Transmissions
African Space
Sound Africa (SA 2015)
Jedi Ramalapa / Sound Africa (SA 2015)
40 min
Africa is hardly thought of as a continent much involved in space exploration.
An episode of 2 halves:
The Afronaut: An introduction to a largely forgotten space program in Zambia in the 1960s. Did the leader of this wildly ambitious project, Edward Nkoloso, have a plan or was he just the delusional eccentric he was later made out to be?
The Telescope: A small town in the Karoo Desert of Northern South Africa has finally found its place in the world with the establishment of one of the biggest international science projects of our time. As the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) begins to take shape, we look at the telescope network that will likely transform the way we understand the universe and our place in it.
Produced by Jedi Ramalapa and the Sound Africa network
XMTR Radio Hour Ep20 : Sounds Of The Underline
Social Broadcasts (UK 2022)
Produced by Social Broadcasts (UK 2022)
60 min / Episode 20 of 20
An hour dedicated to a single project recorded and produced by Lucia Scazzocchio in collaboration with the Tower Hamlets Regeneration team.
Docklands and the Isle of Dogs has changed dramatically since being established as a busy industrial hub centred around the docks to an industrial wasteland in the 1980's and then an ambitious redevelopment with the arrival of Canary Wharf.
The DLR and the infrastructure around this overground railway line has been key to the development of the area.
Talking to local people who live and work on the Isle of Dogs across four generations we will hear about the unique history of the island, how things have changed and how the DLR Underline could be used in the future.
Commissioned by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets as part of the ‘DLR Underline Activation’ project, this audio series recorded from Sept 21-May 22 aims to celebrate the area’s heritage to collectively reimagine the future of the Underline as a public active space.
Recorded and Edited by Lucia Scazzocchio
Recording support Dhevia Sharma
Follow the series
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
Voicing The Archive
Hannah Kemp-Welch (UK 2021)
Hannah Kemp-Welch (UK 2021)
29 min
During the pandemic, artist Hannah Kemp-Welch was in-residence at the Women’s Art Library, based at Goldsmiths. Reaching out to community groups in New Cross, Hannah photocopied and collated packs of ephemera from artists' projects documented in the library and posted these to local residents. Seven women selected an artist from the archive and responded to their work, recording personal reflections as they looked through materials. This audio essay considers access to archives, and how voices can bring the Women’s Art Library to life.
Produced by Hannah Kemp-Welch
Not Just Any Bush
Helene Thomas (AU 2020)
Helene Thomas (AU 2020)
17 min
Randal Morrison is a third generation Huon Piner. He lives in Strahan, Tasmania. Helene met Randal at his saw mill in Queenstown and as they talked he reminisced about his times as a young boy going out with his father to the banks of the Gordon River to collect Huon Pine logs.
The Wayfinder is a mobile recording studio designed and built in Tasmania. It is a professional sound booth with acoustic insulation properties and has been carefully designed to make people feel comfortable and relaxed and conducive to conversation. It was an idea born from the imagination of its creator, Helene Thomas. Inspiration has been drawn from the US initiative StoryCorps and the BBC’s The Listening Project, where stories are preserved in order to build connections between people.
Produced by Helene Thomas
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.
Producer: Charles Parker
Music: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger
Listen to more Radio Ballads
Doing Bird
Steve Urquhart (UK 2022)
Steve Urquhart (UK 2022)
20min Episode 1 of 2
Inmates at HMP Perth engage with archive birdsong and oral history recordings from the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club in a unique, creative audio art collaboration. Peesweeps meet hip hop beats, grouse unlock coded prison language, and an unhatched kestrel chick provokes philosophy.
Engaging with Scotland's archive birdsong recordings encourages the men to recall positive memories, to spark creativity, to reflect on the purpose of prison, and to re-evaluate their connection to the world beyond prison walls. They also think deeply about the accessibility and value of oral history recordings, and about who gets to be involved.
Produced by Steve Urquhart
‘Doing Bird’ is supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.
Tape Letters: A Cassette Tape Love Story
Modus Arts (UK 2021)
Modus Arts (UK 2021)
15min Episode 3 of 6
Tape Letters shines a light on the practice of recording and sending messages on cassette tapes by Pakistani migrants who settled in the UK between 1960 and 1980. In this six-part documentary we listen to first-hand accounts of these migration stories through original recordings, interviews with their Britain-born families and commentary by Tape Letters founder and director Wajid Yaseen.
This episode features a special story of a soon-to-be-married couple, who got to know each other more deeply and fell in love entirely through sending cassette tapes to each other between Pakistan and the UK for over 5 years. Telephones were usually expensive and not private, which is why cassettes were their chosen method of communication. We also discuss the retention and loss of cassette tapes, and therefore stories, over the years as people either held onto tapes for sentimental or evidential reasons or threw them away as they simply looked to do some spring cleaning.
Presented by Wajid Yassen (Modus Arts)
Production and Sound Design Oliver Sanders
Listen to the series
Time and Tide Museum : Migration, Heritage and Belonging
Oliver Payne at Eastern Ear. (UK 2021)
Oliver Payne at Eastern Ear (UK 2021)
29 min Episode 2 of 6
Podcast featuring Dr Sarah Lowndes of Time and Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth, interviewing members of the town's migrant communities. The podcast features excerpts from interviews with 30 people from first, second and third generation migrant communities in Great Yarmouth including people from China, Cyprus, East Timor, France, Germany, Ivory Coast, Lithuania, Madeira, Mozambique, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Russia, all of whom have made Great Yarmouth their home.
Produced by Oliver Payne from Eastern Ear
Radio Ballad: On The Edge (1963)
BBC (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.