Music - Radio Balads

I spent an hour yesterday evening listening to the first of the 2006 Radio Ballads commissioned by the BBC.  a project setup in the late 1950s, these montages’ of everyday people talking about aspects of their lives were groundbreaking when first commissioned and broadcast not least because regional accents had been aloud on the BBC.  Previously actors would have read out the lines  and this because of the corporations fear of common people talking on the radio!  Surely working class vernacular shouldn’t be acceptable in upper class parlers!! Go and check out some tasty extracts from these first early ballads.  Take a look at this breakdown of the first shows from a social policy point of view.  The article also gives some historical background.

The 2006 versions touch on topics as diverse as hunting with hounds, the Sheffield steel industry and living with AIDS.  

You will have to be a little open minded, but patients is rewarded by vivid and touching sound-scapes set to beautiful modern songs presented acoustically and in a folk format.  Cast prejudice aside relating to this form of music and listen to these masterpieces for what they are, a truly fascinating record of how social policy has changed our life in the UK.
I was particularly intrigued by the steel industry ballad and not least because I spent 10 years at school in Sheffield around the time Thatcher destroyed the manufacturing of steel in the city.  On reflection this was just a test and prerunner to the coal strikes of the mid 1980s.  giving the time to Take a listen to stories of the Toil harsh conditions and resolve of these people is moving, interesting and at times witty.

Do your self a favour and listen to at least one of these shows at this link.  If these come out on cd I’ll be making a purchase.