Sat 25 Dec - Christmas Special - Vintage Organs and Soviet-Era Animation

Festive film treats – playing extracts from scores for Soviet era animation, many featuring vintage organs. Frost, detectives, creation myths and colourful foley.

https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/the-news-agents-christmas-special-2021-vintage-organs-soviet-animation/

Sat 18 Dec - Conny Prantera - The Seer

Conny Prantera discusses her collaborative work with 'The Seer', philosophies of creation, Cassandra, women and prophesy, plus sounds with Nicola Serra (Dronica). Reports from the Hammond studio at Hastings and new tracks from Montague Armstrong.

https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/the-news-agents-18-december-2021-conny-prantera-the-seer/

Sat 11 Dec- Peter Lindbergh/ Michael Benson - A Coruna

The Peter Lindbergh exhibition in A Coruña, fashion photography and design in Galicia, plus experimental research into folk music and mediaeval culture of this region with its historical and legendary stories of marine and Celtic encounter. Walking the first steps of O Camiño de Santiago.


The News Agents - 11 December 2021 - (Peter Lindbergh - Galicia) by Resonance FM | Mixcloud

Sat 4 Dec - Venezuelan Music & O'Connell & Love

Brendan O’Connell and Doc talk about the new O’Connell & Love album Will You Be There? A second studio album as aduo, produced during the pandemic. Larry Love is the singer from South London band Alabama 3 is an Ivor Novello Award-winning songwriter, best known for Woke Up This Morning, theme song of The Sopranos and its film prequel, The Many Saints Of Newark, released in September 2021. Plus a journey through some fragments of Venezuelan soundmaking through the 20th century and beyond.

The News Agents - 4 December 2021 (O'Connell & Love; Venezuelan Music) by Resonance FM | Mixcloud

Sat 27 Nov - Bev Lee Harling - Wah Wah 45s and Bloom Britannia

 

Bev Lee Harling introduces her new album ‘Little Anchor’ out on Wah Wah 45s Records. She reflects on her life in music in Hastings and London and on her role in Bloom Britannia, Barefoot Opera's new people's opera.

Listen Again - Bev Lee Harling - Sat 27 Nov

Sat 20 Nov - Natalia Zagorska-Thomas - Polish Art and Music

Fine art, folk art and music looking at Polish influences. Natalia Zagorska-Thomas talks about Domestica Eccentrica, her work as a conservator, curator and artist and the meaning(s) of objects in theatre, museum and gallery.



The News Agents - 20 November 2021 (Natalia Zagorska-Thomas) by Resonance FM | Mixcloud

Sat 13 Nov - John Knowles - A life in theatre

 John Knowles talks about his life in theatre as a playwright and more, from the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool to his latest play set around the enigma of the classic abandoned ship, ‘Marie Celeste and the Beast of the Bowery’. Plus theatrical and watery sounds.

The News Agents - 13 November 2021 (Life in Theatre: Playwright John Knowles) by Resonance FM | Mixcloud

Sat 6 Nov - Jussi Parikka - Weather Engines

New media theorist Jussi Parikka on curating ‘Weather Engines’ with Daphne Dragona. Weather Engines is an art exhibition and a program of workshops, talks, and reading which reflects a sense of embodiment and environments of weather as techniques, affects, and politics. We mark the opening of the first exhibit, 'Hydromancy' by Matterlurgy which blends documentary with artistic intervention, considering the ocean as both a sensory environment and scientific object.

The News Agents - 6 November 2021 (Jussi Parikka: Weather Engines) by Resonance FM | Mixcloud

Sat 30 October - Poetry Brothel / Debra Watson

What is a Poetry Brothel? Debra Watson discusses intimacy and performance in poetry and talks briefly about her early adult life in experimental theatre in South Africa as a new generation of the Poetry Brothel begins in Hastings. Plus a discussion of Estonian animation in advance of a presentation at London Animation Club

The News Agents - 30 October 2021 (Poetry Brothel: Debra Watson) by Resonance FM | Mixcloud

Sat 23 October - Music of Ukraine

Music of Ukraine. Bandura tunes, folk music and sounds for Ukrainian and Soviet cinema inspired by research carried out for the Twitter channel Soviet Child @child_soviet which shares and discusses children’s art from the former Soviet Union.

