The Essay Podcast
Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.
Episodes to download
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Indonesia's Tin Pan Alley - Tihingan in Bali—Tin Pan Alleys
Fri 29 Nov 2024
Ade Mardiyati visits the master gamelan makers of Tihingan village in Bali.
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Spain's Tin Pan Alley - Centro, Madrid—Tin Pan Alleys
Thu 28 Nov 2024
Guy Hedgecoe visits the luthiers of Madrid.
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Japan's Tin Pan Alley - Ochanomizu in Tokyo—Tin Pan Alleys
Wed 27 Nov 2024
Phoebe Amoroso reports from Ochanomizu in Tokyo, famous for shops selling electric guitars
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TΓΌrkiye's Tin Pan Alley - Galip Dede Street in Istanbul—Tin Pan Alleys
Tue 26 Nov 2024
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TΓΌrkΓ§e journalist Esra Yalcinalp visits Galip Dede Street, Istanbul's Tin Pan Alley.
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China's Tin Pan Alley - Xinjiekou Street in Beijing—Tin Pan Alleys
Mon 25 Nov 2024
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Beijing Correspondent Stephen McDonell visits the music shops of Xinjiekou Street.
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Amber—Scotland Rocks
Fri 22 Nov 2024
5/5 Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
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Serpentine—Scotland Rocks
Thu 21 Nov 2024
4/5 Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
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Aquamarine—Scotland Rocks
Wed 20 Nov 2024
3/5 Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
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Agate—Scotland Rocks
Tue 19 Nov 2024
2/5 Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
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Gold—Scotland Rocks
Mon 18 Nov 2024
1/5 Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
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Mamoru Samuragochi—Classical Deceptions
Fri 1 Nov 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
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Joyce Hatto—Classical Deceptions
Thu 31 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
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The Lost Haydn Sonatas—Classical Deceptions
Wed 30 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
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Albinoni's Adagio—Classical Deceptions
Tue 29 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
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Fritz Kreisler—Classical Deceptions
Mon 28 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
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5. Rebecca Toal and Hattie Butterworth—Healing Musicians
Fri 18 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy talks to musicians who had to rethink their careers after injury or illness.
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4. Ludwig Quandt—Healing Musicians
Thu 17 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy shares stories with musicians who had to rethink their lives after injury.
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3. Robin Graham—Healing Musicians
Wed 16 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy shares stories with musicians who had to rethink their lives after injury.
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2. Stephen Marquiss—Healing Musicians
Tue 15 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy shares stories with musicians who had to rethink their lives after injury.
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1. Julian Lloyd Webber—Healing Musicians
Mon 14 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy talks to musicians who had to rethink their lives and careers after injury.
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Chorus girls in Paris—Music Rediscovered
Fri 27 Sep 2024
Adjoa Osei has been delving into the personal archives of some 1930s Plaza Tiller dancers.
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Esther Inglis's musical self portraits—Music Rediscovered
Thu 26 Sep 2024
Eleanor Chan delves into the world of a Huguenot bookmaker who used music as a code.
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The Star-Spangled Banner, Jacobins and Abolitionists—Music Rediscovered
Wed 25 Sep 2024
Oskar Jensen on what links Liverpool politics, a street ballad and the American anthem.
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Tudor music and politics—Music Rediscovered
Tue 24 Sep 2024
Christina Faraday tells us how Robert Cecil used a song to curry favour with Elizabeth I.
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Teresa del Riego's suffrage anthem—Music Rediscovered
Mon 23 Sep 2024
Naomi Paxton shares research on a suffrage song with a special performance by Lucy Stevens
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Don't You Think We're Forever—Forever Songs
Fri 5 Jul 2024
Karine Polwart considers music's ritual power to connect, soothe, honour and remember.
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Couldn't Love You More—Forever Songs
Thu 4 Jul 2024
Karine Polwart considers music's ritual power to connect, soothe, honour and remember.
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Banks of Sicily—Forever Songs
Wed 3 Jul 2024
Karine Polwart considers music's ritual power to connect, soothe, honour and remember.
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Time Has Told Me—Forever Songs
Tue 2 Jul 2024
Karine Polwart considers music's ritual power to connect, soothe, honour and remember.
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How Happy I Am—Forever Songs
Mon 1 Jul 2024
Karine Polwart considers music's ritual power to connect, soothe, honour and remember.
Death in Trieste
A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.
Watch: My Deaf World
Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.
Download The Essay
Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.
