refuse  to appreciate the necessary work of inclusion Saffire!’s original material and their vintage covers do for the living legacy of women in country blues and  thereby the creation of  rock ’n’ roll.
     With a lineup that over the years has shifted between three and four core members, featuring a black (and gay) lead vocalist fronting a predominantly white band, Saffire! is a fascinating experiment in both race relations and feminist sisterhood. The filmmakers probe the origins of the band, their struggles on the road  their innovations  in the commercial arena, and the sensitive area of sexual orientation, a topic many American bands with both  gay and straight members still prefer to avoid.
     People wanting to contact the filmmakers about screening the film can reach Sarah Knight at Jo Films in New York via email: sarah@jofilms.com