2026 Obit: Radio One Broadcaster Andy Kershaw

Subject: Andy Kershaw R.I.P.
From: Johnny J
Date: 17 Apr 26 - 08:21 AM

Just heard that broadcaster and roots music enthusiast Andy Kershaw has passed away after suffering from cancer.

In the early days, Andy did much to promote world, roots, and folk music in general on his Radio One shows.

However, in recent years, he was "cancelled" to an extent due to his handling of the breakdown in his relationship.
His sister Liz is also involved in broadcasting but, sadly, has adopted a slightly extreme right wing stance in recent years.

Subject: RE: Andy Kershaw R.I.P.
From: r.padgett
Date: 17 Apr 26 - 08:52 AM

Yes just heard on tv ~ sad news and condolences to his family, friends and followers

Ray

Subject: RE: Andy Kershaw R.I.P.
From: Johnny J
Date: 17 Apr 26 - 09:07 AM

Oh yes, condolences from me too.

As I say he did much to promote good music over the years.

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Andy Kershaw
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 17 Apr 26 - 11:09 AM

Gad, 'nother good man done gone.
IMHO he shared with fellow-DJ John Peel the middle name of Integrity, and was an influential and enthusiastic promoter of worthwhile and new musics of all kinds. Such a shame he got "disappeared" from the schedules in latter years.
Condolences to his family and friends.

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Andy Kershaw
From: GUEST,Joe G
Date: 17 Apr 26 - 11:10 AM

Such sad news - Andy probably had more influence on my music enthusiasms than any other single person RIP

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Andy Kershaw
From: Jack Campin
Date: 17 Apr 26 - 11:14 AM

What he was doing in his final years:

Queen Victoria's Consort

I'd have liked to hear them while he was still alive.

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Andy Kershaw
From: Bainbo
Date: 17 Apr 26 - 12:05 PM

Jack, I imagine he still is. It's a completely different Andy Kershaw

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Andy Kershaw
From: Jack Campin
Date: 17 Apr 26 - 01:00 PM

Oh bugger. Thanks. I had no idea.

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Andy Kershaw
From: Felipa
Date: 20 Apr 26 - 06:20 PM

https://www.independent.ie/world-news/britain/former-bbc-dj-and-live-aid-presenter-andy-kershaw-dies-aged-66/a1530254530.html Irish Independent Newsdesk
Press Association
Fri 17 Apr 2026

"Former BBC DJ and Live Aid presenter Andy Kershaw has died aged 66, his family has told the BBC.

"It was announced in January that the broadcaster had been diagnosed with cancer. He died on Thursday evening at 7.30pm.

"The BBC wrote online on Friday; 'Kershaw was a familiar voice on Radio 1 for 15 years from 1985, known for his eclectic taste and for helping champion world music.

“ 'He went on to report for Radio 4, both on music and global conflicts including the 1994 Rwanda Genocide.'”

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Radio One Broadcaster Andy Kershaw
From: GUEST,Joe G
Date: 20 Apr 26 - 07:42 PM

He also had a long running programme on BBC Radio 3 and presented programmes from the 'Axis Of Evil'!

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Radio One Broadcaster Andy Kershaw
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 21 Apr 26 - 06:01 PM

Some of his output still on BBC radio

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Andy Kershaw in Haiti - 2000
World Routes
episode 1
Andy visits Haiti during the turbulence of the presidential elections. He dances to the sound of trobadou, encounters a musician whose audiences include the secret police and meets a voodoo priest...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005xm30

episode 2
Andy meets leading musicians from the Papa Doc era, hears the sounds of Haitian rap, and visits the Port-au-Prince main cemetery.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005xm33

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Andy Kershaw in Iraq - 2002
World Routes
episode 1
Andy meets Qassim al-Sultan, one of Iraq's leading pop stars whose songs praise Saddam as a national hero.
He also explores the Iraq's little-known gypsy community.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005xj14

episode 2
Andy hears Sufi trance music in Baghdad's most famous mosque, visits Baghdad's Voice of Youth FM station, and meets one of Iraq's top performers, Ilham Al-Madfai, who now lives in Jordan.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005xj1g

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Andy Kershaw
BBC Radio 3    ~2003-2007
Algeria - Rai music in Oran and the Kasbah of Algiers.
Algeria - Rachid Taha and the Kabilian mountains.
Marseille - Mahgreb Rap, Algerian Rai, Pacific Creole, Congolese Rumba
Turkmenistan - Christmas in Ashgabat
Mauritania - The Festival of Nomad Music
Corsica and Sardinia
Iran - Axis of Evil
North Korea, part 1
North Korea, part 2
Ethiopia - Comic Relief 2003
Mali - Mopti, Timbuktu and Bamako; Les Escrocs and Toumani Diabate
Mali - Festival in the Desert; Ali Farka Toure, Tinariwen and Robert Plant
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnwy/episodes/player

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Desert Island Discs - 2007
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007757m

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article
What makes a journalist?
The case of Andy Kershaw
John Mair - 2011
www.bbc.co.uk/webarchive,,,

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Music Planet - 2011
Andy Kershaw and Lucy Duran explore music of,,,
Cities
Rivers
Grasslands
Mountains
Jungles
The Arctic
Deserts
Oceans
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sggq0/episodes/player

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Highway 61: Fifty Years On - 2015
Andy Kershaw travels to the USA to explore the lasting impact of Bob Dylan’s 1965 LP, Highway 61 Revisited.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06gtk2l

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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.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06yp4cv

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Andy's Kitchen and On the Road
Sunday Feature - Radio 3
During the 1980s and 90s, DJ Andy Kershaw travelled around Africa and the Americas searching out great music and taping it on his Walkman Pro,,,
in Africa - 2020
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 -
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
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mxt5

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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
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vqjl

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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.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vwq0

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Radio One Broadcaster Andy Kershaw
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 22 Apr 26 - 09:05 AM

Wow! That's quite a collection, Freddy.

I didn't know Andy Kershaw, but my friend Mr Kite was a fellow student at Leeds and shared his interest in music. I think that must have covered The Who Live at Leeds in 1970.

When The Who came to the Isle of Man in 2007, Mr Kite took the short flight there from Blackpool Airport. Where's your tent? I asked.
I'm staying with Andy Kershaw! he replied.

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Radio One Broadcaster Andy Kershaw
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Apr 26 - 12:38 PM

Andy Kershaw also did a tour of England in which he played music by Coope Boyes & Simpson. I think a piece by Lester Simpson was used as the theme tune and he choose Jim Boyes' less than idyllic state of the country song "Jerusalem Re-visited" for his visit to the then Prime Minister John Major's constituency.

Even more controversially, when he heard that the BBC had numerous live recordings of Jim's song, "Funny Old World" (which dealt in part with police corruption) but had never chosen to play it, he insisted that the band sing it for a live session they did for his programme. Needless to say, he broadcast it uncensored.

PS Hello Henry!

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Radio One Broadcaster Andy Kershaw
From: GUEST,Georgina Boyes
Date: 22 Apr 26 - 01:11 PM

Apologies - Guest above was me

Subject: RE: 2026 Obit: Radio One Broadcaster Andy Kershaw
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 22 Apr 26 - 05:10 PM

The only time I remember meeting Andy was at the second of the two Leeds folk festivals in 1983. I was running the sound desk and he was comparing; presumably because of his job with Radio Aire. This must have been very early in his career.

I remember thar the weather was atrocious and one particular memory is of the late Derek Brimstone stopping in the middle of a song because he was sitting directly beneath a leak in the tent!