Chrononormativity, duppies and post-colonial thought. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures exploring beyond the past, present and futures.

Language in the Land of Duppies: Exploring the origins of Jamaican folklore as a gateway to understanding the legacy of slavery on the island.
Produced by Laura Carty
Special thanks to Alexander Powell, Carmen Johnson, Natalia Downer, Kandice Thompson and Jean Smart.

All my friends are turning into Stars
Written and performed by David Amber Devereux
With Dr Matthew Temple, Research Fellow,
Universidad Diego Portales
Additional voices by Lou Sutcliffe and Alessa Catterall
Featuring quotes from De Profundus by Oscar Wilde, Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, and In A Queer Time And Place by Jack Halberstam

Interjections on the future: There is not currently any obvious path to reconstructing a popular faith in political, economic and even some social institutions but while it might not always feel like it today, the unwinding of colonial modernity is underway and accelerating.
Produced by composer and researcher, Sara Rahman.
Featuring psychiatrist Isabel Valli and writers and artists Fer Boyd and Maedeline Stack.

First broadcast 13th February 2024, BBC Radio 4
Curated by Axel Kacoutié, Eleanor McDowall and Andrea Rangecroft
Produced by Axel Kacoutié

S37: Short Cuts: Hereafter 6/6

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

It's 25 years since London suffered three vicious nail bomb attacks - holdalls filled with 4-inch nails and hand-made explosives planted in Brixton market, Brick Lane and in the bar of the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho, intended to cause damage to those in the immediate vicinity and to the notion of a tolerant, diverse capital city.

The attacks are recorded in photographs shared at the time by the press - of London streets strewn with damaged buildings and injured people, an x-ray of a toddler with a nail embedded in his skull, the wedding photograph of two victims (one killed, the other severely injured) and the police mugshot of the perpetrator, a far right terrorist who hoped to start a 'racial war in this country'.

Fragments looks again at these images - some taken by Chris Taylor who happened to be on assignment in Soho's market photographing vegetables - to consider what it means for an instant to be captured and to endure in our memories and understanding of traumatic events.

Including contributions from photographer Chris Taylor; Jonathan Cash, who survived the Soho attack, Emdad Talukder, who was injured in Brick Lane and business owner Leo Epstein.

Music composed by Alan Hall, with Eleanor McDowall (chimes) and Alan Hall (trumpet)

Photo credit: ChrisTaylorPhotography.com 

First broadcast 14th April 2024, BBC Radio 4
Producer: Alan Hall

Fragments: The London Nail Bombings

A grand piano slowly climbs the stairs in Glasgow, a man in Brighton keeps finding his upright pianos going missing, a piano decays slowly in the woods while a grandson finds himself thrust into the role of a ship's pianist. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures with a piano at their heart.

Pianos Aren't His Forte
Featuring Mark Campbell
Produced by Phil Smith
Including piano performances from Mark Campbell and Songs Without Words composed by Felix Mendelssohn and performed by Vassily Primakov from the Free Music Archive

Piano in the Woods
Written and produced by Ross Sutherland
Featuring performances from the project Piano in the Woods by the improviser, artist and curator Sam Bailey. You can learn more about the project at pianointhewoods.com

Two, Three, Hup
Produced by Steve Urquhart
Featuring piano performances by Steve Urquhart

First broadcast 30th April 2024, BBC Radio 4
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall

S38: Short Cuts: A Piano 1/6

Two men on different continents share a love of butterflies, a swimming instructor seeks solace in the water and we dive inside an inner landscape. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures that emerge from the earth, water and sky.

Psalm
Featuring Emil Blicher Bjerregaard and Mudar Salimeh
Inspired by the poem Psalm written by Wisława Szymborska 
Music by Simon don Eriksen and Gregor Quendel
Mix by Lærke Soedring Nielsen
Produced by Nanna Hauge Kristensen

My Body is of Earth
Created by Zara Zimbardo and Lily Sloane 
With editorial support from Keisha "TK" Dutes and sound consultation from Adriene Lilly

Finding Freedom in the Water: Gaza’s Swimming Teacher
A version of this story first aired on BBC World Service's Outlook in March 2023 ('My Life in Seven Swimming Pools') and in an updated version in April 2024 ('Finding Freedom in the Water: Gaza's Swimming Teacher) presented by Jo Fidgen
Sound design by Joel Cox
Interpreter Youssef Taha
Producer Louise Morris

First broadcast 7th May 2024, BBC Radio 4
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall

S38: Short Cuts: Earth, Water, Sky 2/6

Clip from an interview with Lillian Lugo, describing the night her daughter Madison was in a car accident. Since Madison's accident, Lillian has become a nurse in the burns ICU.
Made for the Empathy Museum's A Mile in My Shoes project in association with the American Burn Association.

