Transmissions
Radio Ballad: The Travelling People (1964)
Ewan McColl, Peggy Seeger, Charles Parker (1963)
Ewan McColl, Peggy Seeger, Charles Parker (UK 1963)
59 min
This new revolutionary format - radio ballad (BBC) conceived by folk musicians Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, and the brilliant radio documentary maker Charles Parker in 1958, combining sound: songs, instrumental music, sound effects, and, most importantly, the recorded voices of those who are the subjects of the documentary. This had never been done before, and still sounds incredibly fresh today.
This ballad gives voice to travellers in the UK as well as the people who have a distrust or fear of this group. Note this was recorded in 1963 and some people featured are quite outspoken about their racist beliefs.
Producer: Charles Parker
Music: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger
Listen to more Radio Ballads
The Solitude Trilogy: The Idea of North
Glenn Gould (CA 1967)
Glenn Gould (CA 1967)
56min Episode 1 of 1
A visit to the archives with Canadian pianist Glenn Gould's landmark radio documentary, The Idea of North, first aired on CBC Radio in 1967.
In his boldly experimental program about the Canadian north, the pianist used a technique he called "contrapuntal radio," layering speaking voices on top of each other to create a unique sonic environment situated in the space between conversation and music.
The North provided Gould with an ideal subject matter for exploring the condition of solitude.
"hybrids of music, drama, and several other strains, including essay, journalism, anthropology, ethics, social commentary, and contemporary history."
The densely layered radio pieces presented a real challenge to audiences at the time, and they still do. Yet their enduring cultural impact — a rare feat for radio programming — speaks to the inspired balance of music and meaning that Gould was able to achieve.
Composed by Glenn Gould
Listen to the series
In The Dark Bristol: Creatures of the Rave
Eve Piper (UK 2021)
Eve Piper (UK 2021)
10 min
In The Dark Bristol - New Producers
Creatures of the Rave is a poem about the temptation, atmosphere and thrill of underground raves. It is a first-person narrative account following the arc of one night’s raving, the anticipation beforehand, the rush at its peak and the come down of its closure. The poem aims to uncover what happens at an illegal rave, an unregulated intervention into often discarded public space that can somehow simultaneously be a thing of stigma and status. Eva worked with producers and sound designers to create an immersive drum & bass soundscape to accompany my poem.
Produced by Eva Piper
Soundworlds: Town Is By The Sea
Soundworlds (CA/UK 2022)
Anna Rheingans / Joanne Schwartz / Patrick Eakin Young (CA/UK 2022)
19 min
An audio picture book conjuring impressions from a childhood spent in the coastal mining communities of Nova Scotia. We follow Davey as he describes his daily routine: from waking up with the sea sparkling outside his window, to playing with his friends, buying groceries for his mother, and visiting his grandfather’s grave. Throughout the day, his thoughts keep returning to his father, working in the coal mines deep beneath the town.
Soundworlds is not just a podcast. It’s an audio stage for diverse stories told in extraordinary ways. It’s a place for an exciting new form of audio drama that we call sonic theatre. Created by musicians, writers, theatre-makers and sound artists, sonic theatre pieces are more than radio plays. They’re immersive sound worlds, intoxicating blends of music and storytelling, sound design, documentary and fiction.
Directed by Patrick Eakin Young
Music composed and performed by Anna Rheingans
Sound design and mixing: Ross Flight
Text by Joanne Schwartz, adapted from her 2017 book with illustrator Sydney Smith
Onirica
Silvia Malnati (2021)
Silvia Malnati (UK /IT 2021)
15 min
An intimate exploration of the auditory impressions that people experience while dreaming.
Onirica x BBC New Creatives in partnership with ICA London
Producer: Silvia Malnati
Composer: Stefano Galli
Mixing & Sound Designer: Andrea Campisi
Executive Producer: Pierre Vella (SPACE)
Radio Ballad: On The Edge (1963)
Ewan McColl, Peggy Seeger, Charles Parker (1963)
Ewan McColl, Peggy Seeger, Charles Parker (UK 1963)
59 min
This new revolutionary format - radio ballad (BBC) conceived by folk musicians Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, and the brilliant radio documentary maker Charles Parker in 1958, combining sound: songs, instrumental music, sound effects, and, most importantly, the recorded voices of those who are the subjects of the documentary. This had never been done before, and still sounds incredibly fresh today.
This Radio Ballad explores the lives of teenagers in the 1960’s with voices of young people from all over the UK. If you’ve seen C’mon C’mon where Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny a radio journalist touring the US to talk to teens, this piece sounds even more ahead of its time.
