If you think about brilliant women on the violin, names like Hilary Hahn and Lisa Batiashvili, the somewhat wilder Vanessa Mae with her electric violin or our German world star Anne-Sophie Mutter come to mind.

Brittney Parks was once part of an orchestra with her violin, but the 26-year-old autodidact from Cincinnati, Ohio, was a bit too unconventional for the other members. And that was long before she lolled through photos and videos under her current stage name Sudan Archives in the very skimpy bikinis to draw attention to herself and her music.

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