Empathy Museum / American Burn Association

In water, on wheels or explained over the phone - Josie Long presents short documentaries about moving our bodies.

Field Notes
Featuring Hannah Kezema
Produced by Jess Shane and Kristine White

Instructions for Returning to My Body
Gamelan music courtesy of Nusantara
Produced by Kia Miakka Natisse

The Pink Flamingo
Featuring Peter Prijdekker
Sound Recording by Edd Kentish
Produced by Hunter Charlton and Vicki Carter

First broadcast 14th May 2024, BBC Radio 4
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

S38: Short Cuts: Body Movements 3/6

Life and love. Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures exploring the language of care.

Life or Death
By Marc Kalani
Featuring Cessie Alfonso and Carmeta Albarus author of The Making of Lee Boyd Malvo: The D.C. Sniper.

Buzz
By Luca Evans (they/them)
Featuring Joules Huang Duze (they/them) and Smokey Black (he/they)
Additional recording by Aisha Lomax (she/her).
Joules is a part-time organiser with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and The LUNAR Collective, a volunteer with the Black Trans Liberation Kitchen, and a community educator for the Early Relationship Abuse Prevention Program.
Smokey is a barber at Mutiny in Brooklyn NY. @Smokey.Black
Please listen with headphones.

Patient as the Horizon
By Tej Adeleye
Sarah Long from London Equine Therapy and Astrologer, Psychic Medium and Animal Communicator, Jessica Lanyadoo

First broadcast 21st May 2024, BBC Radio 4
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Produced by Axel Kacoutié

S38: Short Cuts: Devotions 4/6

Evaporating answers, mysterious music and disappearing dialects - Josie Long presents short documentaries about things in danger of becoming lost.

Pot-8-Toes
Featuring Billy Butler and Wally Scott
Originally broadcast in Hold Your Plums on Radio Merseyside

A Corner Seat in a Smoker, Facing the Engine
Produced by Robin the Fog

Echoes of Cockney
Produced by James Trice

Panchiko
Produced by Tom Whalley

First broadcast 28th May 2024, BBC Radio 4
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

S38: Short Cuts: Lost 5/6

Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures which emerge from dreams, hidden places and the afterlife.

The Dreams (Extract)
From Inventions for Radio by Barry Bermange and Delia Derbyshire
Originally broadcast on the BBC in 1964

Zero Fixation Points
Produced by Nada Smiljanic
Location production by Avi Varma
Archive courtesy of Rowan Farrell
Featuring Professor Bridget Anderson and Travis Van Isacker from the University of Bristol

The Quiet Violence of Dreams
Produced by Kagiso Mnisi

Fragments
Produced by Eleanor McDowall

First broadcast 4th June 2024, BBC Radio 4
Curated by Axel Kacoutié and Eleanor McDowall
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall

S38: Short Cuts: The Invisible 6/6

Inspired by the BBC's recent People’s History of Pop series, I dug out a student radio documentary project about ‘Women in Rock’ that I made at the London College of Printing when I was 18 years old, back in 1997, some 20 years ago now!   Featured in the doc are interviews with Drugstore’s singer-songwriter Isabel Monteiro before a gig at The Garage in Highbury, teen punk-pop band Kenickie’s singer & guitarist Marie du Santiago (Nixon) at the band’s debut album launch at Tower Records and a chat with top Radio 1 DJ of the day, Jo Whiley.

The doc was made on a reel to reel player and recorded onto cassette tape - this was in a pre-digital age so please excuse the sound quality.  I like to think it gives an aural snapshot of the late 90s music scene and gives a flavour of some original 90s Girl Power.

The title of the documnetary 'Rip Her to Shreds' is taken from the Blondie song of the same name.  The idea behind the documentary was to take a look at how women in the music industry were depicted by the media at the time.

Rip Her To Shreds doc (1997)

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