The News Agents - 23 October 2021 (Ukrainian Music; Soviet Child) by Resonance FM | Mixcloud

Sat 16 October 2021- (Cluster: Anna Fairchild; Sian-Kate Mooney; Lucy Renton)

Artists Anna Fairchild, Sian-Kate Mooney and Lucy Renton discuss materials, process and approach in their forthcoming exhibition Cluster in Letchworth. With music chosen to complement their working methods improvisation and artist philosophy/inspiration. Talking across continents from Cairo, Hastings and London to Hitchin!
Listen Again - The News Agents Sat 16 Oct 2021 - Cluster: Anna Fairchild; Sian-Kate Mooney; Lucy Renton)

Sat 9 October - Lies, Camera, Action! Still Life with Lou Whitham

Louise Whitham discusses her approach to photography and art around themes from 'Objects of Life' – the Photohastings show dedicated to still life and related themes opening at Trinity 7 in Hastings, Sussex. A discussion on collaboration, meanings of still life and the performative arts - and jugs. Plus, a new sound piece, 'Lies, Camera, Action'.


Listen Again - Sat 9 Oct - Lou Whitham & Jude Montague

Sat 2 October - Blandine Martin - Art & Chairs

Blandine Martin discusses art and experimental textiles. Montague and Martin have been carrying out an artistic collaboration on the 'chairs' feeding into a project of Martin’s. Martin discusses collaboration in her own practice and the impact of objects on her making. With international music from France, Russia and beyond, often inspired by the film research carried out for Soviet Child.

Listen Again - Sat 2 October - Blandine Martin

Sat 25 Sept - Jon Stone - Poetry and Video Games

Jon Stone discusses the relationship between these two art forms. He reads from his new pamphlet, Sandsnarl (Emma Press, 2021) and discusses world building and fantasy genre within poetry collections and the potential for new hybrid work.


Listen Again - Jon Stone - Poetry and Video Games - Sat 25 Sept

Sat 18 Sept 2021 - Levan Tozashvili - Georgia and animation

Levan Tozashvili is a Georgian animator based in London and joins me for a discussion about his life in animation. Looking at the work of Rezo otherwise known as Revaz Gabriadze the playwright and painter and at the difficulties that Georgian film studios faced in the Perestroika period and how that impacted on production. Soviet Child @child_soviet regularly tweets about art and animation from the former Soviet Union which a special emphasis on children’s books.

Listen Again - Levan Tozashvili - Georgia and Animation - Sat 18 Sept 2021

Sat 11 Sept - Soviet Child - Music inspired by Soviet Film

Soviet Child is the Twitter feed run by Riitta Hakkarainen and Jude Cowan Montague at @child_soviet - tweeting about animation and children's literature from the former Soviet Union - and beyond. This week's show listens to music encountered along these adventures of exploration into media from the past.

Follow @child_soviet on Twitter


Listen Again - Sat 11 Sept 2021 - Soviet Child - Music Inspired by Soviet Film

Sat 31 July - Neil Emmanuel - Illustrating the Middle Ages

 Neil Emmanuel chats about illustrating the Middle Ages Music includes old songs from Russian Romani tradition and Napoli and features a special pre-release from new British folk-pop project Bobby Bluff.

Sat 31 July - Neil Emmanuel - Illustrating the Middle Ages

Sat 24 July - Summertime in Sussex

Summery choices from the Simon King record collection to soundtrack the heatwave, plus reports from the arts scene at St Leonards & Hastings in Sussex as the lockdown is lifted.

The News Agents - Summertime in Sussex - Sat 24 July

Sat 17 July - Emily & Alice Haworth-Booth - Protest

PROTEST. Emily and Alice Haworth-Booth share stories from the international history of campaigning. Their new book Protest! looks at peaceful resistance from 195 BCE to the present day. Plus selected songs and music that have promoted social change and highlighted injustice.

