Here's a list of links to folky BBC radio programmes & series which I've had bookmarked. They should mostly be available to hear.
There are also a few links to associated BBC search and category pages. Those might contain more than folk programmes.
I might make a second post for programmes currently unavailable but which might get repeats, when they will become available for thirty days.
Alan Lomax - Songs of Freedom - 2015
Archive on 4
While Lomax's influence in sparking the folk music revival of the 1960s is well known, in this programme Billy Bragg tells a story of far greater significance. His central thesis is that Lomax's mission was to empower black Americans by awakening them to their folk culture. The politically charged nature of Lomax's work resulted in him being hounded out of the US during the Red scare and the FBI kept a file on him for 30 years.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b050sbzw
A Little Flat: The Music Our Ears Overlook - 2022
Nabihah Iqbal celebrates the variety of music systems across the globe.
Drawing on musical traditions from around the world, she takes a closer look at the notes and scales used to make music. She examines how and why our ears hear some music as ‘in tune’ and other music as ‘out of tune.’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001bkyc
An Appalachian Road Trip -
World Routes
,,,writer and musician Banning Eyre embarks on a journey across the state of North Carolina to hear the music and stories of some of the older players and singers who can trace a direct line back to before the age of the radio and the gramophone, to when Old Time music was a strictly oral tradition.
Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention - 2010
In an interview with musician and field recordist Mike Seeger, recorded just a few months before he died, Banning discovers the roots of the music in the parallel histories of the European settlers and African slaves
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n6ykp
Music from Georgia - 2010
Georgia, gateway to the Deep South, and southern end of the Appalachian Mountains ,,, Sister Fleeta Mitchell ,,, Revd Willie Mae Eberhardt ,,, Phil Tanner and the Skillet Lickers ,,, The Myers Family and Friends ,,, Art Rosenbaum ,,, the 141st Annual Alpharetta June Singing ,,, 'shape note' singing
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qzrv4
North Carolina - 2009
Joseph Aquilla Thompson ,,, Sheila Kay Adams ,,, Benton Flippen and his Smokey Valley boys
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nh5zy
Andy Kershaw
Andy's Kitchen and On the Road
in Africa - 2020
Sunday Feature - Radio 3
Andy delves into his boxes of cassettes and brings us music from his journeys in Africa - including his encounters with the then-unknown Ali Farka Toure, and the vibrant music scene of the newly-independent Zimbabwe - plus Kitchen Sessions from Cajun musicians Eddie Lejeune and DL Menard, also American singing legends Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mrgj
the Americas - 2020
Sunday Feature
a session with the Jolly Boys in Jamaica, his encounter with street singer Ted Hawkins in Los Angeles, and his interview with Trinidadian calypso legend The Roaring Lion. Plus Kitchen Sessions with Cuban singer Celina Gonzales and SE Rogie from Sierra Leone
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mxt5
More Kershaw Tapes - 2021
Sunday Feature
Ayub Ogada ; the Antioch Gospel group ; Cuarteto Iglesias ; Ballake Sissoko ; the Edale Bluegrass Festival ; Mark Knopfler & The Duolian String Pickers ; Lazy Lester ; DL Menard ; Eddie LeJeune ; Ken Smith
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vqjl
Even more Kershaw Tapes - 2021
Sunday Feature
Ali Farka Touré ; Mamou Cajun Band ; Phil Cunningham ; Gary Petersen ; Cuarteto Iglesias ; Celina Gonzales ; Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore ; Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians ; Steve Tilston.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vwq0
Folk Connections: Cecil Sharp's Appalachian Trail - 2016
Kershaw follows Cecil Sharp's Appalachian Trail through Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee, hearing some of the songs he collected in specially-recorded sessions with contemporary singers.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06yp4cv
Auld Lang Syne - 2016
Soul Music
Soul Music hears the stories behind the song, how it went from being a reflective melancholic Scottish air about the parting of the ways, to the jaunty tune we know today.
NB Only a small portion from musicians. It's mostly stories of love, sorrow, hope and joy, emotions that are especially heightened at this time of year.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b085trlz
Bellowhead - 2016
Mastertapes
(the A-Side)
Bellowhead talk to John Wilson about their 2010 album Hedonism.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06wctts
(the B-Side)
The audience asks the questions.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06wd266
Bert Janch
Joan Armatrading's Favourite Guitarists
Joan meets Bert Jansch,,,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lrms9
Black Roots - 2022
Grammy-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens explores the history of African American roots music through the stories of forgotten black pioneers.
