Latest news with #folk music
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
21st Century Folk returns to BBC Radio 2 with songs inspired by train stories to celebrate 200 years of train travel around the UK
BBC Radio 2 is putting folk music front and centre in July with the return of 21st Century Folk. For the third year, five folk acts are writing and composing a song about people whose lives have been influenced by - or changed track - thanks to trains. The stories of those who have contributed to the project are being told to coincide with Railway 200, celebrating 200 years of train travel in the UK. From Monday 28 July to Sunday 3 August, Radio 2 will mark the occasion with a week of folk music programming across Radio 2's Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe (Weds, 9-10pm), and The Jeremy Vine Show (weekdays, noon-2pm). Jeremy will also broadcast live from The Greatest Gathering, a festival to celebrate the past, present and future of rail travel, at Alstom in Derby. There will also be a chance to hear the songs, contributors and songwriters in 21st Century Folk 2025 on BBC Sounds and watch them by going to The artists taking part this year are Richard Thompson, Kate Rusby, Findlay Napier, Chris While & Julie Matthews, and Bill Ryder-Jones. Helen Thomas, Head of BBC Radio 2, said: 'Radio 2 is proud of its commitment to such a wide range of music on one single UK radio station. We have much loved weekly shows dedicated to folk, jazz, country, blues, musical theatre and hip hop, alongside our huge mainstream programmes. I'm delighted that today our 21st Century Folk project returns for its third chapter. Sincere thanks to the listeners, whose stories are so inspirational and unique, and the singer-songwriters who have turned these tales into truly moving music.' Mark Radcliffe said: 'Folk music tells the story of everyday life, with melodies and lyrics that are passed down through generations of families. It's been amazing to see these listeners' stories take on a life of their own with these special compositions, written and performed by some of the folk world's most loved artists. I can't wait to share them with the Radio 2 audience.' Details of the contributors: Siggy lives in Hampstead, London and is part of the Windrush generation. The 85-year-old came to the UK from Barbados in 1962 and became a railway worker the day he arrived. He still loves his shift in Customer Services at Elstree & Borehamwood station and previously played cricket for the England over-70s. Siggy's singer-songwriter is multi-award-winning artist, Richard Thompson OBE. He co-founded Fairport Convention - who invented the distinctive sound of British Folk Rock – and has been named in Rolling Stone's top 100 guitarists of all-time. Like Siggy, he is cricket mad! Charlotte and David live near Bradford, West Yorkshire. Charlotte was beside a train track intending to take her own life when David, a train driver, got out of his cab and spoke to her until she felt able to board the train. She later contacted him to say thank you, they started dating and are now married with children. Their singer-songwriter is Kate Rusby, from Barnsley in South Yorkshire, one of the most successful folk singers of her generation. She is performing the song alongside her husband, musical director and Northern Irish musician, Damien O'Kane. Joanne lives in Darwen, Lancashire, and is an accountant by day, but in her spare time volunteers as a 'steam locomotive fireman' on the Llangollen Railway in Wales. Joanne survived a rare form of cancer in 2019 and is an activist for diversity and inclusion within the Heritage Rail sector. Scottish musician Findlay Napier, who lives on the Isle of Arran, has written Joanne's song. He performs as a solo artist and as part of folk-rock supergroup, The Magpie Arc. Tom is a railway station foundling. In 1965 as a two-week old baby he was found in the ladies' waiting room of Reading railway station in Berkshire. He was left well-dressed and tucked under a bench with a spare nappy and bottle. He discovered more about his story much later in his life, and now lives in Nottingham. Singer-songwriters, Chris While and Julie Matthews, from Sheffield in South Yorkshire, are Britain's longest-enduring female duo having performed together for over 30 years. They have played more than 2,500 gigs and appeared on more than 100 albums. Ken is from Liverpool but now lives in Greater Manchester. He is an Alstom employee based at Widnes depot, and to mark 50 years of service a locomotive was named in his honour. Ken knew from four years old that he wanted to follow in his dad and grandad's footsteps and his family have worked on the railways for a combined 157 years! Singer-songwriter, Bill Ryder-Jones, is co-founder and former lead guitarist with The Coral; he's released several solo records and collaborated with artists including Arctic Monkeys, Graham Coxon and Paloma Faith. He shares Ken's deep love of Liverpool. Hear the songs, contributors and songwriters in a special programme, 21st Century Folk 2025, on BBC Sounds from Monday 28 July and on BBC Radio 2 on Sunday 3 August (8-10pm); and watch the five songs being performed in 21st Century Folk 2025 by