Sat 29 April - Mouth Music, Puirt à beul and Jacobitism

A journey through the arts of diddling and Scottish mouth music, how to imitate the bagpipes and instruments with only vocals plus stories of Jacobite resistance in music. As a descendant of a Paisley poet and the ferryman from Oban to the islands, this is a personal trip into ancestral music making and history of Jacobitism.

https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/the-news-agents-29-april-2023-scottish-mouth-music-puirt-%C3%A0-beul-and-jacobite-history/

Sat 22 April - Ukraine and Russia songs of conflict - Andrei Rogatchevski

 Andrei Rogatchevski Professor of Russian Literature and Culture at UiT - the Arctic University of Norway looks at music of the relationship between Ukraine and Russia in music by analyzing the popularity of current songs via their presence on the Youtube platform, discussing what the music and lyrics show about attitudes and political and national identity. This is the fourth show with Professor Rogatchevski on songs of the conflict. 

The News Agents - 22 April 2023 (Andrei Rogatchevski) by Resonance FM | Mixcloud

Sat 15 April - Waulking and Gaelic songs in the Scottish Islands

 Looking at Gaelic songs in the Scottish islands in particular 'waulking', the songs sung by women working cloth, and output of some contemporary artists who have been influenced by this folk tradition.

The News Agents - 15 April 2023 (Scottish Waulking Songs) by Resonance FM | Mixcloud

Sat 8 April - A Town Explores a Book - Mary Seacole

 A Town Explores a Book is a unique community arts festival in St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex. This year the book chosen is 'Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands', the autobiography of Mary Seacole who was well known for her work in the Crimean War of the 1850s. Including original sound pieces by Ruby Colley and Yasmin Aisha 'Unmasked' and 'Stripped Bare'. 'Unmasked' features migrant community members Les Booth, Michael Braithwaite, Paulo Lopes, Dave Rohoman and Elwaldo Romeo. Mary Seacole was born in Kingston Jamaica to a mother of mixed heritage. 

The News Agents - 8 April 2023 (A Town Explores a Book: Mary Seacole in St Leonards-on-Sea) by Resonance FM | Mixcloud

Sat 1 April - Irish and Scottish Slow Airs

A wandering through Irish and Scottish airs, exploring the music and art of the Celtic lament, dirge and keen. 

Sat 18 Mar - Cairo Cosmopolitan City

Cairo nightlife in the 1920s and 1930s, an essay on the city and looking at women who flourished there (briefly), and this disappeared era. With orientalist soundtrack from the period and extracts from a conversation with Stephanie Mireille Halser whose family and father lived in the city during these cosmopolitan years.

https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/the-news-agents-18-march-2023-cairo-cosmopolitan-city-1920s/

Sat 11 Mar - Dennis Potter, 1920s & 1930s music, Pennies from Heaven

Dennis Potter, TV playwright and his three series 'Pennies from Heaven', 'The Singing Detective' and 'Lipstick on Your Collar'. Looking at the first of these series, 'Pennies from Heaven' and reflecting on the use of popular music to create a fantasy life juxtaposing with and interweaving with the gritty realistic drama.