Ever since I met this most generous and hospitable woman named Maria I'd loved the name Maria. This Maria was the partner of a classmate and hostess of a weekend long party in the Achterhoek that I attended during my college years at AKI. She was a true angel and I've regarded all Marias as angels ever since. I have now been happily married for 17 years to a Maria. (I somehow knew I was destined to marry a Maria.) Hurricane Maria however, has been no angel. She is the embodiment of this myth of the beautiful but deadly woman that since ancient Greek times (Helen) has affected the mind of Western masculine culture. The idea that a beautiful woman is also a dangerous woman has subverted the minds of men while objectifying women. Hurricane Maria ravaged the Caribbean this week but she is not supposed to cause any harm to my hometown in Florida. Two weeks ago hurricane Irma left two feet of water in my studio. About 750 records were submerged and I spent a whole week to salvage the most important ones. Most classical records and about half of the folk from around the world discs were under water. The salvage process focused on sub-collections; 25 Maria Callas records, all records from the Nonesuch label, my records from India, just had to be saved. Besides the 25 Callas records I realized just how many records I owned by singers named Maria. Coincidence or not, they all had be salvaged too.
The history of the top 100 has not featured too many Marias though. This years list has A Mushroom Vedanta by Maria Sabina while Maria Alyokhina of Pussy Riot has featured several times. The most Maria paintings (besides those of my wife) have been portraits of Maria Callas, who has been in the Top 100 many times. The painting above is from the Top 100 2009, the one to the right from 2008. The song Casta Diva from Bellini's Norma is listed in the 100 Greatest Recordings of All Time.
Just for fun I'll share some of the Marias from my record collection.
I propose a scientific hypothesis: The percentage of women named Maria who are incarcerated is significantly lower than the overall percentage of women named Maria. While so many songs about women (written by men) are full of misogyny, songs about Maria are not, I can't think of a single song that treats a Maria as evil, backhanded, cheating, or mistreating the subject (the singer) in any other way.