How have these black roots been whitewashed from the history of American folk and country music? How have folk and country been positioned as white genres? What does black Americana sound like today?
Three episodes
- Frank Johnson, Joe Thompson and the fiddle in North Carolina
- Arnold Shultz, the banjo and bluegrass in Kentucky
- DeFord Bailey, the harmonica and country music in Nashville
episodes page:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0017khr/episodes
Blowing in the Wind: Dylan's Spiritual Journey - 2011
Radio 4
Emma Freud explores Bob Dylan's spiritual journey in music, from Negro Spirituals to the Old and New Testaments.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011c0s2
Bluegrass: Virtuoso music of Appalachia - 2022
The Forum
It is rare in music history that scholars can point to the beginning of a particular style, but bluegrass would appear to be the exception to the rule.
Rajan Datar is joined by
Dan Boner, director of the Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music Studies programme at East Tennessee State University, who demonstrates how bluegrass works;
writer and historian Tony Russell, whose publications on music include Rural Rhythm: The Story of Old-Time Country Music in 78 Records;
and Dr Lydia Hamessley, professor of music at Hamilton College whose research concentrates on old-time and bluegrass music. She is the author of Unlikely Angel: The Songs of Dolly Parton.
Producer: Fiona Clampin
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct38ss
BLUES
The BBC page listing current weekly shows plus a few extra.
Category : Jazz & Blues
currently
The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews
When the Levee Breaks (about Memphis Minnie)
Shades of Blue - Jimmy Carlyle (radio Scotland)
- open this link in a browser -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/category/music-jazzandblues-blues
Bob Dylan and Me - 2011
Archive on 4
Cerys Matthews ; Paul Morley ; Professor Christopher Ricks ; Eddi Reader ; Billy Bragg ; Michael McClure ; Natasha Morgan ;
Marking the musician's 70th birthday on May 24th 2011.
,,, a series of essays, richly woven together with songs and archive interviews.
Also featured in the programme will be a number of rare Bob Dylan interviews, many not broadcast on British radio before.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0118brp
Bob Dylan - In So Many Words - 2016
The Documentary
Marco Werman investigates Bob Dylan’s work, weighing the evidence on whether he’s a worthy Nobel Literature Prize winner.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04k2gcw
Breton Blend live at the CCA in Glasgow - 2016
for BBC Music at Celtic Connections
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03gbpjd
Brian Peters and Martin Carthy at Cecil Sharp House - 2016
Sunday Feature - Radio 3
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03gnsv9
The Captain's Apprentice - 2012
Twenty Minutes
Roy Palmer explores the history of the traditional song 'The Captain's Apprentice'.
George Crabbe drew on it for his poem The Borough, which in turn influenced Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes. It's basic plot, of an apprentice being taken from the workhouse and fatally mistreated, is unchanged.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01m2n8t
David Attenborough - World Music Collector - 2016
David Attenborough reveals a side of himself that nobody knows, as a collector of music from all over the world. We hear the stories that surround it, and the music itself.
One of David Attenborough's first projects was 'Alan Lomax - Song Hunter', a television series he produced in 1953-4. The famous collector of the blues and folk music of America gathered traditional musicians from all over Britain and Ireland and, for the first time, they appeared on television. David loved the music, the people and, inspired by Lomax, he became music collector himself.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0857wv1
Desert Island Discs
,,, Martin Carthy ,,, Peggy Seeger ,,,
See the Mudcat thread
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=96174
Eliza and Martin Carthy - 2013
Mastertapes
(A-Side)
Eliza and her father Martin talk to John Wilson about their critically celebrated 2002 folk album, Anglicana.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02x7r7v
(B-Side)
Eliza and her father Martin respond to audience questions
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02x7t3t
Eliza Carthy, Ruben Östlund, Brutalist Architecture - Oct 2022
Front Row - BBC Radio 4
Eliza Carthy is celebrating 30 years as a professional musician with a new album, Queen of the Whirl. She talks about this, the legacy of her musical family – the way traditional music develops, and her own song-writing, and performs[Jacky Tar] live in the Front Row studio.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001ddtj
(~10 minute piece) skip to > 17:22
Euphemism and Eroticism in Scottish Gaelic Songs - 2016
New Generation Thinkers - Radio 3
Dr Peter Mackay takes us on a romp through the titillating, bawdy and sometimes downright filthy Scottish Gaelic songs.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b082k9db
(first 23 minutes)
Fiddles and Fiddle Tunes - 2021
The Listening Service - Radio 3
How did an English jig turn into a Virginian reel?
