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In the Shadow of Kafka: Blue-Eyed Hawk in Session

For Radio 3's In the Shadow of Kafka season, Jez Nelzon presents British band Blue-Eyed Hawk performing in session, premiering new music inspired by the Czech writer's stories.

British band Blue-Eyed Hawk perform in session, premiering new music inspired by the celebrated Czech writer Franz Kafka.

Now 100 years since the publication of his seminal work The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung), Franz Kafka remains one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, inspiring generations with his novels and short stories, themes of alienation, authority and mythical transformation. To coincide with a series of programmes across Radio 3 celebrating his life, Jazz on 3 invited Blue-Eyed Hawk - a quartet born from the fascination between improvisation and literature - to write new music inspired by Kafka's short stories.

As their namesake line from W.B. Yeats's poem Under the Moon suggests, Blue-Eyed Hawk's first projects have focused mainly on the musicality found in poetry, powered by vocalist Lauren Kinsella's impressive ability to reimagine the rhythms and twists of verse. However Kafka's prose poses a different sort of challenge and it's a focus on his characters and themes that come to the fore in this session. The band members, including acclaimed young trumpeter Laura Jurd, guitarist Alex Roth and drummer Corrie Dick, share composition duties and bring their own individual sound to the world of Kafka.

Presenter: Jez Nelson
Producer: Miranda Hinkley.

1 hour, 30 minutes

Last on

Mon 11 May 2015 23:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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  • The Process

    A new adaptation of Franz Kafka's classic The Trial. What has Joseph Kay been accused of?

Clip

Music Played

  • Blue-Eyed Hawk in session for Jazz on 3 at Livingston Studios, London on 29 March 2015

    • Blue-Eyed Hawk

      Metamorphosis

      Composer: Laura Jurd

    • Blue-Eyed Hawk

      All Sorts

      Composer: Lauren Kinsella

    • Blue-Eyed Hawk

      The Machine

      Composer: Laura Jurd

    • Blue-Eyed Hawk

      If It Shatters

      Composer: Corrie Dick

  • Bassist JaromΓ­r HonzΓ΅k selects tracks from the Czech jazz scene

    • Vertigo Quintet

      Jul i Galhus

      • Taj.
      • Animal Records.

    • Lubos Soukup Ensemble

      Street

      • Through the Mirror.
      • Animal Records.

    • JaromΓ­r HonzΓ΅k

      Smell of Change

      • Uncertainty.
      • Animal Records.

    • European Jazz Orchestra

      Charles Mingus Suite: Mvt 2: Sostenuto

  • Blue-Eyed Hawk in session for Jazz on 3 at Livingston Studios, London on 29 March 2015

    • Blue-Eyed Hawk

      Strange Animal

      Composer: Alex Roth

    • Blue-Eyed Hawk

      Message from the Emperor

      Composer: Alex Roth

    • Blue-Eyed Hawk

      The Trees

      Composer: Lauren Kinsella / Laura Jurd / Alex Roth / Corrie Dick

  • New music from Keith Jarrett

    • Archive Interview: Keith Jarrett in conversation with Ethan Iverson (2009)

    • Keith Jarrett

      Part III

      • Creation.
      • ECM.

Line up:

Lauren Kinsella (voice); Laura Jurd (trumpet); Alex Roth (guitar);Β Corrie Dick (drums)

Broadcast

  • Mon 11 May 2015 23:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

Kafka and Co

Kafka and Co

Texts and music exploring the themes in Kafka. Readers: Rory Kinnear and Juliet Stevenson.

In the Shadow of Kafka: Prophet of Prague

In the Shadow of Kafka: Prophet of Prague

Misha Glenny traces the footsteps of Franz Kafka in his native city.

Jazz Now

Jazz Now

The new home of contemporary jazz on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

Related Links

  • (blue-eyedhawk.com)
  • (jaromirhonzak.com)