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Two-tone

We range across musical fusions, the black-and-white piano keyboards, the inspiration of Jamaica and writings by Hannah Lowe, Leone Ross, William Shakespeare and Jane Austen.

Jade Anouka and Rhys Bevan with a range of readings set alongside music in a programme inspired by Coventry's history. As the New Music Biennial comes to Coventry this weekend as part of its City of Culture programme, this episode takes its inspiration from the musical fusion in the city in the 1970s that produced the two-tone pop sound. But our canvass takes the black and white iconography of that musical moment as a starting point for a programme featuring the sounds of the piano keyboard, with its stark juxtaposition of ebony and ivory, in music from classical to jazz, from the mix of styles that burst out in the writing of the Harlem Renaissance, examples of cross cultural relationships from Othello to novels by Caryl Phillips and Andrea Levy, the reflections of poet Hannah Lowe on her Jamaican father's love of the blues, and an excerpt from musician Pauline Black's memoirs about the birth of two-tone band The Selecter in Coventry in the late 1970s.

Producer: Graham Rogers

Radio 3 is recording and broadcasting music from the New Music Biennial starting in next weekend's New Music Show.

1 hour, 14 minutes

Last on

Sun 24 Apr 2022 17:30

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:01

    Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Valse Suite - Andante

    Performer: Monica Gaylord.
    • Music & Arts CD 737.
    • 24.
  • DH Lawrence

    Piano, read by Jade Anouka

  • 00:03

    Anon./Improvisation

    Deploration Morisque

    Performer: Jordi Savall.
    • Alia Vox AVSA9875.
    • 1.
  • Shakespeare

    Othello (excerpt), read by Jade Anouka and Rhys Bevan

  • 00:05

    AntonΓ­n DvoΕ™Γ΅k

    Symphony No.9 in E minor 'From the New World' 1st mvt

    Performer: Chineke! Orchestra, Kevin John Edusei (cond.).
    • Signum SIGCD515.
    • 1.
  • Caryll Phillips

    The Nature of Blood (excerpt), read by Rhys Bevan

  • 00:09

    Errollyn Wallen

    Concerto Grosso: 1st mvt

    Performer: Chineke! Orchestra, Anthony Parnther (cond.).
    • NMC NMCD250.
    • 1.
  • 00:11

    Bach arr. Grappelli

    Improvisation on the 1st mvt of Bach's Concerto in D minor

    Performer: Stephane Grappelli (violin).
    • Melodie 400052.
    • 7.
  • Langston Hughes

    Theme for English B, read by Jade Anouka

  • 00:15

    David Arkin, Earl Robinson

    Black and White

    Performer: Greyhound.
    • Trojan Records TJACD147.
    • 1.
  • Hannah Lowe

    Reggae Story, read by Hannah Lowe, recorded for a Dash Arts event. Hear more in their podcast episode Songs of the Migrant Worker.

  • 00:18

    Neol Davies

    On My Radio

    Performer: The Selecter.
    • Crysalis F2 21723.
    • 1.
  • Pauline Black

    Black By Design (excerpt), read by Jade Anouka

  • 00:21

    Gottschalk

    Manchega

    Performer: Alan Feinburg (piano).
    • Argo 4361212.
    • 3.
  • Jane Austen

    Pride and Prejudice (excerpt), read by Rhys Bevan

  • Thomas Hardy

    The Piano, read by Jade Anouka

  • 00:24

    Michael Nyman

    The Piano (music for the film)

    Performer: Michael Nyman.
    • Venture CDVEX 919.
    • 6.
  • 00:26

    Philip Glass

    Passages - Ragas in minor scale

    Performer: Ravi Shankar. Composer: Ravi Shankar.
    • Private Music 260947.
    • 4.
  • Moniza Alvi

    Indian Cooking, read by Rhys Bevan (from Split World: Poems 1990-2005 (2008))

  • Jacqueline Saphra

    Mango 1963, read by Jade Anouka

  • 00:30

    JoaquΓ­n Rodrigo

    Concierto de Aranjuez -1st mvt

    Performer: Xuefei Yang.
    • EMI 6983612.
    • 1.
  • Andrea Levy

    Small Island (excerpt), read by Rhys Bevan

  • 00:37

    Anthony Joseph & Jason Yarde

    Caribbean Roots

    • Strut HS131CD.
    • 10.
  • Marvin Thompson

    The Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Galatians 5:22, read by Marvin Thompson

  • 00:44

    Florence Price

    Piano Quintet in A minor: 2nd mvt

    Performer: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • Chandos CHAN 20224.
    • 6.
  • Emily Bronte

    Wuthering Heights (excerpt), read by Jade Anouka

  • 00:50

    Hannah Kendall

    A Winged Spirit

    Performer: Hyeyoon Park. Performer: Benjamin Grosvenor.
    • NMC NMCDL3036.
    • 5.
  • Nadifa Mohamed

    The Fortune Men (excerpt), read by Rhys Bevan

  • 00:52

    Mozart

    Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail Β– Overture

    Performer: Academy of Ancient Music Berlin, Rene Jacobs (cond.).
    • Harmonia Mundi HMC90221415.
    • 1.
  • Zadie Smith

    Swing Time (excerpt), read by Jade Anouka

  • 00:58

    George Botsford

    Black and White Rag

    Performer: Winifred Atwell (piano).
    • Living Era CD AJA 5638.
    • 1.
  • Leone Ross

    This One Sky Day (excerpt), read by Rhys Bevan

  • 01:02

    BΓ©la BartΓ³k

    Stick Dance (Romanian Folk Dances)

    Performer: Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ivan Fischer (cond.).
    • Philips 454 4302.
    • 8.
  • Emily Dickinson

    Not any sunny tone, read by Jade Anouka

  • 01:03

    Miles Davis

    Black Satin

    Performer: Miles Davis.
    • Columbia CK 63980.
    • 2.
  • 01:05

    William Grant Still

    Africa, Land of Romance

    Orchestra: Fort Smith Symphony. Conductor: John Jeter.
    • Naxos 8.559174.
    • 3.
  • Ella Wheeler Wilcox

    The Under Tone, read by Rhys Bevan

  • Raymond Antrobus

    Sutton Road Cemetery, read by Raymond Antrobus. Extracted from All The Names Given, forthcoming from Picador Poetry in September 2021

  • 01:12

    Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder

    Ebony & Ivory

    • MPL HRM-37287-00.
    • 2.

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