THE QUICK AND THE DEAD
(an oral history of Brompton Cemetery, London)

PART 1: THE QUICK
"The Quick" is an ancient word for the living and tender flesh, beloved of Wild West gunslingers. Of London’s “Magnificent Seven” Cemeteries, Brompton Cemetery is the rebellious little sister. In the 1970s and 1980s, as the narrators recall, she was a cheeky shortcut between Chelsea’s counterculture and the Leather bars of Earls Court. Brompton’s “outlaw spirit” has been tamed, but she remains a sanctuary for the wild-at-heart, and for wildlife. Soaring above the human voices, you’ll hear crows conspiring and cicadas shimmering.

Oral historian and producer: Laura Mitchison
Co-producer and sound designer: Steve Urquhart

https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/brompton-cemetery/about-brompton-cemetery/the-quick-and-the-dead
https://on-the-record.org.uk

(illustration by Joanna Layla)

The Quick (Part 1, The Quick and The Dead)

Documenting the creation and context of Nakul Krishnamurthy and Nrithya Pillai's groundbreaking collaboration for 'Counterflows at Home' (2021)

https://counterflows.com/commission/lalitam-varnnam-asuram/

"I am from a Brahminical background. Nrithya comes from a marginalised community. So, how do we work out those politics?" The composer and singer Nakul Krishnamurthy embarks on an ambitious project with the dancer and activist Nrithya Pillai. Can they successfully navigate caste politics and class-based structures, the reimagining of an Indian epic, the subversion of a "classical" art form... and a physical distance of over six thousand miles? This podcast goes behind-the-scenes of their remarkable collaboration for Counterflows At Home, 'Lal̩itam Varn̩n̩am Asuram'.

Produced by Steve Urquhart

Reimagining Ramayana

A barber, who’s also a boxer, shares the sounds and stories of his intermingling worlds.

Produced for In The Dark Radio's Sound Bank, 2013

Cuts and Bruises

Produced for BBC Radio 4's 'Short Cuts: Video Games', August 2021

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000yyr1

A story of (mainly 1980s) video games, fast (and not-so-fast) racing cars, family relationships, grief, online Scrabble, and the now defunct Pac-Man Magazine

It's set mainly at Southwaite Services on the M6 just south of Carlisle, and at the 1982 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, Kent

Featuring Steve, Alistair and Sandy Urquhart
Produced by Steve Urquhart

Pole Position

What happened to all the ‘Bullseye’ speedboats? What became of the people who won (or didn’t win) them, and of their aspirations? James McMahon reappraises the darts-based TV quiz.

BBC Radio 4, December 2021

Look At What You Could Have Won

This is Side A of the mixtape - hear also Side B:
https://soundcloud.com/listentosteve/doing-bird-b

Inmates at HMP Perth engage with archive birdsong and oral history recordings from the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club in a unique, creative audio art collaboration. Peesweeps meet hip hop beats, grouse unlock coded prison language, and an unhatched kestrel chick provokes philosophy…

https://scotlands-sounds.nls.uk/index.php/2022/04/19/doing-bird-scotlands-sounds-at-hmp-perth/

https://www.listentosteve.com/doingbird

‘Doing Bird’ is supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.
It’s also supported by the National Librarian’s Innovation Fund, and by the Scottish Prison Service.

Doing Bird mixtape - Side A

Norman Mailer declared unlawful graffiti as "the great art of the 70s". Forty years on, some of New York's pioneering graffiti writers explain what they were really up to.

Graffiti: Kings On A Mission (BBCR4)

produced for 'Short Cuts: In Time'
BBC Radio 4, September 2024
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022knb

'There's Always a Next Time': a wistful mediation on anticipation... or, a sonic depiction of the futility of hope in our finite little lives... or, you could just call it a mad little montage... you decide!

There's Always a Next Time

Ian Rankin: Tartan Noir (Part One)

(Part Two is here: https://soundcloud.com/listentosteve/ian-rankin-tartan-noir-02)

Ian Rankin has been called “the king of crime fiction”. How does he go about creating the next in his much-anticipated Inspector Rebus series?

BBC World Service - In The Studio, October 2024

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5tl6
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0jsgn1m

Ian Rankin: Tartan Noir (Part One)

Ian Rankin: Tartan Noir (Part Two)

(Part One is here: https://soundcloud.com/listentosteve/ian-rankin-tartan-noir-01)

How does a bestselling crime writer breathe new life into his most enduring character? And after 25 novels, where might Inspector Rebus – and his creator, Ian Rankin – go next?