And what do Bach’s violin sonatas have in common with folk tunes from Finland?
In The Listening Service today Tom Service explores fiddles, fiddlers, and fiddle tunes from around the globe, looking at how they connect communities, reflecting the stories of migrants and musicians across time, and staying true to tradition whilst continually changing. And how have classical composers incorporated fiddle tunes into their work? ,,,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000y5vl
The First LP in Ireland - 2012
Colum Sands presents the story of how, in 1947, the Irish Folklore Commission and the BBC established a scheme to seek out and record folk music and stories throughout Ireland.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h666r
Folk At Home \ At Home with ,,, - 2020\2021
The Essay
Verity Sharp hosts a series of conversations and performances recorded by songwriters at home.
Greg Russell ; Rachel Unthank ; Nathaniel Mann ; Owen Shiers ; Karine Polwart ; Fatoumata Diawara ; Chris Wood ; Lisa O'Neill ; Suhail Yusuf Khan ; Eliza Carthy ; Kate Stables ; Tenzin Choegyal ; Lizabett Russo ; Falle Nioke ; Peter Broderick ; Sam Lee ; Stick In The Wheel ; Germa Adan ; Julie Fowlis ; Nancy Kerr ;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000j2qz/episodes/player
Folk Connections -
Folk on 3
This page has a few programmes already listed but also some clips for Leveret, Phil Jamison & Dom Flemons from 2016.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03fh25d
Folk Connections; Chabrier - 2016
Music Matters
Tom Service presents a portrait of the composer Emmanuel Chabrier and, as part of Radio 3's Folk Connections weekend, discusses the appropriation of folk tunes in classical music.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06yjdp0
The Folk of the Pennines - 2015
To celebrate 50 years of the Pennine Way, Mark Radcliffe travels the route from Derbyshire to Scotland and meets up with poets, folk musicians, historians and local people along the way
- Edale to Top Withens
- Malham to Greenhead
- Greenhead to Kirk Yetholm
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05twn6f/episodes/guide
Folk on 4
A selection of programmes relating to folk music from the Radio 4 archives.
There might be something here that I've not already listed.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01s8tff
Folk sessions from World on 3
A selection of the many folk artists who have performed in session for us,,,
The East Pointers ; Lynched ; Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn ; Karen Matheson ; Andrew Duhon The Hot Seats ; Julie Fowlis ; Sam Lee ; Pharis & Jason Romero ; Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker ; Söndörgo ; Ewan McLennan ; Adam Holmes ; Nancy Kerr ; Sam Lewis ; Philip Henry & Hannah Martin ; Martin and Eliza Carthy ; Gloaming ; Mischa Macpherson Trio ; April Verch ; Capercaille ; Man's Ruin ; James Duncan Mackenzie ; Wagon Tales ; The Young Uns ; Spider John Koerner ; Loudon Wainwright III ; Nordic Fiddlers Block ; Bella Hardy ; Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino ; The Old Tire Swingers ; Nuala Kennedy ; Karine Polwart ; Session A9; Jake Cogan ; The Voice Squad ;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03dxhw9
Folk Song, Art Song - 2012
Christopher Maltman talks to folk singer Eliza Carthy and scholars Georgina Boyes and Tim Healey about the uneasy relationship between the two musical worlds.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gg7dm
Great Lives
Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.
See the Mudcat thread
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=171905
Hallelujah - 2015
Soul Music
We hear from those whose relationship with the song is deep and profound.
Singer Brandi Carlisle listened to it over and over again as a troubled teenager; it became a soundtrack to James Talerico falling in love and Jim Kullander made a connection with the song after the death of his wife. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05qgcgv
How Folk Songs Should Be Sung - 2012
MacColl tutored select artists "to sing folk songs the way they should be sung" and to think about the origins of what they were singing.
