Folk Music from the UK
Today we present a programme of folk music from the UK (well nearly — there are a couple of North American artists in there if truth be told), covering the last 50 years or so.
This time we are also featuring a classic album from 1979, The Peacock Party, by virtuoso guitarist Gordon Giltrap. Amongst a talented group of musicians, it features Gryphon’s Richard Harvey on recorders and crumhorn. The tunes are inspired by characters from the book The Peacock Party written by George E Ryder and illustrated by Alan Aldridge — a sequel to the somewhat better known The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast.
Coming March 4th — Tarot @ Teatime
Mark your calendars and join us for our fascinating new series Tarot @ Teatime, where hosts Willow Moonfire and Honey Heart explore the history and meaning of the cards, and the different ways they can be read.
Tune in on Thursdays, repeated Sundays, at 12 noon and 4pm Pacific (20:00 and 00:00 UTC). Episodes will run for two weeks and will thereafter be avilable on our Mixcloud channel.
The Light Programme
We can think of Light Music as filling a gap between out-and-out classical music, and the exceptional quality music production library and film music of the 1940s-50s — the latter also featuring from time to time on The Light Programme. It’s a continuum with perhaps Sullivan at one end, and maybe Coates at the other – though it’s difficult to define boundaries. In between are composers like Addinsell, Alwyn, Ketelbey, Tomlinson, Binge, Lane and others, and it’s their music that we’ll be featuring today. What these pieces and composers have in common, is a “classical” approach to melodic music. Their work is full of great tunes, and it utilises orchestral forces with as much aplomb as any classical composer. But in general (though not always), the music is a little lighter in tone and feel.
The Black Mass: Friday at 4pm Pacific ‑The Squaw by Bram Stoker
Join us on Friday at a little after 4pm Pacific time (midnight Fri/Sat GMT), for another episode from the landmark radio drama series The Black Mass, created at the Pacifica radio station KPFA in Berkeley, California, over fifty years ago. In 30 chilling tales of mystery, imagination and the human mind, The Black Mass brings you some of literature’s most haunting stories, by masters of the craft.
Today’s tale: The Squaw, by Bram Stoker.
Note that episodes will not start until the track playing at the top of the hour has finished, so the actual start time of the episode will be a few minutes after the hour.
Modern Classical Music
Today’s Featured Music is “Modern Classical Music” — but what does that mean, exactly?
Well, in the context of today’s programme, we’re talking about pieces of music written between around the mid-20th Century until the present day, that aren’t exactly “pop music”.
This is a tricky definition, however. Mike Batt has remarked that there is no such distinction as “popular music” and “serious music” — there’s simply “popular” and “unpopular”, so the definition rather falls at the first fence.
La Musique Classique Française
Join us today from a programme of French classical music from a wide variety of composers, primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries, including a nice collection of the works of Erik Satie that goes well beyond the Gymnopédies. Most of the composers today are pretty well-known, but keep your ears open for things like the Eurovision theme — actually Extrait du Te Deum by Charpentier — and other goodies. There is some gorgeous music in today’s programme and we do hope you enjoy it.
The Black Mass: Friday at 4pm Pacific — All Hallows, by Walter de la Mare
Join us on Friday at a little after 4pm Pacific time (midnight Fri/Sat GMT), for another episode from the landmark radio drama series The Black Mass, created at the Pacifica radio station KPFA in Berkeley, California, over fifty years ago. In 30 chilling tales of mystery, imagination and the human mind, The Black Mass brings you some of literature’s most haunting stories, by masters of the craft.
Today’s tale: All Hallows, by Walter de la Mare.
Note that episodes will not start until the track playing at the top of the hour has finished, so the actual start time of the episode may be a few minutes after the hour.
The Black Mass artwork was produced by Terry Lightfoot.
Where’ve You Been? Episode 2
Wednesdays and Saturdays at 12 Noon and 4pm Pacific / 20:00 and 00:00 UTC is the time to tune in to our regular show, Where’ve You Been, where Caledonia Skytower and Elrik Merlin discuss places and events of interest around the Second Life grid.
The latest episode airs for the first time on Weds February 17 and will be repeated on Saturdays and Wednesdays at the same time for the next couple of weeks.
In this episode, we discuss the new exhibition by Cybele Moon, Waifs And Wanderers, and the Carmel Art Community where it’s being exhibited, with a special focus on the Robert McFarren Gallery and the Carmel Art Gallery.
Big Band and Swing
Today we’re taking a trip back to the heyday of the big bands in the first half of the 20th century, featuring a wide range of Big Band jazz and swing.
The programme includes a mixture of original period recordings and more recent material.
You can also hear episodes of Engines of Our Ingenuity from the University of Houston every four hours from 12:00 UTC
And tune in today at 12 noon or 4pm Pacific (20:00 or 00:00 UTC) for a new episode of Where’ve You Been?, where we look at places and events across the Second Life grid (see separate entry).
The Grove: New Age Music By A Starlit Sea
Join us today — Saturday 13 February at 22:00 GMT / 2pm Pacific Time — for the first in an occasional series featuring 90 minutes of New Age music, presented from The Grove, a beautiful specially-created environment in the virtual world of Second Life — http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Chestnut%20Hills/127/78/3805 - or simply tune in at http://main.vcradio.org
The Grove harks back to the musical experience of tuning in to the early “New Age” radio stations on the West Coast of the USA in their heyday in the late 1980s: stations like KTWV, “The Wave” in Los Angeles and KLRS (“Colors”) in Santa Cruz. You’ll hear a wealth of music of the period, primarily but not exclusively instrumental, featuring both synthesisers and natural instruments. A little more lively than “space music” in most cases, the music is by and large tuneful, melodic and relaxing.
These radio stations and their compatriots in other markets gradually shifted towards “smooth jazz”, “New Adult Contemporary” and beyond, and thus lost some of the atmosphere that the stations originally created. We hope the show will bring back some memories if you were there at the time, and present some harmonious musical vistas if the music is new to you.
