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Stígðu inn í heim af óteljandi sögum

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BBC Radio 3


An antidote to today’s frenzied world. Step back, let go, immerse yourself: it’s time to go slow.

Listen to the sounds of birds, mountain climbing, monks chatting as you go about your day. A lo-fi celebration of pure sound.


Slow Radio

From the medina of Marrakech to the palmeries in Zagora, join sound recordists Andrea Campisi and Silvia Malnati as they embark upon a roadtrip in sound, leaving the capital city to journey across southeast Morocco. Across four movements of contrasting energies, bound together by the motif of the muezzin’s call to prayer, we listen to an immersive musical suite comprising binaural field recordings and on-location sound.

I. Allegro: In Marrakech medina we take a walk through a maze of streets and stalls before arriving out onto the iconic Jemaa el-Fnaa square. Here, we’re met with the hypnotising sound of pungi flutes and, as the sun sets, of gnawa musicians, jesters and Said Anazoure’s intricate banjo playing.

II. Largo: We leave the city behind to seek refuge in the mountainous region of Ourika. Here, we hear sounds of village life, as well as the distant voices of children reciting the Koran from behind the school’s door.

III. Scherzo: Having crossed the Atlas mountains, we descend towards the Draa Valley and its oasis, tuning in to the sound of the palmeries just outside Zagora. As night falls, crickets take their place alongside the mating calls of cats under the stars.

IV. Finale: We resume our drive, headed for a village outside Aït Benhaddou. A local family invites us to spend the night inside their tigmi, a traditional house, and attend an Ahwach ceremony with the musicians of Ahwach Asfalou.

With special thanks to Hamid Boukhch, Said Anazoure, Ahwach Asfalou (Mme Ijja, Hiba, Iken, Oumaghlif, Bendrisse, Hanafi, Ait houssa, Tabrahimte, Belmadan, Mr Haji, Mr Ifliisse, Almsalla, Belaabass, Benhdouch, Boularia, Ait Bikouch, Khalfi) and Alexa Kruger.

Produced by Andrea Campisi and Silvia Malnati
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3

Morocco Suite

Poet Owen Sheers explores the strange sound world of the underground spaces of Wales, from slate caverns to sea caves, from Snowdonia to the Gower peninsula. In a new poem, he contemplates these dark and hidden places integral to Welsh myth, industry and psyche.

Written and read by Owen Sheers
Sound design by Catherine Robinson
Produced by Emma Harding

Underground Wales

Relax with a calming mix of music and natural sounds - from the Caribbean and back again via the rainforests of Queensland and the icy waters off Nova Scotia, Canada.

Includes listener recordings made by William Collinson and Julio Davila and BBC Natural History Unit recordings from Trevor Gosling, Mike Potts and Grace Niska Atkins.

Sounds of the Earth - December

Jarrow Slake is an expanse of tidal mudflats at the mouth of the Tyne with fascinating social and natural histories. The Venerable Bede lived and worked here; timber from Scandinavia was brought to mature in its ponds. In 1972 the Port of Tyne authority filled these in to allow factory development. Now cars built at Sunderland are stored at Jarrow Slake prior to export. Part is a post-industrial site, where land meets water and sky. It is desolate and little visited, and so there is a rich variety of wildlife, much beneath the water and in the mud, unseen and unheard.

For several years, the sound artist and composer Tim Shaw has been recording the sounds of Jarrow Slake, at high and low tide, at ground level and underwater. He captures the sounds of industry, of passing ships, the different birds, the wind and the water. And the astonishing musical noises of the tiny aquatic creatures. 

Sounding Jarrow Slake is a Slow Radio piece composed of these remarkable sounds, punctuated by bare fragments of information about the history - social, industrial and natural - of this remarkable place.

Producers: Tim Shaw and Julian May

Sounding Jarrow Slake

Tie on to the rope of artist and climber Dan Shipsides to go sea cliff climbing at Fairhead on the north Antrim coast of Northern Ireland. For Dan climbing and art feed into one another in unexpected and complimentary ways - both are creative acts - appreciative of aesthetics and beauty. 

Also joining us on the climb will be Derry-born dancer Zoe Ramsey. She was introduced to the sport by Dan and was instantly hooked. While their climbing styles might be as different as the art they create both see parallels between what they do in the studio and what they do on the rockface. Moving, balancing and extending for Zoe, drawing a line through a vertical landscape for Dan. 

With the jangle of the metal wedges they use to protect their ascent hanging from their climbing harnesses and the 'thwip' of the rope running out we join the pair as they inch their way up the cliff face with the Irish sea roaring far below in a journey from the deep blue of the water to the pale blue of the sky. 