BBC World Service - In The Studio, October 2024

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5tl7
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0jsgvkt

Ian Rankin: Tartan Noir (Part Two)

Tape Letters: Scotland
Episode 01 - PLAY

“Imagine the feeling of pressing play on a cassette tape that’s just arrived from some 5,000 miles away…”
What is a 'Tape Letter'? Why did people exchange news and greetings with each other on cassette, and how did they do it?
Our series starts with an overview of the Tape Letters Scotland project, and a flavour of the anticipation and excitement of sending and receiving long distance cassette recordings.
“For us it was a novelty, sort of like a joke. Whereas Mum and Dad, they were more emotional…”
 
Episode credits
Contributors: Assia Ali, Mohammed Farooq, Nassir Ellahi, Izaz Ur Rahman, Khadijah Khurram, Mirza Muhammad Saeed, Parveen Sajid, Nadira Saddiq, Faria Khan, Saima Begum, Nasreen Ali, Akeel Ahmad, Shavana Abdul-Jabbar, Seriya Iqbal, Aqsa Mohammed, Kausar Arshad
Cassette tape donors: Mohammed Ishaq, Sameena Kauser Younus, Shavana Abdul-Jabbar, Khadijah Khurram, Rehana Ahmad
Project director: Wajid Yaseen
Podcast presenter: Tabassum Niamat
Podcast production & sound design: Steve Urquhart

Tape Letters Scotland is a Modus Arts project, made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

https://tapeletters.com/scotland/

Tape Letters Scotland ep01- PLAY

Tape Letters: Scotland
Episode 02 - REWIND

“We came here by coach. It took one month to reach here...”
Throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, people migrated to Scotland from Pakistan in significant numbers. What does the archive of Tape Letters reveal about this crucial time?
This episode explores what life was like for those who came to Scotland, and for those who remained in Pakistan. How did cassette tapes keep them connected?
“I was so happy that I started crying while listening... I can still feel it now!”

Episode credits
Contributors: Shavana Abdul-Jabbar, Nasreen Akhter, Asghar Mohammed, Parveen Sajid, Nassir Ellahi, Assia Ali, Nadira Saddiq, Mohammed Farooq, Nazia Majid, Jamila Bibi, Musarat Begum, Kausar Ilyas, Munwar Sultan, Mussarat Arshad, Mirza Muhammad Saeed 
Cassette tape donors: Mohammed Ishaq, Khadijah Khurram
Project director: Wajid Yaseen
Podcast presenter: Tabassum Niamat
Podcast production & sound design: Steve Urquhart

Tape Letters Scotland is a Modus Arts project, made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

https://tapeletters.com/scotland/

Tape Letters Scotland ep02- REWIND

Tape Letters: Scotland
Episode 03 - PAUSE

“You go back and listen. People that have passed now, you can hear their voices… it just brings back memories.”
Unlike a letter or telegram, or even a video on a screen, a cassette recording can feel like the person is right there in the room.
This episode reflects on the deep emotional impact of Tape Letters. It also explores questions of identity, nationality, and culture.
“I take pride in being Scottish, I’m Scottish-Pakistani… [but] I'm torn between two cultures, two languages, two countries.” 

Episode credits
Contributors: Izaz Ur Rahman, Naila Waseem, Mohammed Farooq, Dean Mohammed, Jamila Bibi, Mirza Muhammad Saeed, Nadira Saddiq, Shenaz Ahmad, Faria Khan, Kausar Ilyas, Nasim Hussain, Akeel Ahmad, Khalida Hussain
Cassette tape donors: Khadijah Khurram, Mohammed Ishaq, Kauser Riaz, Rehana Ahmad
Project director: Wajid Yaseen
Podcast presenter: Tabassum Niamat
Podcast production & sound design: Steve Urquhart

Tape Letters Scotland is a Modus Arts project, made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

https://tapeletters.com/scotland/

Tape Letters Scotland ep03- PAUSE

Tape Letters: Scotland
Episode 04 - FAST FORWARD

“Other things came, like telephones, and they stopped the tapes.”
Generations of Scottish-Pakistanis sent and received Tape Letters, before new means of communication took over: from email to instant messaging, video calls to voice notes.
This episode explores evolving technology. How does it impact the use of language, and linguistic identities?
“Ask the younger children! What does it mean to be Pakistani for them, through their lens?”

