In Iceland they have thirteen Santas—and some of them are quite naughty, even frightening. 22 lovely minutes from the World Service Boxing Day morning (also available as part of The World Service's excellent documentaries podcast, I think). More info on the programme page.
And James, I'll see your ridiculous baubles and raise you a magnificent animated Santa's sleigh!
Flashing through the lanes of West Cork the other night, probably a bit too fast, on the way from Bantry to Baltimore in the dusk, I heard this beautiful programme of archive voices and music. It's a real gem: quiet and a bit old-fashioned. Ian Lee, an RTE traditional music stalwart, has made a six part series based on the field recordings of the various folklorists and collectors who tramped around the place during the Twentieth Century.
This one's about the recordings of Alan Lomax, legendary Library of Congress archivist. There's nothing like it on British radio. I suppose it's a kind of throwback—and you'll really have to concentrate: some of the voices are impenetrable. But it's wonderful. Here's the MP3 and the other programmes in the series are all here.
It's Thursday, which means it's time for a new episode of Flight of the Conchords on Radio 2. Good comedy on Radio 2. Who would have believed it? Ok, so it's a repeat from 2005, but so utterly brilliant that it doesn't matter.
Flight of the Conchords ("formerly New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk parody duo") are a recent personal favourite. Somehow hearing them again on Radio 2, with a repeat a week later on Radio 7 if you miss it, is always going to be more special than the HBO show on HBO. Here's episode 4 (MP3, Real) for you. Get comfortable and prepare for a London flavoured treat, with narration by Rob Brydon and an appearance by Greg Proops.
bookmarks by: delicious.comSpeechification is a celebration of speech radio from around the (English-speaking) world. It's maintained (intermittently, it has to be said) by a scattered band of listeners most of whom live in Britain, which explains the preponderance of programmes from Radio 4, the nation's number 1 speech network.
We record or link to programmes and wrap the whole lot up in a podcast, which is probably the best way to absorb this stuff.
Of course, one day this might turn into something else, maybe a new way of curating speech radio. Or maybe it won’t.
Your hosts on this not very wild ride are Steve Bowbrick, Russell Davies, Dan Hill, Bobbie Johnson and James Bridle. Drop us a line with your thoughts, unless you wish to complain about continuity announcers and their accents.
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