Listen Again - Sat 17 July 2021 - Emily & Alice Haworth-Booth - Protest 

Sat 10 July - Lorraine Bowen - Songwriting and Sussex

Composer and comedian Lorraine Bowen talks songwriting and we discuss life on the South East Coast of England. As venues and exhibitions begin to reopen in the summer, thoughts on the arts and social scene in Hastings and East Sussex. For more information see thenewsagents.blogspot.com

 Listen Again - Lorraine Bowen - We Are Nature

Sat 3 July - Gemma Seltzer - Ways of Living - Women's Stories in London

Gemma Seltzer on her new book 'Ways of Living'. In ten stories she explores what it means to be a modern woman inhabiting the urban landscape and we discuss ways of writing about women living in the city of London. Plus music by women songwriters on city life and more.

 

Listen Again - Gemma Seltzer - Ways of Living - Writing Womens Stories in London 

Sat 26 June - Dave Clarkson - Avant Garde Music of Manchester

Looking back at the experimental and avant-garde period of the post-punk period at the early 1980s and beyond. Plus selections chosen by collector, composer and long-term musician Dave Clarkson who has is a keen supporter of today's DIY bandcamp culture. 

 Listen Again - Dave Clarkson - Avant Garde Music of Manchester

 

Sat 3 July - Gemma Seltzer - Ways of Living - Women in London

 Gemma Seltzer on her new book 'Ways of Living'. In ten stories she explores what it means to be a modern woman inhabiting the urban landscape and we discuss ways of writing about women living in the city of London. Plus music by women songwriters on city life and more. For more information see thenewsagents.blogspot.com

 

Listen Again - Sat 3 July - Gemma Seltzer - Ways of Living 

Sat 19 June - Cullercoats Fishwives - Penelope Payne

The Cullercoats fishwives. Through the lens of the work of artist Penny Payne looking at the tradition and the legacy of the fisherwomen of the North East. Salt, skirts, wind and willow. Plus how to carry your husband on your back through the waves to their boat to keep them dry as they go off to sea and the fastest way to gut a herring.



Listen Again - The News Agents - Sat 19 June 2021 - Cullercoats Fishwives & Penelope Payne

Sat 12 June - Kev Sutherland - Comic Cuts - Comedy and Comics

Podcasts, puppets and film directors. Puppeteer Kev Sutherland discusses sock puppetry and internet theatre and his new series Comic Cuts - The Panel Show plus Heather Tweed in Montague & Tweed chatting with high speed fairground energy on the early life of Alfred Hitchcock as a fishmonger's son in the East End of London.


Listen Again - The News Agents - Kev F Sutherland - Comic Cuts

Sat 5 June - Roma and Traveller culture in SE England and beyond

Roma and traveller culture in SE England and beyond. Exploring family history and the treatment of vagrants and wanderers in the UK and Europe. With extracts from cinematic portrayal of Roma life, discussion of musical moments for film and the interaction of traveller culture with changing music fashions. Drawing on 'The Life and Times of the Houseboats on Leigh-on-Sea' by Carol Edwards and 'Stopping Places' by Simon Evans. For more information see thenewsagents.blogspot.com


Listen Again - Sat 5 June - Roma and Traveller culture in SE England and beyond

Sat 29 May 2021 - John Cei Douglas: Roma Culture in Cinema and Music

John Cei Douglas on All the Places in Between, his new silent comic exploring inner journeys, and the mind, body, spirit publisher Liminal 11. Plus new work from members the Women Composers Collective and continuing the family history inspired investigation into Roma culture through the lens of cinema and music.

Listen Again - Sat 29 May 2021 - John Cei Douglas: Roma Culture in Cinema and Music

Sat 22 May 2021 - Zara Slattery: Coma; Roma Music in Soviet Cinema

Zara Slattery talks about Coma, her new graphic novel about her sudden illness and the rapid degeneration caused by necrotising fasciitis, and how the effect on her family and her inner struggle to survive are depicted in this long form visual narrative. Also, music created for the films which mythologised the Roma in the former Soviet Union, looking at the Moldovan contribution to this celebrated and loved area of cinematic art.

Listen Again - Sat 22 May 2021 - Zara Slattery: Coma; Roma Music in Soviet Cinema

Sat 15 May - Women Composers Collective - Laura Budzelek / Gabi Lunca

Women Composers Collective. Featuring work by three composers, Kati Em, Amanda Johnson and Laura Budzelek. Budzelek talks about her work as a multilingual songwriter and her Anglophile tastes which have always shown through her New York roots. Plus music from Romanian singer Gabi Luncă who died of COVID-19 in Bucharest this April.

