In The Dark What’s New- Diary of a Young...

Alexandra Valahu (CH 2023)

13 min

Alexandra Valahu is a writer and emerging audio producer living in Switzerland. “Diary of a Young...” was made over a few weeks during the In the Dark course, and — in Alexandra’s words — “what started as a somewhat lighthearted inquiry … evolved into something deeply surprising”.

This piece is a letter of love from Alexandra to her sister Adri.

Produced by Alexandra Valahu

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The Colour of chalk: Both Sides of the Valley with Razia Aziz

Alinah Azadeh / Sonic Boom (UK 2022)

47 min

"The Colour of Chalk" podcast is part of "We See You Now", a project dedicated to exploring diverse voices and connections to the South Downs National Park. The project is being led by writer and artist Alinah Azadeh, who has been commissioned by the South Downs National Park Authority as the first Writer-in-Residence for Seven Sisters Country Park and the wider Sussex Heritage coast in company with the skylarks, Alinah takes us on a Summer’s walk along the meanders of Cuckmere Valley to the sea, at the heart of Seven Sisters Country Park, with fellow writer Razia Aziz - to share her work and explore the landscape of family, honouring mothers, writing outdoors, seeing life from all sides and nature’s role in healing trauma. ‘Nature doesn’t see the divisions we see’

Hosted by Alinah Azadeh
Audio Production by Sonic Boom Audio

Supported by funding from Arts Council England as well as the South Downs National Park Authority.

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Letters to Ummi

Khol Journal (LB 2022)

Kohl Journal · Letters to Ummi | رسائل إلى أمّي

25 min

Overheard glimpses of intimate stories shared in rushed conversations had in scattered moments of safety and care amongst anonymous members of queer families. The conversations are in Arabic, Farsi, English, Cypriote Turkish and Kurdish. Letters To Ummi is an evolving multilingual, intergenerational and multifaceted project that centers non identifiable and anonymous ways of engagement, focusing on Queer West Asian, South West Asian, North African and East African+ realities, both from within the regions and their diasporas. It is an on-going project that centers lived experience and questions how to safely archive vulnerable and intersectional realities.

Transcript and more info

Sound: Letters To Ummi Community
Produced for Kohl Journal.

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XMTR Radio Hour Ep22 : Soundworlds with Pat Eakin Young

Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2023)

60 min / Episode 22 of 22

This Transmitter Radio Hour explores the sonic theatre of Soundworlds -  in conversation with director Patrick Eakin Young. The award winning Soundworlds is an audio stage for diverse stories where musicians, writers, theatre makers and sound artists collaborate to create a unique and immersive series of musical theatre for the ears.

Extracts played are from:

1. Remnants Part 1
A three-part auditory excavation, unearthing the songs and stories of love and loss, buried beneath the soil of post-war Bosnia.
Featuring: Courtney Angela Brkic
Composition: Christian Mason, Shelley Parker

2. Town is by the Sea
An audio picture book conjuring impressions from a childhood spent in the coastal mining communities of Nova Scotia
Music composed and performed by Anna Rheingans
Text by Joanne Schwartz, adapted from her 2017 book with illustrator Sydney Smith

3. A Christmas Party
Living-room concert meets domestic drama in an immersive holiday special
Voice and piano: Douglas Dare

Recorded and Edited by Lucia Scazzocchio

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XMTR Radio Hour Ep21 : Samuel Robinson's audio world

Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2023)

60 min / Episode 21 of 21

This Transmitter Radio Hour is a selection of audio works chosen by sound artist, musician and audio maker Samuel Robinson who joins Lucia in conversation as they discuss what audio works bring him joy, as well as unpacking some of the current podcast tropes, listening in on some heart- felt conversations and joining some dots between Sam’s life in the US and the UK through sound.

Here is his selection:

1. Captain Maurice Seddon  - May i explain explain my situation?

In the words of william english “captain maurice seddon was a highly unusual and inventive person who took an uncompromising stance on life”. he was the inventor of heated clothing, and made many media appearances in the 1980’s to promote them. 

Seddon recorded his phone calls, this piece is one of 12 from the collection ‘the seddon tapes vol. 1’ put together by his friend William English in 2017 and released on paradigm discs.

2. Emily Naylor - Untitled

This is a piece a friend (Emily) sent me a while ago and recently remembered. Emily made it while doing a radio masters at Goldsmiths.

3. The onion - A very fatal murder (episode 1)

It’s such a clever send up of the true crime ‘genre’ of podcast spawned by the success of serial. it nails it. I listened to this first in 2018 (i think when it came out) and yet despite it feeling so played out then i’ve noticed the production of podcasts with the approach of this podcast is parodying only increase!
 
