Subject: Radio Ballads 2 From: GUEST,bigJ Date: 30 Jan 06 - 04:35 PM Thought that this might be of interest:- THE 2006 RADIO BALLADS The Radio Ballads of Ewan MacColl, Charles Parker and Peggy Seeger were broadcast in the late 1950s and considered one of the most acclaimed documentary series in radio history. Smooth Operations has been commissioned by Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas to make a new set of Radio Ballads adopting the programme-making principles of the historic originals. The eight programmes in the new series will explore issues of our time and the voices of communities that are rarely heard on the BBC. Shipbuilding, steel, hunting with hounds, HIV/AIDS, Northern Ireland and Britain's fairground workers are just some of the subjects tackled. The series is scheduled for transmission in February 2006. The team making the Ballads has adopted the same principles used by MacColl, Seeger and Parker on the original ground-breaking series, carrying out in-depth interviews with many speakers on a particular subject and then commissioning songwriters to compose songs based on the interviewee's experiences, their use of dialect or the technicalities of the job or function they are talking about. It's a technique which led to the original Radio Ballads developing a seamless transition between speech, song and atmosphere, telling powerful stories without the intrusion of a narrator. The first new Ballad in this series will be the Ballad of Steel, telling the inside story of the rise and demise of Sheffield's Don Valley as the steel capital of the world, centred around the memories of those who worked in the forges and the rolling mills... and in later life developed industrial illnesses for their efforts. Poignant ballads written by project musical director John Tams punctuate moments of drama as tales - of another death, another accident, another closure, another day of pounding hammers - paint pictures of the full effects the recession of the 1980s would bring. Brass arrangements by acclaimed musical arranger Goff Richards add to the melancholy air of the programme. Series executive producer John Leonard says: "We're trying to take an original line on these issues and turn up voices that haven't been heard before, and that's involved a lot of thinking and a lot of listening. I believe our first programme - The Ballad of Steel - really matches the originals in the way the memories and anecdotes of steel workers lead organically into songs about aspects of steel and steel production ... and John Tams' songs work beautifully with Gough's arrangements. It's very close to the spirit of the originals, I think." |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: Deckman Date: 30 Jan 06 - 04:44 PM I look forward to this. Thanks for posting it. Bob(deckman)Nelson |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: Geoff the Duck Date: 30 Jan 06 - 06:27 PM Keep us updatedwith an accurate transmisson date and time please. Qack! GtD. |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: Girl Friday Date: 01 Feb 06 - 06:56 PM I heard about this from Jez Lowe who has also written some songs for two of the episodes. Please do keep us informed as I'll be bound to miss it. I am tracing this thread to make sure. |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: Fidjit Date: 02 Feb 06 - 10:50 AM Well! "It's All Around the Town". The ring of Iron. |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: gnomad Date: 02 Feb 06 - 11:21 AM A tough act to follow, IMO. JT is a talented guy (to say the least) and this sounds just his sort of thing, he may well be the man for the job. I certainly look forward to the results, and wonder whether they will eventually be issued on disc. Anyone know ought about that? |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: Girl Friday Date: 02 Feb 06 - 05:22 PM Just heard from Jezza. The first prog goes out on 27th Feb |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: Joybell Date: 02 Feb 06 - 05:36 PM Sounds good. Thank you bigJ. Was just listening to the originals last week. Cheers, Joy |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: Shanghaiceltic Date: 02 Feb 06 - 05:39 PM Will these be archived too. That is one of theonly ways I can listen over here in China. John Tams and Jez Lowe will be a great combination of writing and singing. |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: Les from Hull Date: 03 Feb 06 - 09:51 AM You should be able to hear them on the BBC website, thanks to the 'listen again' feature. BBC Radio stuff stays on there for about a week. |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: fat B****rd Date: 04 Feb 06 - 02:53 PM I have a childhood memory of a programme on BBc UK radio either called "As I Roved Out" or using that song as it's theme. Please enlighten. Foir some reason I ssociate the song with Sunday mornings and "proper breakfast" before The Archers omnibus edition !! |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: GUEST,bigJ Date: 05 Feb 06 - 07:50 AM This is edited from Wikipedia regarding Seamus Ennis: "Late in 1951 he joined the BBC. He moved to London to work with producer Brian George. His job was to record the traditional music of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland and to present it on the BBC Home Service. The programme was called "As I Roved Out" and ran until 1958." OK as far as it goes, but some others involved in the programme which, as you say, was broadcast on Sunday mornings and which for many of us was our first taste of traditional performance, were Peter Kennedy, Hamish Henderson and Shaun (Sean?) O'Boyle. By the way, BBC Radio 2 is advertising that John Tams will be singing a song/songs from the new radio ballad Ring of Iron during the Folk Awards. |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: fat B****rd Date: 05 Feb 06 - 08:06 AM Thank you bigJ. Any more ? |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: GUEST,Dave (Bridge FC) Date: 05 Feb 06 - 02:26 PM Look on BBC 2 website for full details and dates/times etc. |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: Snuffy Date: 05 Feb 06 - 07:47 PM It might have been "As I Roved Out" that I remember: about 10am on Saturdays or Sundays - it always began with a very quavery, very old man singing a verse of Brighton Camp. Then my dad would re-tune to the Light Programme (or was it to the Home Service?) |
Subject: RE: Radio Ballads Part 2 From: GUEST,bigJ Date: 06 Feb 06 - 04:37 AM This is from Smooth Operations' website:- THE 2006 RADIO BALLADS - THE PROCESS Series executive producer John Leonard, tape editor Annie Grundy and interview gatherers Vince Hunt and Sara Parker (daughter of original producer Charles Parker) selected six issues dominating the half-century since the original Radio Ballads of Ewan MacColl, Charles Parker and Peggy Seeger were begun in 1957. Hunt and Parker then set out to visit steelworks, shipyards and fairgrounds, cross the countryside with fox and hare hunters, talk to musicians who'd been caught up in the Troubles and to people living with HIV/AIDS, and to gather location atmosphere and sound effects, in the process speaking with hundreds of interviewees. Once gathered, the interviews were edited into themes, with layers of recollections and memories. These were then sifted and arranged into possible groupings for songs to be written, under the guidance of musical director John Tams who assembled a team of professional musicians drawn mostly from the current folk music scene, as were the musicians in the original Ballads. As this Ballad series was commissioned as part of the BBC's Voices project, they used dialect, slang and shared experience to inform their songs, and John Tams accompanied Parker and Hunt on several interview-gathering trips to fairgrounds and steelworks. Winter 2005 was a blur of activity around Tams' studio as musicians gathered from across the UK to work out parts and hone the songs, while John Leonard set up camp with a laptop in the kitchen to edit each new stage into the overall Ballad, sometimes asking for fresh interviews to match the songs, sometimes re-working the flow of the programme to take into account an excellent new song demanding more airtime. Each Ballad is a mammoth work, taking many hours of songwriting, musicianship, interview-gathering, editing and production from start to finish. We hope you enjoy them. The 2006 Radio Ballads is a series of powerful insights into issues of our time, made using the principles of the original Radio Ballads of the 1950s and 1960s. In-depth radio programmes that feature people describing their working lives and experiences both joyful and painful, they offer an illuminating insight into the human condition. BROADCAST DATES The Song of Steel - Monday 27 February 9pm The Enemy That Lives Within - Monday 6 March 9pm The Horn of the Hunter - Monday 13 March 9pm Swings and Roundabouts - Monday 20 March 9pm Thirty Years of Conflict - Monday 27 March 9pm The Ballad of the Big Ships - Monday 3 April 9pm Song of Steel Decline of Sheffield & Rotherham's steel industries. Enemy That Lives Within Modern stories of people living with HIV/AIDS. Horn of the Hunter Both sides of the story of hunting with hounds. Swings and Roundabouts The travelling people who run Britain's fairgrounds. Thirty Years of Conflict Sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. Ballad of the Big Ships The shipyards of Tyne & Wear and the Clyde. |
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