Listen Again - Women Composers Collective - Laura Budzelek

Sat 8 May - Sally Bayley - No Boys Play Here

Sally Bayley talks about 'No Boys Play Here: A Story of Shakespeare and My Family's Missing Men'. Her first book in this trilogy, 'Girl with Dove' wrote about her young imagination, her sense of hers and the experience of going into care. This second part of coming-to-age climbs up the hill to look down on her environment, takes stock of the Sussex small town social topography and attempts to make sense of the role of men when the adult males close in her family appear insecure and without a stable place in the world, metaphorically expressed in the figure of Shakespeare Falstaff whereas at the same time she experiments with dressing like a boy perhaps following the path of many Shakespeare heroines. A discussion of thoughts behind and suggested by her acclaimed experimental, shape-shifting memoir.


Listen Again - The News Agents - 8 May 2021 - Sally Bayley 'No Boys Play Here'

Sat 1 May - Alex Paxton - Music for Bosch People

Alex Paxton talks about his new album on NMC, Music for Bosch People. He shares thoughts on the technology and ideas that contribute to his unique composing process and tracks from the album including 'Prayer like Strings and Joan Rivers' Also Montague and Tweed launch their new podcast series on Victorian entertainment and nineteenth century performance via their twitter feed @PlaybillMT. 

 Listen Again - Sat 1 May - Alex Paxton - Music for Bosch People

Sat 24 April - Helen Reddington - She's at the Controls - Women in Music Production (Pop industry)

Dr Helen Reddington (aka Helen McCookerybook) discusses her newly published research on women sound engineers and producers, 'She's at the Controls'. Her book is a socio-historic exploration of gender and audio production in the pop music industry with multiple interviews with women audio specialists who report back from their careers and lives in music production.


Listen Again - Dr Helen Reddington - She's at the Controls

Sat 17 April - Stefan Applis - Doing Georgraphy - Svaneti

Stefan Applis discusses possibilities for sustainable tourism in Svaneti, Georgia, his travelogue in development. We discuss ambitions for his own exceptional feed on geographical photography. Discussion on spaces and practices and geographic questions of South Caucasus, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Plus music from Lakhusdi 'The Singing Village' in Georgia, a ground-breaking cultural tourism initiative.

Listen Again - Stefan Applis - Doing Geography - Svaneti - 17 April 2021

Sat 10 April - April 2021 Poem a Day - Simon Williams

Simon Williams discusses the very popular and long running poetry forum currently titled April 2021 Poem a Day. Thoughts on this community of first drafts to encourage productivity in practising poets. With poems and audio extracts.

 

Listen Again - Simon Williams - April Poem a Day  

Sat 27 March - Richard Hughes - The Geological Society

Richard Hughes, Executive Secretary from the Geological Society on the importance and wide history of the institutions at a critical point in its lifespan. Find out about upcoming exhibition on the geology of Mars and support the campaign for the Geological Society to remain at Burlington House in Piccadilly, keep the UK national society for geoscience visible, in its historical home and in the heart of the London together with the Linnean Society and the Society of Antiquaries. For more information see thenewsagents.blogspot.com

Sat 20 March - VERSUS - Bettina Schroeder and Wormhole World

 

Poetry and music don't always come together but when they do interesting hybrid forms emerge. Looking at 'VERSUS' by Bettina Schroeder vs JCM out on Wormhole World, a 'weird Lancashire' label - the album is also a video project with contributions from filmmakers including Anne Savitie, Andrew Stys (UU) Mark Rathmell and Suzie Hanna. Thoughts on making this album and other interesting pop hybrids including 'Plague Songs' by Martin Rowson, Jon Tregenna and guest artist-performers.

 

Sat 13 March 2021 - Colonial Countryside - Prof Corinne Fowler

 Colonial Countryside. Professor Corinne Fowler in conversation on colonial connections in the country house, child-led creative projects on British history and empire and new writing on rurality. Chasing tales of rurality, slavery and material culture. Her book 'Green Unpleasant Land' is out on Peepal Tree Press.

