Truth teller, space crone, world builder, wit - the American science-fiction writer Ursula K Le Guin (1929-2018) conjured entire galaxies through the magic of words.

But as she transported readers across space and through time, she opened portals into our own society and pointed to a fundamental truth: “There are different ways to do almost everything, there isn’t just one right way. And God did not ordain it to be such, and so, forever”. We hear archive recordings of Le Guin herself alongside interviews with people who knew, loved or were inspired by her.

Afterwords looks back over Le Guin’s life to ask why she felt moved to ask those questions, and re-examines some of them to glean what we can learn from her writing today. Many of her worlds were built around fundamental questions: what if we removed gender imbalances from society? What if we removed ownership? What if we treated the environment, and other people, with respect? What if we valued different aspects of our being? How would that change society?

With contributions from the writers Katherine Rundell and So Mayer, anthropologist and drag artist Cheddar Gorgeous, collaborator, friend and musician Todd Barton, and Ursula's youngest child, Theo Downes-Le Guin.

Including sound archive from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, The Nation, UC Berkley's Townsend Center for the Humanities, Thurston Community Library, Portland Community College and the National Book Foundation.

Photograph by Rod Searcey. Copyright © by Rod Searcey

First broadcast 26th November 2023, BBC Radio 3
Produced by Redzi Bernard

Afterwords: Ursula Le Guin 3/3

On the final Thursday of August each year, the patrons of The Hand In Hand pub in Kemptown, Brighton, get together to remember those regulars, friends and family members who have died in the past twelve months. Landlady Jennifer Left started the night in memory of two dear friends who passed away suddenly in the space of a few weeks; and over the years since, Staggering in the Dark has become a well-loved feature in the community’s calendar and consciousness. Poets, pianists, comedians and singers crowd into the tiny space to offer performances in honour of the dearly departed. The night lurches between riotous glee and pin-drop quietude as spontaneous singsongs and bawdy odes weave around hushed sonnets of remembrance. This mosaic for radio combines the companionship of barroom scenes with forays into the reflective inner worlds of those present on the night, in a sonic exploration of what it is to grieve, collectively and in private.

FEATURED PERFORMANCES:
This Window by Elena Stevanoska
Torch Song by Mark Campbell
Not Dead by Daisy Asquith
The Dangers Of Making Love To A Girl With A Broken Heart And A Bucket Fanny by Felix Orlo
Call When You Get Home by M. Butterfly
Half-Finished Sudokus by Bramble Wallace
My Love by Mark Campbell
Empty Chairs by Joe Bunn
Alleluia by Angus Rogers 
Sister by Elena Stevanoska

Photo by Lisa Wormsley

First broadcast 18th February 2024, BBC Radio 3
Produced by Phil Smith
With original music and arrangements by Phil Smith and Joel Whitaker

Staggering In The Dark

"Aethernal Score’’, Aisha Devi’s commission for the BBC Concert Orchestra, is an attempt to intensify the vibrational capacities of the orchestra and divert the expected course of classical-electronic collaboration. Devi has always used her art to push against cultural presumptions, so it made sense to assemble the initial framework for the piece from some of her acclaimed back catalogue, meshing it with new compositions and reworking everything with orchestral elements that follow Devi's radical metaphysical and theoretical guidelines. It's best described as a twenty-minute "mixtape" that embodies the connections between the concert hall, the club and the sacred ritual - or even a demonstration of the orchestra's hidden potential.

Inspired by her Himalayan heritage, Devi has been exploring the entrancing sonic application of monastic practices such as throat singing for many years, as well as developing psychoacoustic methods. This led her to perceive sound as a way of expanding brain activity - something that also plays a shrouded role in the world of chamber music. Applying this to the orchestra, she began thinking about each instrument as a discrete frequency range, searching for its ethereal properties rather than fixating on an object saddled with cultural baggage. Using the density, amplitude and vibrational impact of the sounds in unison, Devi was able to summon the club environment, seizing that space's inherent power - Devi was making orchestral rave.

Two versions of the score are included on the release, one orchestrated in collaboration with Robert Ames and conducted by André de Ridder, performed on October 29, 2021 with the BBC Concert Orchestra at Queen Elizabeth Hall which was commissioned by Elizabeth Alker for Unclassified Live, and the purely electronic version - the synthetic backbone of the composition. Both are very different, and listened to together highlight the transformative power of instrumentation. The result is like a purge of history and hierarchy, with tools of colonization hollowed-out and fashioned into new shapes. A clash of grandeur and sensitivity, and a live deconstruction of the artistic ego, "Aethernal Score" is transcendent re-evaluation of classical and electronic sounds that doesn't just make you think, it makes you resonate.

Mastered and cut by Matt Colton at Metropolis.

Aïsha Devi - Aethernal Binaural [excerpt]

Aïsha Devi - Two Serpents Theme [excerpt]

We Are Not Divided by Anna-Margarita. Sound design by Ross Burns.

This was a collaboration between 2 BBC talent development schemes - Sound First and Words First - “collaborate to create new sound-worlds of spoken word and sound design”.

I admire Anna's effortless ability to weave her family’s personal story with the political history and conflict in Cyprus whilst communicating her own thoughts. In my opinion, Anna’s words carry so much power and her message of unity is increasingly becoming, if not arguably the most important message to the world at the moment - it was truly an honour to sound design her poem.

Link to the full episode on the BBC .https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001wqnm 

Writer & Poet: Anna-Margarita  - IG annamargarita.a
Sound Designer: Ross Burns - IG rossburnsaudio 

Released On: 03 Mar 2024

Special thanks to: Sue Roberts and Nancie Bennie.