Episode credits
Contributors: Kausar Ilyas, Asghar Mohammed, Mohammed Khan, Nadira Saddiq, Khadijah Khurram, Suriaya Hussain, Izaz Ur Rahman, Mirza Muhammad Saeed, Naila Waseem, Mohammed Farooq, Nazia Majid, Nassir Ellahi, Parveen Sajid, Rehana Ahmad, Khalida Hussain
Cassette tape donors: Mohammed Ishaq, Khadijah Khurram, Rehana Ahmad
Project director: Wajid Yaseen
Podcast presenter: Tabassum Niamat
Podcast production & sound design: Steve Urquhart

Tape Letters Scotland is a Modus Arts project, made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

https://tapeletters.com/scotland/

Tape Letters Scotland ep04- FAST FORWARD

Afterwords: Pauline Oliveros
BBC Radio 3, March 2025

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0028t48

“Listen to everything all the time, and remind yourself when you’re not…”

For her twenty-first birthday, Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016) was given a tape recorder. It changed her life. She recorded sounds outside her window, then played the tape back, and heard things she hadn’t previously noticed. Thus began her philosophy of listening and sonic exploration.

Pauline Oliveros became a virtuoso accordionist, groundbreaking composer and experimentalist, and pioneering member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, who went on to develop the practice of ‘Deep Listening’. She was “an artist, a thinker, whose life’s work was around opening up listening as an anti-hierarchical form of transformation for everyone”.

Archive interviews reveal her energy and creativity, her generosity, her self-confidence, her activism, her responses to sexism – all underpinned by her deep commitment to equity, and her playful humour.

Featuring reflections and observations from:
Annea Lockwood, composer and long-time friend,
Irene Revell, curator, writer and researcher,
Louise Gray, writer, and teacher of Sound Arts,
Maria Chávez, sound artist, abstract turntablist and DJ,
Stephanie Loveless, Director of the Center for Deep Listening,

Including archive courtesy of the Oral History of American Music (1983 and 1998 interviews) at Yale University, KPFA interviews (1972 and 1985) from the Other Minds archive, plus BBC interviews (1993, 2009, 2012, 2016).

Produced by Steve Urquhart
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 3

(Photo credit: Paula Court)

Afterwords: Pauline Oliveros

Why do some old 7-inch singles sound so good, when slowed down to 33rpm? An experimental feature for ABC RN's Radiotonic.

45s At 33

Ambient music composition, based on melodies and samples of Radio Mayak's tuning signal.

'Mayak' is playing at "Cosmonauts: Birth of the Space Age" at the Science Museum, London (Sept 2015 - March 2016) to accompany the display of a Cosmonaut Mannequin, which in 1969 was flown around the moon in the Zond 7 spacecraft, to measure radiation levels.

Mayak

Striptease pioneers – now in their 70s and 80s – are reviving their old routines. British actor Mat Fraser joins them on stage in Las Vegas, at the Burlesque Hall of Fame weekend.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06ptddh
http://www.burlesquehall.com

Burlesque Legends

GRAFFITI: PAINT & PROTEST - BBC World Service / Falling Tree Productions

PART TWO: BRAZIL
Thousands of angry young Brazilians couldn’t care less about the 2016 Olympics: they’d rather paint Rio and São Paulo’s walls with their views about political turmoil, poverty and inequality. Others choose to cover historic buildings with stark, crude lettering known as “pixação”. Paulo Ito, Panmela Castro, “Cripta” Djan Ivison and pixação pioneer Marcelo “Xuim” explain what they’re trying to say through their work… whether or not people wish to hear it.

Graffiti: Paint & Protest ep2 - Brazil

GRAFFITI: PAINT & PROTEST - BBC World Service / Falling Tree Productions

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p041xcrw

PART ONE: EUROPE
In an era of rapid political, social and economic change, graffiti in Paris and Barcelona has become more prolific – and less tolerated – than ever before. Artists including Blek Le Rat (the “father of stencil graffiti”), Roc Blackblock, Suriani and Vegan Bunnies defend their actions, and discuss whether such “freedom of expression” on walls should have any limits.

Graffiti: Paint & Protest ep1 - Europe

A riotous mash-up of endings, goodbyes and farewells… that refuses to be silenced.

Produced for Soundproof (ABC Radio National, Australia) and Radiophrenia (Glasgow) 2017

The End

When does music sound TOO SLOW? Around the world, there are people spending huge amounts of time trying to save time for the rest of us, by SPEEDING UP certain tracks and putting them online. Find out why, here.

https://www.listentosteve.com/faster-faster

Faster! Faster!

How is modern music helping striptease to tweak its traditional image? Some of the biggest stars of 21st century burlesque reveal their unconventional soundtrack secrets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08x99q8
BBC Radio 4, July 2017

Music To Strip To

If you enjoyed https://soundcloud.com/listentosteve/music-to-strip-to - particularly the closing 20 seconds - then check this genius reworking by Alan Bryden (AKA Sidewinder).

Features the voice of Darlinda Just Darlinda.