40 years on, the tapes have come to light. Former group members Peggy Seeger, Sandra Kerr, Frankie Armstrong, Richard Snell, Brian Pearson and Phil Colclough recount six frantic years of rehearsing, performing and criticising each other.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018wy4j
In Search of Nic Jones - 2013
Laura Barton tracks down the legendary lost figure of folk music, Nic Jones.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b037t1rk
Island Records - 2022
The Reunion
The founder of legendary record label Island Records, Chris Blackwell, is reunited with some of the legends of Jamaican music.
Joining Kirsty Wark are Island Records founder, Chris Blackwell; Grammy winning Jimmy Cliff, the singer who became a star after the landmark film The Harder They Come; Mykaell Riley who was a founder member of British reggae act Steel Pulse; pioneer Jamaican ska musician Owen Gray; and Marcia Griffiths, a member of the I Threes who supported Bob Marley and the Wailers for many years, and whose hit Young, Gifted and Black, with Bob Andy, became an anthem for young Jamaicans.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001brhq
Leonard Cohen
See the Mudcat thread
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130855
Like Blackpool Went Through Rock - 2008
The Archive Hour
Sean Street recalls the Radio Ballads, a series which began in 1958, mixing original voices and sounds with specially composed music to document ordinary people's lives.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00c4fmk
Lucie Skeaping on Thomas Ravenscroft - 2015
The Essay
the Elizabethan Thomas Ravenscroft, a contemporary of Shakespeare who wrote songs that became incredibly popular - or, like Shakespeare, borrowed from the popular imagination and made it his own.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03y3fhl
The Luddite Lament - 2011
John Tams looks back at the machine breakers of the 19th century, the Luddites, through the songs they inspired.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0112y4d
The Malawi tapes - 2019
The Documentary Podcast
A race is on to save thousands of tapes of traditional Malawian music in danger of disintegrating in the archives of state broadcaster, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation. The old reel-to-reel tapes date back to the 1930s, '40s, '50s and '60s and were recorded in towns and villages all over Malawi and in the MBC studios. The folk songs, traditional chants, dances and contemporary music of the time all provide a snapshot of Malawi’s social and musical history.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07vs8tg
The Manchester Ballads - 2015
Folk singer Eliza Carthy visits Chetham's Library in Manchester to find out about 19th-century broadside ballads, and to see if she can find a new song to perform.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06fkm2g
Martin and Eliza Carthy's live session for World on 3 - 2014
Sunday Feature - Radio 3
Queen Caribou, Waking Dreams, Happiness, Monkey Hair, Died for Love
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p021gtdm
Mastertapes
John Wilson talks with musicians about a career-defining album.
Some particular programmes (Shirley Collins\Carthys\,,,) are listed already but there are 100+ programmes (30+ artists) so have a search for more here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b021mjc4/episodes/player
- & podcasts, 3 pages
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b021mjc4/episodes/downloads
[I'm not sure if these are exactly the same programmes or edits\unedited]
Michael Morpurgo's Folk Journeys - 2020
With help from singers, songwriters and other passionate experts, Michael admires the indelible stories within classic songs that deal with migration, war, protest and love.
four episodes
- Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye
- Four Loom Weaver
- Ten Thousand Miles
- Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000nllb/episodes/player
Modern Day Griot - 2012
Traditionally griots belong to particular West African families who act as oral historians, advisors, story-tellers and musicians for their culture. Now a generation of artists living in the West, who have African roots, are learning musical techniques from the masters but creating songs and stories with contemporary relevance.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jhb34
My stolen ‘magic’ guitar - 2022
Outlook - World Service
Randy Bachman's guitar was stolen and disappeared without a trace. He spent years desperately trying to track it down. Almost half a century later, an amateur sleuth - bored during the coronavirus lockdown - decided to take on the hunt and crack the mystery.
Presenter: Emily Webb
Producer: Maryam Maruf
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0brgsb5
More from Celtic Connections 2016
Celtic Connections - links page
Though the 2016 complete episodes aren't available there are many clips of up to 20 minutes.
If the link takes you to a programme click 'Listen to ,,,'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p039tgwn
Music and musicians
The Forum
Why does the world sound like it does?
