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