going to from Monday 28 July, both produced by Pomona Audio. The contributors and singer-songwriters will also be interviewed on The Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2 across the week (from Monday 28 July - Friday 1 August, 12-2pm) where each song will be played on air. Friday's edition of the show will be an outside broadcast from The Greatest Gathering at Alstom in Derby where Bill Ryder-Jones will perform his song, written for Ken, live. Radio 2's Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe (Wednesday 30 July, 9-10pm) will be a train song special, and also include an interview with folk legend Peggy Seeger. Peggy co-created the BBC's Radio Ballads in the 1950s, which, like 21st Century Folk, told the stories of real people using bespoke folk songs. The first ever Radio Ballad was about trains. ED Follow for more
The Guardian
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Folk, fiddles and foot-stomping: how gen Z rebooted old-school Norwegian music
Folk music is having a resurgence in Norway spurred by a reclamation of the genre among generation Z. Norwegian folk music, which until recently was largely restricted to the countryside, has been gaining traction across Norwegian cities with sweaty club nights appealing to a younger audience. Playing a central role in the revival is Tuvas Blodklubb, a monthly event at Riksscenen, the national centre for traditional folk music and dance in Oslo, which attracts hundreds of people every month and tours around the country. Similar folk music clubs have since started in other cities including Bergen, Trondheim and Tromsø. Musician Tuva Syvertsen started Tuvas Blodklubb, which she describes as 'Norway's, probably the Nordic region's, and maybe even the world's first pure folk music nightclub', seven years ago with the aim of opening up the kinds of experiences she was having at folk music festivals to more people, particularly among the LGBTQ+ community. Inspired by Oslo's techno music scene, she wanted to make folk music less 'stiff' and create an event that attracted younger people. 'I wanted to have a place that you could go and get wasted and dance to folk music on a Saturday,' said Syvertsen, 41, who is in the band Valkyrien Allstars. 'So that's what we did.' Part of its gen Z appeal, she believes, is the sense of rootedness it offers in an uncertain world. 'Young people feel that the world is unsteady as it is and they seek something real, something warm and close to them. So maybe that has something to do with it,' she said. Norwegian folk music, which dates back hundreds of years, is played using traditional instruments including Norway's national instrument, hardingfele (the hardanger fiddle), bukkehorn (an instrument made from a goat's horn) and langeleik (a stringed instrument similar to a dulcimer). The Sámi vocal tradition of joiking, which for a long time was banned in schools as a result of racist assimilation policies by the Norwegian government, is also being revitalised by younger generations and artists such as Marja Mortensson, 30, gaining mainstream recognition. The Sámi people are the Indigenous population of Sápmi, a region covering northern Finland, Russia, Norway and Sweden, who have been subjected to widespread discrimination. 'As long as you know the tradition it's very important that joiking also lives in popular music or where young people listen to music because that's how traditional music will live on and be passed on to younger generations,' she said. It is especially important, she added, to have spaces for traditions to live where people can be exposed to traditional folk music. 'It gives you some kind of strength to know your own music tradition,' she said. Dance is a big part of the Tuvas Blodklubb nights. Before each club night, Syvertsen puts on sessions to teach people the basics beforehand, which she said are also 'packed with young people that want to learn'. Many young clubbers, she said, are not used to dancing to live music, but with folk music the interplay between musician and dancer is key. 'An actual person sitting there playing for you, that is way different to dancing to a DJ. It's much more sensitive. Not on the dance itself but in the chemistry between the dancers and the musicians, that's really essential.' As well as booking live performers and DJs from around the world, she has a house DJ, DJ Sissyfus, who plays electronic music and makes remixes of old folk music recordings. Sometimes she also books singers who sing along to fiddle tunes. 'We put microphones under the stage so it's just the sound of the voice and the foot-stomping. It's really amazing,' she said. They also have folk music karaoke sessions. In the future Syvertsen hopes to take the event to cities outside of Norway such as London or Berlin. 'This [club night] is extremely exotic for Norwegians, so I guess it would work just as well somewhere else,' she said. Syvertsen, who plays the hardanger fiddle and grew up with folk music, said a big part of her own fascination comes from the power of a single instrument and its survival over so many hundreds of years. 'There is something about those melodies and those stories that are so still so relevant,' she said.