Bluegrass ; Electric Guitars ; History Of The Ukulele ; Azerbaijan ; Paul Robeson ; Tango ; Hazel Scott ; Fado ; Talking Drums ,,,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07tr5f9
Music Planet
Radio 3
The best roots-based music from across the world - with live sessions from the biggest international names and the freshest emerging talent, classic tracks and new releases.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09ymx3v/episodes/guide
Music Planet: Road Trip
Join local experts for a sonic journey around the globe.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrw3w/episodes/player
Nick Drake - Unsung - 1997
Kaleidoscope
John Wilson explores the troubled life and the controversial death of singer-songwriter Nick Drake with the help of those closest to him, including his sister Gabrielle, producer Joe Boyd and his friend Robert Kirby.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039g8pk
Peggy Seeger - 2022
Stark Talk
Edi Stark meets the extraordinary folk legend, Peggy Seeger.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001dfc2
Private Passions
Radio 3
Guests from all walks of life discuss their musical loves and hates, and talk about the influence music has had on their lives.
Bella Hardy - 2018
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000d5c
Shirley Collins - 2016
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06yjk03
The series :
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnv3
Radio 4 On Music
BBC selection
From Armstrong to Zappa - music documentaries from the Radio 4 archive.
Thirty or more programmes ,,, worth a look if you're interested in more than folk,,,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01f50fb
The Radio Ballads - 2010
In specially commissioned songs to mark the 25th anniversary of the end of the miners' strike, Radio 2 explores how lives were changed by the year-long dispute (1984-85). The Ballad of the Miners' Strike is a forthright and powerful exploration of contrasting human experiences.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00r33b2
Ralph Vaughan Williams - August 2022
Front Row - BBC Radio 4
Samira Ahmed explores his musical language and revels in live performance with her guests, the solo violinist Jennifer Pike , baritone Roderick Williams, Paul Sartin of the folk band Bellowhead, Kate Kennedy from Oxford University, and composer, writer and pianist Neil Brand.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001bktc
The Real MacColl - 2015
A century on from his birth, John Cooper Clarke looks back at MacColl's early years and formative influences and discovers how his upbringing went on to inform the important work he would go on to do in theatre, radio and in the British folk revival.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04ykk4y
Return to Brigg Fair - 2017
Between the Ears
Musician Jim Moray bends sound and time to recreate the circumstances surrounding a chance encounter between the composer Percy Grainger and elderly farm bailiff Joseph Taylor which marked a major turning point in the history of traditional folk music.
This programme follows Jim Moray as he experiments with technology to recreate that moment; bringing the voice of Joseph Taylor and the Delius orchestral work back together for the first time in over 100 years. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06yjfgg
Rosie Hood - December 2015
Front Row - BBC Radio 4
songs inspired by Wiltshire - 8 minutes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03c7t71
Saturday Classics - Kathryn Tickell - 2016
Northumbrian piper and fiddler Kathryn Tickell chooses some of her favourite classical pieces inspired by folk music.
Episode 1 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06xwcdx
Episode 2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06yjdp2
Scarborough Fair - 2015
Soul Music
"It can change or stay the same. And the more it changes, the more it stays the same" - Martin Carthy
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05stg0l
Seriously Soulful
Moving stories of magical musicians - from the fifth Beatle to the first lady of jazz.
'Sweet Mother KD' is already listed further below but search for more:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02vdt9v
Shetland Festival 2013
World Routes
episode 1
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0262859
episode 2
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b02x939q
Shirley Collins (A-side)
Mastertapes
John Wilson returns with another edition of Mastertapes, the series in which he talks to leading performers and songwriters about the album that made them or changed them.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088f9zq
Shirley Collins (B-side)
Shirley Collins responds to questions from the audience and performs acoustic live versions of songs from her new album, the first she has released in 38 years.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b088fg44
Shirley Collins - Love, Death And The Lady 2017
Shirley Collins began the 1970s releasing what is now regarded by many as one of her finest albums... and she ended the decade by losing her singing voice through dysphonia. Recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC's iconic Maida Vale Studios.
This seems to be an edited amalgamation of the other two programmes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04pd0kd
Sing Christmas - 2004
Archive on 4
Christmas Day 1957;
the BBC made a ground-breaking hour-long live broadcast, transmitting Christmas songs from around the British Isles. Texan folklorist and broadcaster Alan Lomax was the host.