Producer: Peter McManus

Deep Blue to Pale Blue

Escape to the seaside and enjoy the sounds of a day at the fair.

As the country comes out of long periods of enforced lockdown, it's good to be reminded of the fun things that bring people together, and escape to a happy place, with reminders of holidays, childhood, excitement and wonder. 

The Pleasure Beach at Great Yarmouth is a family-run business that has stood on the sea front for over a hundred years. It mixes the latest fairground ride technology with vintage favourites. 

This Slow Radio experience takes in one of the first days of opening after the fairground's Covid-enforced shutdown. 

So forget your troubles for half an hour and come and ride on the Big Apple Coaster, the carousel and the dodgems; take a fairy tale trip on a mechanical snail, dare to visit the Haunted Hotel, and watch out for the Barrel of Laughs.

Producer: Sam Hickling

The Funfair

This Slow Radio feature takes us on a leisurely stroll round the park. Parks are always important but during the lockdowns they've become vital to people stuck in cities and towns. Children can still play in the park; grown-ups can still walk, run and even dance there.

When a smattering of snow fell in London recently Greenwich Park erupted with people - of all ages - pouring like lava down the icy slopes below the Royal Observatory, on sledges, tin trays, even grill pans. There were snowball skirmishes and snow sculptures appeared. It was a wonderful sight, and even more arresting were the sounds - the cacophony of joy.

The park these days is 'full of noises, sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not', the sounds of life and happiness. But, in the distance you hear, too, the sounds of sorrow - a church bell tolls and ambulances wail. Today's Slow Radio programme gathers all these - the birds, the dogs, the children, runners, boxers, ice, mud, rain, and the - almost - silence, capturing a winter's Sunday in the Park With...sound.

Producer: Julian May

The Sounds of a Winter Sunday in the Park

Take your ears on a binaural summer holiday through the Mallorcan town of Soller, from sunrise to sundown. The sleepy town awakes into market day, and tourists arrive at the Miro-decorated train station before climbing aboard the tram that runs through the town square down to the beach of Port de Soller. Night brings the local fiesta of St Bartomeu as the drums beat into the night in the town square.

Soller - We're All Going on an Aural Holiday

Composer Iain Chambers’s celebration of the domestic sound world, starting in the present day before travelling back in time.

Lockdown gave us the excuse to consider our own home environments in a new way. Household Gods takes this new focus further, exploring in depth and amplifying the sounds of domestic objects, arranged into a through-composed musique concrète work.

This is a joyful sonic celebration of the domestic environment, starting in the present day, and travelling back in time to explore earlier homes, through historic sound research and sound design.

At times the domestic sound world is bustling, at others a haven of peace. We hear the technology that helps us cook, clean, relax, eat, pass time. 

During lockdown, many of us rediscovered the hidden joy in the objects that surround us that we hadn’t properly considered before our enforced isolation.

Composed and produced by Iain Chambers.

Household Gods

With extraordinary close-up recordings of his life as a vet, the bird population, the wildlife, the sea and the shore, veterinarian Joe Hollins brings his time on the island of Tristan da Cunha to the ears of the Slow Radio listener.

Joe has recorded over 20 hours of close encounters with wild life and domestic animals, and this Slow Radio piece will take the chance to really zoom in on the incredible richness of sounds which he has recorded here over six months.

This is one of the most unique locations for untamed wild life and birds and this has enabled Joe to get right in there among the penguins, the seals, and the sea birds that cover the cliffs. He is also present at every part of the farmer's life - sawing the over grown horns of the sheep, birthing calves, and helping with the milking. 

The landscape itself is as rich a sound terrain - from getting on and off the tiny boats, and fishing vessels, scrabbling down the cliffs or into the heart of the volcano itself.

This will be one of those rare things - an animal paradise for the ears.

Producer: Sara Jane Hall 

Music from 
Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys
Imaginary Songs From Tristan da Cunha by Deathprod

Penguins v Seals - Tristan da Cunha

Episode 2/5. In 1705, the 20-year-old Johann Sebastian Bach set off from his home in Arnstadt to walk 250 miles to Lübeck, there to meet his hero, the composer and organist Dietrich Buxtehude. 

In the second of five "slow-radio" walks in which writer Horatio Clare searches for his footsteps - and his ghost - the putative route takes him into the Harz Mountains and up to its highest point, the Brocken Summit.

Bach Walks: Schierke to Brocken Summit

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