In medieval Europe, yes there were female bards and minstrels, and even a few female troubadours (trobairitz in the Occitan tradition). Sandy Bardsley notes in Women's Roles in the Middle Ages that the minstrel guild list in Paris in 1341, there are 7 registered women (and 30 men, for reference).

There's not a lot of surviving evidence of any of these women, unfortunately. A few are named - Marie de France's poems survive, but the details of her life don't. There are, however, a few instances of fictional female bards in medieval literature, although most perform when dressed as men (including Nicolette in Aucassin and Nicolette and Silence in the Romance of Silence). Marthe, the protagonist in Ysaie le Triste, is the only instance I can find of a woman performing as a woman in literature.