 

The News Agents - Sat 13 March - Corinne Fowler, Colonial Countryside 

Sat 6 March - London Animation Club - Perils of Perestroika

London Animation Club and Perestroika film. Talking to Martin Pickles from the LAC about the club and its events. With extracts from recent special show The Perils of Perestroika (1) with Soviet Child (aka Riitta Hakkarainen and Jude Cowan Montague) presenting animated films from the Soviet Union in the 1990s including work by Ivan Maximov and Igor Kovalyov.

 

Listen Again - Sat 6 March - London Animation Club, Martin Pickles 

Sat 27 Feb - Heather Tweed - Victorian performance

Animal rights, stage and trans-theatre. Heather Tweed on lost characters of Victorian performance. Tales of the difficulties behind the brilliant bright acts that thrilled nineteenth-century audiences. Meet the bird-lady who directed scenes with her avian actors and who travelled the world with her feathered menagerie and many more poignant characters, researched through archives of the stage with enthusiasm and expertise.

 

Listen Again - Heather Tweed - Victorian performance - 27 February 2021 

Sat 20 February 2021 - Pollock's Toy Theatre - Jack Forgery Latham

Pollock's Toy Museum, one of London's interesting independent museums. Jack Fawdry Latham talks about what makes the Victorian collection and toy shop so unique and valuable as part of the heritage of the capital for children and adults now and in the future. An introduction to the practice and culture of toy theatre and an insight into the lasting enthusiasm for Victorian entrepreneurship and play. 

Listen Again - Pollock's Toy Theatre - Sat 20 February 2021 

Sat 13 Feb 2021 - Arfoud Brothers - Morocco, Sahrawi Music - 1/North Africa Series

The first in an occasional series on Moroccan art for 2021. Abdelillah Ouahbi from the Arfoud Brothers talks about his music and his oasis town in the beautiful Sahara desert, Erfoud. His fusion sounds produced with his brothers and sisters draw on his hometown, stories from the past, the everyday and the natural world - water, sky, the desert and the slippery fierce rhythms of Sahrawi music. With musical tracks celebrating our lives together and apart before and during the pandemic.

Listen Again - Sat 13 Feb 2021 - Arfoud Brothers; Morocco - The News Agents, Resonance FM

Sat 6 Feb 2021, Julian Hoffman, Irreplaceable, the Fight to Save our Wild Places

 Irreplaceable, the Fight to Save our Wild Places is Julian Hoffman's new book. He talks about the urgent resistance to loss and the local yet international struggle to save and value nature in our lives. From a small wood north of Sheffield to a small fishing island in Indonesia he brings us voices of hope and dissent that appreciate and wish to preserve the small enormous diversity of our planet for our wildlife and for ourselves. 

 

Listen Again - Sat 6 Feb 2021 - Julian Hoffman, Irreplaceable - The News Agents on Resonance FM 

Sat 30 Jan 2020 - Bulgarian Folk Story with Moni Sheehan

Bulgarian folklore and history with storyteller Moni Sheehan who has spent her life translating and interpreting the stories of her native Bulgarian culture for British audiences. With musician Ivor Davies she presents mythological story from Bulgaria with their performing arts group, A Spell in Time.  

Sat 30 January 2021 - Bulgarian Folk Story with Moni Sheehan

Sat 23 Jan 2021- Egyptian Magick - Mogg Morgan

 

Egyptian Magick. Mogg Morgan on the magical everyday life of ancient Egypt, the family of gods, the spells, festivities, rituals and prayers of the far past in North Africa. Speculating on how a revival of interest in ancient belief has continued, how it might be relevant to human psychology today and how it might play a part in new narratives of decolonisation. Plus the aesthetic of Egyptian sound and desertlore in terms of the ancient traditions.

Sat 23 Jan 2021- The News Agents - Egyptian Magick and Mogg Morgan

Sat 16 Jan 2021 - Putri Prihatini - folklore Thursday & Tolkien

Putri Prihatini in discussion about folklore, Twitter and Tolkien. How Folklore Thursday on Twitter and Lord of the Rings inspired her to dig deeper into Indonesian folktale and mythology. Putri's family are from East Java but she lives in Borneo. Her twitter tag is @blogtolkien. This is the first in a occasional series working with international thinkers, artists and activists met during lockdown and Covid restrictions on social media. Plus Minangkabau songs and Indonesian music.  

Listen Again - Sat 16 Jan 2021 - The News Agents - Putri Prihatini - Indonesian Folklore