Classic Twists

How icons like rockstar Debbie Harry, the film Monsoon Wedding, and the old-school typewriter are in the spotlight once again. Plus, the people creating new sounds with traditional Indian music.

- Esha Mahajan

SHE IS OUR GODDESS—straight off Mt Olympus—who never seems to stop or run short of energy. At 71, Debbie Harry is the quintessential eternal female rock star. More than 40 years after Blondie first jammed at Max’s Kansas City and CBGB, forever linking its front woman, Harry, to New York’s gritty music scene, 2017 has Harry and the band performing across the US and Australia, in London and Dublin, and beyond. Blondie also has a new studio album, Pollinator, their 11th, out May 5.

“Anybody who survives in the arts has to be insanely obsessed with doing it, and they have to not mind working hard,” Harry says. “It’s never a ‘gift’—it’s never ‘given’ to you—it’s inching and crawling into your situation.”

These days, Harry spends most of her week at her house in the country, where she moved years ago to look after her ailing father. It’s not far from the city, where she still maintains a home. “It’s a short drive,” she says. “I need to see my friends.”