About

OyeDrum is an intersectional feminist community and publisher of creative, explorative, and hybrid work produced exclusively by women for all audiences. We feature creative writing, performance and visual art, and love publishing hybrid/experimental work. We also feature interviews, reviews, and special segments.

Our mission is to nurture, develop and promote female talent, encourage the weird and experimental, and create a safe space for women to freely express themselves. 

Find your voice, and use it.

History

OyeDrum Magazine began as a collective founded by Amarantha da Cruz in November 2019, launching the site in March 2020. The project was inspired by bold, innovative, and legendary female voices, including Jayne Cortez, Yoko Ono, bell hooks, Suzan-Lori Parks, Clarice Lispector, Rita Lee, Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson, and more. Amarantha met her collective in a Hybrid and Experimental Poetics workshop. She was inspired by the women she studied and the women in her workshop who would become the collective that helped her get OyeDrum started.

After being dissatisfied with how segregated subjects are in online publications, she wanted to create a melting pot where one can find music, poetry, reviews, short films, and more in one place.

OyeDrum is an intersectional intergenerational and international feminist
community, fostering a safe space online that prioritizes and celebrates the
female voice and creative expression. OyeDrum is a home.

What is the word OyeDrum?

 

OyeDrum is a combination of the word Oye, which translates into “Listen Up,” and the word Drum, repurposed by black activist, feminist, performance artist, poet, and secular priestess, Jayne Cortez in response to Duke Ellington’s composition A Drum is a Woman. You can read "If the Drum is a Woman" by Jayne Cortez, click here. And to further understand our inspiration, click here.

 

OyeDrum was conceived from a total admiration for women as humans, artists, and intellectuals.

 

 

Dear Reader,

I decided to start OyeDrum to honor my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, all of whom were radical feminists and artists of their time who taught me to think for myself, as well as women I have admired from near and far, such as Jayne Cortez, the face and inspiration behind the made up word OyeDrum.

I am a woman who loves women, and this is my love letter to them.

OyeDrum was conceived from my total admiration for women as humans, artists, and thinkers, to share what’s in their hearts and minds in a safe space. OyeDrum was created for women to find themselves and each other, in a safe space. My mission is to support, encourage, nurture, reflect, connect and display female energy, intellect, and creativity, for all audiences.

Think of OyeDrum as your home, your mother, your lover, your friend. This is a place to, as Jayne Cortez said, “find your voice and use it,” This is a place to cry, laugh, and celebrate how lucky we are to be women.

Love,

Amarantha

Founder/Publisher