BBC The Wildcard – The Language of Music 30/01/2019

It was really lovely to hear from the BBC. They has been seeking for presenters for a new show. I submitted show samples, got a couple of interviews.Before I knew it, I receive a proposal from the BBC to consider doing a radio show with them. More specifically, BBC Stoke-On-Trent asked me to record a radio show as part of their “The Wildcard” Programme. We worked out that my show should be called the Language of Music. I always wondered what the next show my love for music would birth. Of course, it had to be about music. Of course, I had to pour out  my love of music somehow.

In the show, I go on about the richness of the tongue. I start somewhere from its deceptive depth, then go on to its silence, to its melody and harmony, even in their polyrhythm. We go around the world to scope its many expressions. We stop to hear the Indian Cithar and the China Guzheng crossing borders. They offer us fusion to which we easily relate as they have such an international take on their genre. We hear the voices of Gabon in a question and answer musical polyrhythm with Germany. We go to the US amidst love and ‘war’. We re-explore a classical pen from England that a voice from Italy via France revisits. We hear a timeless sound, like a touch of timed pieces of the francophone hexagone and Russia.

It is almost like, in effect, music is not one but many languages, all recognisable expressions of the all-at-once simplicity and complexity of being human.

No real programme can go down as well without the help of the people around you. In my case, Tom Lawrenson and Michelle Daniel took time out of their busy schedules to give me a hand and the show is much better for it.

The Wildcard – the language of music 30/01/2019 is available on the BBC sounds mobile app or at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06y6tj0 alongside other The Wildcard shows such as Tom Lawrenson’s Chill Zone.