Taken from TIME CONSTRAINTS AKA THE 32MEGABYTE MIX-TAPE - produced for Radiophrenia, Glasgow, November 2017.

http://radiophrenia.scot

Alan Bryden - Bump... (from Time Constraints)

Jazz writer, social historian, acclaimed photographer: over six decades, Val Wilmer has become “a world figure in the history of African-American musical culture”. What drives her?

BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, 4th March 2018
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09tcdx9

A Portrait Of Val Wilmer

Celebrating Steve Barker and On The Wire (BBC Radio Lancashire)
http://otwradio.blogspot.co.uk/

In May 2018, Steve Barker marks 40 years at BBC Radio Lancashire, where his legendary freeform show On The Wire continues to promote underground and new music every Saturday night at midnight.

To celebrate the anniversary this special audio portrait charts Steve’s hugely influential (and occasionally turbulent) four decades on air. On The Wire was among the first to interview The Smiths and Depeche Mode; it played 808 State’s Pacific State and A Guy Called Gerald’s Voodoo Ray before anyone else; it even staged a free Fall gig at Clitheroe Castle. It’s been threatened by BBC cuts – twice – and saved – twice – with the help of its fiercely loyal listeners across Lancashire and worldwide.

Greetings Music Lover features rare archive plus new interviews from On-U Sound’s Adrian Sherwood, Lee Scratch Perry, David Rodigan, Stuart Maconie, The Wire’s Tony Herrington and Derek Walmsley… plus various men and women who’ve worked at On The Wire over the years… and of course Steve Barker himself.

Produced by Steve Urquhart.
Premiered by The Wire magazine, May 2018 at https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/in-conversation/greetings-music-lover-celebrating-steve-barker-on-the-wire

Explore On The Wire’s vast archive here: http://otwradio.blogspot.co.uk/

Greetings Music Lover

How is technology changing the way we see? The artist James Bridle reimagines John Berger’s Ways of Seeing for the digital age and reveals the internet’s hidden infrastructure.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000458l

BBC Radio 4, 17th April 2019

New Ways of Seeing - 01 (Invisible Networks)

Donald Scott: Life and Laughter

How is technology changing the way we see? The artist James Bridle updates John Berger’s ‘Ways of Seeing’ for the digital age – assessing the reliability and power of images today.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004f3h

BBC Radio 4, 24th April 2019

New Ways of Seeing - 02 (Machine Visions)

How is technology changing the way we see? The artist James Bridle updates John Berger’s ‘Ways of Seeing’ for the digital age, and asks: can we make machines without prejudice?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004mc4

BBC Radio 4, 1st May 2019

New Ways of Seeing - 03 (Digital Justice)

How is technology changing the way we see? The artist James Bridle reimagines John Berger’s Ways of Seeing for the digital age, focusing on machines and the environment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004sdb

BBC Radio 4, 8th May 2019

New Ways of Seeing - 04 (Cybernetic Forests)

Stephen Fry explores the realities of being gay in prison.

BBC Radio 4, September 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mxtsf

Gay On The Inside (BBCR4)

Naomi Beckwith invites artists to suggest Black cultural figures who should be better known – including the poet Gwendolyn Brooks, and the dancer Katherine Dunham.

BBC Radio 4, 9th December 2019

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000c4wj

What If Our Textbooks Were Black? - episode 01

http://www.witchnmonk.com meets https://www.listentosteve.com

First broadcast on Resonance FM, 22nd May 2020
https://www.resonancefm.com

WITCH 'N' MONK:
“Electrifying” (The Quietus)
“Exquisite” (BBC Radio 3)
“Ingenious” (The Guardian)
“Emotionally raw” (All About Jazz)
"They could hardly be more of the moment" (The Wire magazine)
"Witch ‘n’ Monk never feels retro in its outlook or musicality. Gloriously different, wonderfully listenable and offering something more each time." (Something Else!)

Witch 'n' Monk - eponymous album released May 2020 on Tdazik:
"Blending Latin American flutes, electronics, complex vocal lines with a touch of Frank Zappa lyricism and a radical punk aesthetic, the duo of Heidi Heidelberg and Mauricio Velasierra crafts a dramatically bizarre vocal music from another dimension! Intertwining dark/light, feminine/masculine, composed/improvised and punk/romantic, dreamlike improvisations are sampled, manipulated and reinvented through the lens of contemporary music and pop. You have never heard anything quite like Witch 'n' Monk!"

Improvised autobiography recorded, produced and mixed by Steve Urquhart, 2019-2020.

Witch 'n' Monk - An Improvised Autobiography

How did a maverick Scottish architect revolutionise the design of UK skateparks? Documentary maker Steve Urquhart explores the ambition and legacy of his late uncle, Iain Urquhart.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p2ch
BBC Radio 3, 1st November 2020

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