,,,ancient carols, folk songs, calypso, West African music, dixieland, skiffle, children's carols and glees.
This musical time capsule gathers the memories of those involved to recapture the flavour of this pioneering BBC broadcast.
Producer: Jolyon Jenkins
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0076ppm
Singing Together - 2014
Archive on 4
Singing Together was the long-running BBC Schools radio programme which got generations of children singing.
Jarvis Cocker sets out on a musical journey to trace its history.
He uncovers the stories of those who made the programme, listened as children, and used it in their classrooms.
Jarvis explores the power of singing to bringing people together.
He also uncovers the origins of the folk songs used in the programme and traces how it changed though the 1960s and 70's, opening up to musical traditions from around the world.
And he asks why recordings of this hugely popular series were not preserved for posterity. Only a handful of episodes survive in the BBC archive but, with the help of a small community of collectors, he sets out to find some of the missing episodes.
Producer: Ruth Evans
Editor: David Ross
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04stc6c
+ accompanying page
Singing Together: The radio show that got schoolchildren singing
28 November 2014
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30210485
Singing with the Nightingales - 2014
Sounds of Life
To celebrate the 90th anniversary of this remarkable musical event, the folk musician Sam Lee finds, somewhere in southern England, "some melodious plot/ Of beechen green, and shadows numberless", as Keats puts it in his 'Ode to a Nightingale', and himself sings "of summer with full throated ease". Sam, with the cellist Francesca Ter-Berg, violinist Flora Curzon and viola player Laurel Pardue, sings songs that feature nightingales, such as 'The Tan Yard Side', to the nightingales as they sing in the thickets.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b044m17b
series page
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02jrr26
Soul Music
A series about pieces of music which have had a powerful emotional impact on people.
NB the people and the emotions are the focus in this series.
'Scarborough Fair' is listed above but search for more here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008mj7p/episodes
Sounds of Life
Radio 4 'PM'
not music but fascinating: A pocketful of captivating sounds collected from science, nature and everyday life.
Sadly "the sound of me and my two fellow Earlsdon Morris Men walking home in our clogs last Saturday night…" isn't available but follow the link for more great sound clips from PM.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02jrr26
Southern Journeys - 2002
Archive on 4
During Alan Lomax 's 1959 tour of the southern states, he was accompanied by his then lover, English folk singer Shirley Collins , and here she tells the story of how he recorded the sounds of a world that was fast disappearing, but which still influences popular music today.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039g8px
The Story of Township Music - 2003
The Archive Hour
Johannesburg-based journalist Ofeibea Quist-Arcton looks at how music thrived alongside events such as the Sharpeville massacre, the Bantu Education Act, the Soweto Riots of 1976 and, of course, the fall of apartheid.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039g8pv
Sweet Mother KD - 2016
Seriously Soulful
Laura Barton sorts through myth and misdirection to tell the story of Karen Dalton, the folk world's answer to Billie Holiday.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07pgvjn
The Weavers at Carnegie Hall - 2012
For One Night Only
Paul Gambaccini relives Christmas Eve 1955 and the Weavers sell-out reunion concert, 3 years after Pete Seeger's blacklisting for communist sympathies had forced them to break up.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n95x5
The True Story of Abner Jay - 2015
Abner Jay was an itinerant musician – a modern-day minstrel. He was a one-man band, a songster, a storehouse of history and an off-colour raconteur; he was a direct line to a different era.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04yftl1
The Turtle Dove Pilgrimage - 2019
Folk singer Sam Lee and William Parsons of the British Pilgrimage Trust, lead 11 pilgrims on a journey across Sussex tracing the origins of the iconic folk song ‘The Turtle Dove’.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00035zf
Wassail! Wassail! - 2022
The Food Programme
A celebration of cider, orchards and song.
Dan Saladino goes in search of the history, meaning and spirit of wassails and cider. In Somerset he takes part in a village wassail sung door to door and one sung in an orchard.
Contributors:
The Drayton village wassailers.
Gerard Tucker, wassail master of ceremonies.
Nell Leyshon (novelist and dramatist, play: Folk).
James Crowden, author, Cider Country: How an Ancient Craft Became a Way of Life.
