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Music music music

2009-06-19T14:00:00+00:00

Stan Was, a producer in the Radio 4 presentations department (and practically the in-house photographer - you'll see lots of his work in the Radio 4 pool on Flickr.com) was present in the Loose Ends studio Saturday and took some lovely pics of the two bands on the show: The Mummers and Smoke Fairies. You can listen again to the programme for the next couple of days here. First, The Mummers:

And Smoke Fairies:

Yours truly was present for a magical collision of Radio 3 interactive head (and Proms producer) Roland Taylor and Radio 4 newsreader Kathy Clugston in Studio 70A this week. They had, naturally, brought their Ukuleles and they played Ode to Joy - the centrepiece of the big Ukulele Prom that Roland is producing - down the line for a Radio Ulster arts programme. Then I recorded Kathy and Roland's impromptu verse and chorus from Norwegian Wood. Here's the audio and here they are in action:

Very musical place, Radio 4.

Ukes on Today

2009-06-11T08:00:23+00:00

If you're in a better mood than you usually are on a Thursday morning it might be because you heard the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain on Today at 0741. Together with Kathy Clugston, of this parish, they provided a lovely few minutes of strummed Beethoven and details of how to join in with August's Ukulele Prom. Roland Taylor, who is in charge of things interactive at Radio 3 and is also producing the Prom, wrote about it on the Radio 3 blog. Here's an excerpt:

I've produced a few Proms in my time at the BBC but, for me, this year's line up is a bit different: Stan Tracey, the Michael Nyman Band and, because I begged to be allowed to produce it, Prom 45 with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. I can't wait. When I was told I'd been given Prom 45 I smiled for about 2 days. Then, on the way home, it occurred to me that it might be a great opportunity, as Interactive Editor for the Proms, to get the audience involved. I emailed Ellara Wakely (Learning Manager, BBC Proms) and Roger Wright asking both if we could have a 'bring your ukulele to the Prom and play along' moment. They said yes. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain said yes. My team said yes. I said yes!

Read the rest of this post and leave comments on the Radio 3 blog...

Steve Bowbrick is editor of the Radio 4 blog