麻豆约拍

Barry Humphries takes listeners back to the first half of the twentieth century with a selection of his favourite 78 r.p.m. recordings. Through his unique commentary, Barry demonstrates the songs of the past are still relevant today and each track played offers fascinating insights of social history.

In this final programme in this series of Forgotten Music, Barry celebrates the music the Nazis said was bad. It includes details on the history of Barry's favourite group 'The Comedian Harmonists'. When the Nazis came to power the group was banned because it had three Jewish members and sang mostly American or American-influenced music. Those members who fled to Austria re-named the group 'The Comedy Harmonists' before being forced again to flee when Austria became part of the Third Reich. The non-Jewish members of the group stayed in Germany and became 'Das Meistersextet'. Barry also plays 'So Blue' by the American vocal harmony group 'The Revelers' which inspired Harry Frommermann to form 'The Comedian Harmonists' in Berlin.

Another highlight of this final programme in Barry's series of forgotten music for 麻豆约拍 Radio 2 is a radio performance by George Gershwin, one of Barry's all-time favourite composers. George Gershwin died unexpectedly in July 1937, when he was just 38 years old of a brain tumour. 2017 marks 80 years since the death of this influential composer. His achievements were monumental and his music continues to influence musicians and composers today.