We Are Not Divided for Between The Ears on BBC Radio 3

In 1971, when experimental composer Gavin Bryars chanced upon the voice of an anonymous old man - "a tramp" - on a spool of discarded tape, he had no idea where his impulse to make a piece of minimal 'pop art' would lead.

Gavin shares the story of Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet through the original vinyl recording on Brian Eno's Obscure label and the Mercury Prize-nominated CD version featuring Tom Waits to the adoption of the piece by the homeless community.

With Vince, Dee and Brian from the homeless choirs Streetwise Opera and Choir With No Name, Pam Orchard of The Connection At St Martin's, composer Jocelyn Pook and Revd Richard Carter from St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square.

First broadcast 14th April 2024, BBC Radio 3
Produced by Alan Hall

Never Failed Me Yet

A guest mix for BBC Radio 3's 'Round Midnight with Soweto Kinch. Music displaying some of the best new jazz talent mixed in with some all time classics.

When CassKidd plays Jazz...

Moor Mother "Guilty" feat. Elaine Mitchener
Performer: Moor Mother. 
Performer: Elaine Mitchener. 
Music Arranger: Ian Anderson. 
Ensemble: BBC Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Robert Ames.
UNCLASSIFIED LIVE AT THE QUEEN ELIZABETH HALL, 1ST MAY 2024.

Feat artist with Moor Mother - Guilty - BBCCO Unclassified Live - 1 May 2024

Rolf Hind’s new work Blue to the Throat is a sequence of eight movements for the singer Elaine Mitchener who performed it at Wigmore Hall with Apartment House. Each of the movements takes a different view from philosophy, poetry and nature of the idea of the throat from Catholic blessings of the throat, to Sanskrit and the natural world and an eloquent new poem by Dante Micheaux.

Blue to the Throat (2024) world première
Blessing, Strč Prst Skrz Krk, Whitethroat, The Syllables, Two Songs: Furnace of Bliss • Blue to the Throat, Cordhouse and Nodobotoke
Elaine Mitchener (voice), Apartment House

Rolf Hind: Blue to the Throat for  Elaine Mitchener with Apartment House Wigmore Hall 13 April 2024

From floating in a pond in Vermont to slipping between space and the sky, five audio-makers offer a series of Radio 3's innovative Between the Ears features in miniature inspired by the elements.

Our first edition takes water as its starting point. Erica Heilman is the maker of the independent podcast Rumble Strip, which she produces in her closet in East Calais, Vermont.

A Pond of No Consequence is two old friends, floating on a third-rate roadside pond in northern Vermont, comparing notes on tiny lilypad people and ageing parents and the sweetness of short summers and everyday life.

First broadcast 30th September 2024, BBC Radio 3
Produced by Erica Heilman

Between the Ears: Miniatures: A Pond of No Consequence 1/5

We make documentaries and audio art for radio, podcasts and public spaces.

At the heart of what we do is a belief in the imaginative possibilities of radio. Sounds that can reconfigure the world around you, move you through inner landscapes, sink into your dreams.

We are an intentionally small company that considers carefully the creative, social and political aspects of the work we put out into the world.

Falling Tree has two full-time Directors – Eleanor McDowall and Alan Hall – and we work with freelancers across our projects, including the core Short Cuts production team of Alia Cassam, Axel Kacoutié and Andrea Rangecroft.

We are one of the founding signatories of the Equality in Audio pact. 

You can listen to hundreds of our documentaries in the free, online Falling Tree archive.

CassKidd, a dynamic British Caribbean broadcaster, DJ, music producer, and curator based in London, is a prominent figure in the music scene. He has opened major UK festivals like Parklife, Reading and Leeds, and Strawberries and Creem, and DJed in Mexico City with the British Council. CassKidd showcases a broad spectrum of music genres, from popular club sounds like hip-hop, R&B, house, and dancehall, to niche genres like future beats, afro sounds, and soulful electronic.

Known for his meticulous attention to detail, CassKidd ensures no DJ set is ever the same. He has demonstrated this versatility across various venues, stages, headline shows, and brand collaborations. Additionally, he hosts regular live events under his label, Channel Alt.

CassKidd is also a dedicated advocate for new artists and emerging genres. He showcases these talents weekly on his BBC Radio 1Xtra show, "The Alternative Selection," airing Tuesday nights. His eclectic musical taste is evident across the BBC network, with appearances on shows hosted by Benji B, DJ Target, Tiffany Calver, Radio 1’s Chillest Show, and guest mixes for Radio 3, including outside broadcasts with "J to Z" at the EFG London Jazz Festival.

A Brit School alumnus, CassKidd discovered his passion for music and radio through work experience at community radio station Reprezent Radio in 2013. There, he advanced from broadcast assistant to producer, working across daytime and specialist shows, including Jamz Supernova’s Future Bounce show, eventually becoming duty manager.

CassKidd, often described as a "music producer who does radio," is also a prolific record producer, having worked on official remixes for artists like Afro B, Pablo Nouvelle, Wiley, and Izzy Bizu. With over a decade of experience in radio, he is a multi-award-winning presenter and an alumnus of the Radio Academy’s 30 under 30 cohort for 2020. His extensive experience spans community radio, online platforms, and national broadcasts, establishing him as a trusted and exciting DJ in the alternative music space.

For more information, please visit www.casskidd.co.uk

The label, the sound @ChannelAlt 
The playground @CassKiddRemixed

UK record label based at fabric, East London. Run in part by Rob Booth (Electronic Explorations)

An experimental vocalist and movement artist whose work encompasses improvisation, contemporary composition, sound art, music theatre, physical theatre and performance art.

New tracks tagged #BBC Radio 3