Music:
Drayton Wassail (as documented by Cecil Sharp in 1903)
Tam Lin, Fairport Convention (1968)
Bruton Town, Pentangle (1968)
Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013yzx
Women and Folk Music - 2022
Woman's Hour
Emma is joined by: Peggy Seeger ; Fay Hield ; Anne Martin ; Amy Hollinrake ; Rachel Newton ; Grace Petrie ; Angeline Morrison.
From protest songs and feminist anthems - it's not all whimsy in the world of folk.
Now 86 years old, Peggy's own songs have become anthems for feminists, anti-nuclear campaigners and those fighting for social justice. Emma examines the uncomfortable elements of folk music, and how artists are finding ways of reinterpreting old songs, or writing new ones to represent missing narratives and stories. Who were the female tradition-bearers, writers and performers and the often forgotten collectors - those who would record and notate traditional songs handed down orally from generation to generation?
And what is being done to improve the gender equality and diversity in folk music?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016x8c
World Routes
Already listed above are some individual western world programmes from the World Routes series ('An Appalachian Journey' & 'Shetland Festival 2013') - but there are many many more(130+) World Music programmes on the series page :
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnmp/episodes/player
or nearly 200 of the programmes plus shorter clips here
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00crxs7
the World on 3 Clips page (from 3 minutes to 40 minutes)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009vs65/clips
Find specific countries with the
Music Planet World Music Archive index
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1QYgDsWdg6pfC7gSf3VCSD7/world-music-archive
BBC collection pages
Category : World - radio
Current shows; a wide interpretation of 'world' plus a few extra programmes.
- open in a browser -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/category/music-world
Genre : music : World - radio & TV
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/genres/music/world/player
But keep searching! The BBC has obscure one-off programmes which don't happen to be in the series or listed under the genre.
e.g.
Big Drums on Little Carriacou - 2018
Radio 4 Extra’s Global Adventures
Zakia Sewell returns to her grandparents’ home to explore a dance ritual with West African slavery era origins.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b50kx5
or
Qawwali: Music of the soul Heart and Soul - 2022
Heart and Soul
Raees Khan explores the history, influence and enduring legacy of Qawwali music, both within, as well as outside of the Islamic World.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct4239
World Service Music Documentaries
All the BBC World Service music podcasts gathered into one place.
Only available in the UK.
About forty programmes from 'Aretha Franklin: Queen Of Soul' to 'Yevgeny Murzin: Master of the Synthesiser'.
Very few I'd call folk but some fascinating subjects.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrwqn/episodes/downloads
Weekly/Monthly/Seasonal programmes
Category : Folk
Regular shows (likely to change) and old series which might episodes available
Ambell i Gân (Cymru)
A' Mire ri Mòir (Nan Gàidheal)
Caithream Ciùil (Nan Gàidhea
Catgut and Ivory (Scotland)
Celtic Heartbeat (Wales)
Claire and Friends (Scotland\Shetland)
Crùnluath (Nan Gàidheal)
Fae Hameaboot (Scotland)
Folk Club with Lynette Fay (Ulster)
Genevieve Tudor's Sunday Folk (Shropshire)
Georgia Ruth (Cymru)
* Iain Anderson
Music Planet
Oota Da Cans (winter only) (Scotland)
Pipeline (Scotland)
Pipes and Drums (Scotland)
Roddy Hart (Scotland)
Saltfish Sessions (Scotland\Orkney)
Shetland Folk Festival (Scotland)
Sruth na Maoile (Nan Gàidheal 2019)
Take the Floor - Gary Innes (Scotland)
The Folk Show (Cambridgeshire)
The Folk Show With Mark Radcliffe (r2)
Tim Walker's Folk (Lincolnshire)
Tiompan (Nan Gàidheal)
Trad Ar Fad! (Ulster)
Travelling Folk (Scotland)
What's the Craic - Irish music scene (Scotland\Orkney)
- open the link in a browser, not the 'Sounds' app -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/category/music-folk
*Missing from the page link above
Iain Anderson (country, folk, blues and soul)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074hkv/episodes/player
And some other BBC pages which give similar results but include TV.
Genre : Folk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/genres/music/folk/player
Search : Folk
This gives 20+ pages of radio and TV.
It isn't sortable & doesn't indicate which pages have available programmes. It's useful to see what the BBC has broadcast in the past.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=Folk
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