EMILY BRONTE What do you get when you combine the poetry of 19th century novelist Emily Brontë with compositional ideas by some up and coming under-40 composers? Listen and learn. Today we present four Brontë poems set to music by an all-under 40 group of composers — from Norway, Canada and from the US young…
EPISODE 36: French Connection II: Two Jacques & a bunch of English versions
Key songs by two of the giants of 20th century French chanson, Jacques Brel and Jacques Prevert, are surprising well known to American popular music audiences, due to their having been translated (or sometimes significantly adapted) for English-speaking audiences. JACQUES BREL The name of Jacques Brel, whose signature evolutionary melodic technique is one that has…
WFIU: THE POETS WEAVE — DISHING OUT A SEMI-SWEET PORRIDGE
Bloomington Indiana station presents five minute glimpses of regional poets indianapublicmedia.org/poetsweave/ Poets Weave is a weekly five-minute program of poetry, hosted by Romayne Rubinas Dorsey based in Bloomington Indiana, and airing Sundays at 3:54 p.m. on WFIU1 and 5:54 p.m. on WFIU2. Dorsey’s own work has appeared in Brilliant Corners, Sou’Wester, and the Louisville Review, and she teaches in Indiana University’s creative…
EPISODE 35: The French Connection, part I – Charles Trenet
SPINDLEVERSE: WHAT’S ON YOUR TURNTABLE? This week we begin a two-episode journey looking at the impact of French popular music on American jazz standards, looking particularly at songs by the great Charles Trenet, two of whose songs – I Wish You Love and Beyond The Sea, in English — were liberally translated by American lyricists…
EPISODE 34: James Weldon Johnson and Boola Boola
James Weldon Johnson — best known as author of Lift Every Song and Sing, aka the Black National Anthem — was an influential figure at the turn of the 20th century in social activism, civil rights, educational reform and more. And he was, along with his brother J Rosomond Johnson and musical collaborators, author of…
Episode 33 — GUMILEV’S GIRAFFE: Putting Russia’s Silver Age Of Poetry To Song
Here’s a sample of classic Russian poems ‘from the Silver Age’ set to music by Larisa Novoseltseva, a Russian singer-songwriter, composer, performer of Russian and Ukrainian folk songs and romances. Novoseltseva is creator of the project Return of the Silver Age, and is author of music and performer of songs and ballads on poems by more than forty Russian…
EPISODE 32: THE BEAUTIFUL CURSE OF BEING BORN DAZZLING
SOMETIMES I TRAVEL JUST TO GET AWAY/JENNIFER BLOWDRYER SOMETIMES I TRAVEL JUST TO GET AWAY is the title of the distrokid release from Jennifer Blowdryer (Dec 2023), punk icon, poet, performer and author of several books. The theme is an engaging one — portraits of aging glam, the curse of being born dazzling — and the musical tone…
EPISODE 31: Dana Gioia, Helen Sung — Sung With Words
EPISODE 31: Dana Gioia, Helen Sung – Sung With Words Spindleverse: What’s on your turntable? Here are four swinging tracks utilizing words created by Dana Gioia that serve as lyrics and are sung by the jazz musician Helen Sung. From a 2018 album SUNG WITH WORDS, the result is compositions that have all the right…
LA POET VISITS A GLOUCESTER MASS FISHING VILLAGE
On Wednesday 10.11.23, poet and journalist Mark Lipman presented a half hour show on KPFK-LA (streamed worldwide, visited the old Massachusetts fishing village of Gloucester, and Stephen Lapierre, a painter, living in America’s oldest art colony of Rock Neck. The conversation with LaPierre was friendly and energetic, sounding as if it was taking place between…
EPISODE 30: Too Much Subterranean Homesick Monkey Business?
It’s pretty well known in popular music circles that the Beach Boys were taken to task for writing a song that was too close to one of the Chuck Berry classics that preceded them. No mention of any complaints, never mind legal action, against Bob Dylan, who is said to have admitted in 2004 that…
RADIO POET!QUE: A Spoken Word Radio Review 