4. Everything is alive - Grain of sand (inspector sands clip)

This clip is taken is an interview with a grain of sand called chioke. each episode of EIA (or those i’ve heard) has an intermission of sorts that features a short segment that is tangentially linked to the primary interview. in this episode the link is the ‘inspector sands’ announcement used at train stations to alert staff to a fire without scaring the public.
Hosted  by Ian Chillag, produced by Jennifer Mills
Listen to the whole episode

5. Samuel Robinson - Driving to the airport with Larissa

Very few people make me really laugh but Larissa is one of them. in 2021 she gave me a lift to the airport and started talking to the GPS which made me laugh.  I wanted to capture the moment, to document our friendship and its dynamic. I started recording on my watch (i think), and a few months later when home I cut it up and paired with a piece of music i’d made at some point.

6. Raw sounds podcast (cultural exchange segment)

In early 2019 I worked with a group of people at raw material’s raw sounds project to develop their creative audio production skills. It was pitched to me as a podcast course, but there’s so many different types of podcasts, and this group had disparate interests and needs. I chose to work to each week support them to develop skills with interviewing, recording, editing, music production, critical thinking, scripting, ideation, etc. we would record what we did each week with the view to edit it together ultimately to create our own podcast. I have a very good friend who worked as a teacher in Sonoma county, California with a group of younger people with varying special needs. i proposed we do a ‘cultural exchange’, in which members of each group would ask and answer each others questions — the results of which i edited together and assembled over a piece of music composed by someone in my group. 

Recorded and Edited by Lucia Scazzocchio
Curated by Samuel Robinson

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Sculpting Lives: Making Sculpture Public

Jo Baring and Sarah Victoria Turner (UK 2021)

1h02 min Episode 12 of 12

Some of the most globally well-known British artists are women sculptors. Conversely, the profession and practice of sculpture was seen by many throughout the twentieth century (and before) to be very much a man’s world. Often using heavy and hard materials, sculpture was not typically viewed as suitable for women artists. Sculpting Lives explores the lives and careers of these five female sculptors who worked (and are still working) against these preconceptions, forging successful careers and contributing in groundbreaking ways to the histories of sculpture and art.

Over the last year public sculpture has become a hugely controversial issue. No longer passive objects that we simply walk past on our streets, public sculptures are part of a vigorous debate about contemporary society – who is commemorated and represented, and why. In this episode we delve further into this subject, interviewing the people associated with our most recent sculpture commissions of and by women, speaking to critics and researchers who are reflecting on the historical dimensions of this contemporary moment, and the contemporary sculptors who are making objects that occupy our streets and squares.

Written and Presented by Jo Baring and Sarah Victoria Turner

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Here There Dragons: Paris: Mixité (Diversity)

Jess Myers (FR 2017)

21 min / Episode 1 of 5 (Season 2)

Jess Myers, urbanist and editor focusing on urban planning and architecture explores the cultures and the urban condition of cities. After exploring gentrification in New York, the second season of Here There Dragons takes her to Paris to try and understand how the city works from a social and cultural perspective.

In this episode she explore the concept of ‘Mixité’. Does a good social mix create greater security for urban residents? This episode we're talking mixité or diversity. How does it affect public space socially and politically in the Parisian region.

Produced by: Jess Myers

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Ear Of The Edgeland: Breydonsound

Produced by Eastern Ear (UK 2019)

38 min, Episode 2 of 4

Ear of the Edgeland’ is a series of podcasts that takes an explorative and alternative look at Norfolk. Author and curator, Sarah Lowndes is in conversation with Yarmouth-based painter, Bruer Tidman. The conversation is punctuated with music from artist and musician, Jason Parr with field recordings of Breydon Water, Burgh Castle and from under Breydon bridge.

Producer: Richard Fair and Oliver Payne
Eastern Ear

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Don’t Think About The White Polar Bear: Season 3, Ep 1 of The Family Tree

Produced by David Pickering & Adam Thwaite (UK 2019)

54 min

When podcast producer Dave Pickering is approached by his dad with a mystery from the life of a long-forgotten friend, he decides to investigate it in the only way he knows how: by having conversations. Mark Sullivan, who went missing 15 years ago, has been found dead. His body still has the arm he should have lost in a car accident and seems to have died eight years before he disappeared.

Here we are deep into the series but it’s a good place to suspend disbelief and get a taste for this bizarre story and to meet some of the characters. This should peak your curiosity to go back to the beginning where Dave speaks to his dad and brother and decides to investigate this mystery.

Written and produced by Dave Pickering and Adam Thwaite

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Kitchens Ep6: A Bigger Table

Lecker - Lucy Dearlove (UK 2021)

42 min / Episode 6 of 6

The final episode of the Lecker six part mini-series about Kitchens

In this episode Lucy meets Betul, a Turkish asylum seeker who recently spent almost six months living in a hotel room with no kitchen, and Jo, co-founder and director of the organisation who explains the importance of people being allowed to cook for themselves and others. As Lucy explains eating together isn’t just about food, it’s a vital part of being human and when this is not possible and we can’t sit around a table and share a meal, so much is lost.

Written and produced by Lucy Dearlove

With contributors Betul Piyade and Joanne MacInnes at West London Welcome, and Marsha Smith.

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