Producer: Charles Parker
Music: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger
Listen to more Radio Ballads
In The Dark Bristol: Creatures of the Rave
Eve Piper (UK 2021)
Eve Piper (UK 2021)
10 min
In The Dark Bristol - New Producers
Creatures of the Rave is a poem about the temptation, atmosphere and thrill of underground raves. It is a first-person narrative account following the arc of one night’s raving, the anticipation beforehand, the rush at its peak and the come down of its closure. The poem aims to uncover what happens at an illegal rave, an unregulated intervention into often discarded public space that can somehow simultaneously be a thing of stigma and status. Eva worked with producers and sound designers to create an immersive drum & bass soundscape to accompany my poem.
Produced by Eva Piper
Come Sunday
Darell Grant (US 2021)
Darrell Grant (US 2021)
108min
Audio Walks for Armchair Listening Mini Series
Designed as a sound walk this piece works equally well as a pure listening experience, let the voices and music take you to the churches of Portland in the US.
Portland’s inner-northeast neighbourhoods were once home to over 200 Black churches. The remaining wooden and brick buildings, ranging from tiny storefronts to imposing brick edifices, are the inspiration for 'Come Sunday'.
Created by jazz artist and composer Darrell Grant, 'Come Sunday' is a pilgrimage in sound and time that winds through the King, Humboldt, and Alberta neighbourhoods — once the heart of Oregon’s largest Black community.
Beginning in DeNorval Unthank Park and culminating at Bethel A.M.E. Church, the oldest continuously operating Black church in Oregon, the soundwalk passes thirteen houses of worship that stand as islands documenting the rich history, hopes, and community ties that wove together a community. Combining oral history, African-American spirituals, poetry, historical texts, jazz piano, new music, and the sounds of the neighbourhood, Come Sunday paints an aural portrait of community inspired by the singular institution at its heart — leading the fight for justice, serving the vulnerable, holding the community in good times and bad — the Black church.
Produced and Narrated by Darell Grant
Commissioned by Third Angle New Music
XMTR Radio Hour Ep19 : Cities and Memory
Social Broadcasts (UK 2022)
Produced by Social Broadcasts / Cities and Memory (UK 2022)
60 min / Episode 19 of 19
An hour dedicated to Cites and Memory, one of the world’s largest sound projects, with more than 1,000 artists contributing to our goal of remixing the world, one sound at a time.
Every location on the Cities and Memory sound map features 2 sounds, the original field recording of that place and a reimagined sound that presents that place and time as somewhere else, somewhere new. There are over 5,000 sounds featured on this sound map, spread over more than 100 countries and territories. We’ll visit a selection and keeping with the concept you will hear the original field recording of a place followed by a re-imagined piece.
Featuring:
1. Duet for breaking waves and the horizon by Cities and Memory (Caloura in the Azores)
2. Lockdown thunderstorm in Oxford by Cities and Memory (Oxford)
3. Chongqing Docks by Andy McDade (Chaotianmen Dock, Chongqing, South West China recorded by Ian MacArthur)
4. The loneliness of the late-night station by Cities and Memory (Berlin at Bellevue station recorded by Cristina Iscenco)
5. It’s not a wave it’s a river by Cristina Marras (Carlo Scarpa, Antivole Italy)
6.The Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo in Venice by de Velden (Venice, Italy)
7. Echoes by Bill Stevens (Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, New York, USA)
8 A recording of a story 'Alfons and the Magic Christmas Tree featured on HCJB’s DX Party Line hosted by Clayton Howard. Recorded by Paul Rawdon, courtesy of the Shortwave Radio Archive for the Shortwave Transmissions project, documenting and reimagining the sounds of shortwave radio.
9 War on Hugs by Kid KinAn hour dedicated to Cites and Memory, one of the world’s largest sound projects, with more than 1,000 artists contributing to our goal of remixing the world, one sound at a time.
Cities and Memory is always open to submissions from field recordists, sound artists, musicians or anyone with an interest in exploring sound worldwide.
Follow the series
Radio Ballad: Song of a Road (1959)
Ewan McColl, Peggy Seeger, Charles Parker (1959)
Ewan McColl, Peggy Seeger, Charles Parker (UK 1959)
59 min
This new revolutionary format - radio ballad (BBC) conceived by folk musicians Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, and the brilliant radio documentary maker Charles Parker in 1958, combining sound: songs, instrumental music, sound effects, and, most importantly, the recorded voices of those who are the subjects of the documentary. This had never been done before, and still sounds incredibly fresh today.
This Radio Ballad is a musical journey along the M1 as it was being built in the late 50’s.