Hello Monaco – goodbye Monaco
As I continue my search for the best ethno/world music from the Mediterranean, (without leaving my home) I arrive in Monaco with all its soulless glamour, glitz, aspiration, but not much music to talk about.
Mediterranean France
My imaginary Mediterranean music tour continues. It was music from this region that twanged my interest in the search-the-Med-for-music trip. I have no idea how or when I came across them. The first is Dupain. who led me to La Mal Coiffée a book called Total Chaos and another band IAM. Here’s the story and the music.
Some new resources The Turnaround and Audacity tips
I came across a couple of interesting and very useful resources which I want to let you know about. I’ll also be adding them to the PodcastingFor.com Podcast Production Resources page. In the Podcasting for books, Podcasting for Community Organisations (here on Amazon UK, but also available in other Amazon stores Kindle and paperback) and Podcasting for Read more about Some new resources The Turnaround and Audacity tips[…]
Podcasting Interview
I was recently interviewed by email by Index on Censorship about podcasting. This is what I was asked and what I wrote: – Podcasting was “the next big thing” a few years ago and then failed to hit the mainstream but now appears to be enjoying a rapid renaissance. What do you think is behind Read more about Podcasting Interview[…]
Adéu a Catalunya, Adiós España
I have tried very hard to trim down the playlists from Mediterranean Spain. I was aiming for 20. The final list has 50 and there were more I wanted to include. It is almost three hours long. I won’t be doing the same on YouTube.
The book for this first section is Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones. Marvellous. A challenging 700+ pages, but a beautiful read.
Mediterranean Music – Catalonia
Catalonia, do you have a lot of music; and even more diversity than I was expecting, and a lot of protest which I suppose I was expecting. And there is Arabic, African, Chanteuse, Jazz (of many types), electro, experimental, early medieval European and some decidedly uncharacteristically odd without category. And a 3 hour playlist.
Books for the journey
In my imaginary musical journey I decided to add some books to read along the way. I had already started to blog the journey and was re-reading A Colder War by Charles Cumming set in Istanbul when I had the idea. But where to start? Should the books be read at the time I am listening to the music of each country, or mix them up?
Mediterranean Music – Valencia
So far the best discovery of all the music in Valencia is the preservation and performance of early Spanish Music. The key figures seem to be based around one band, L’Ham de Foc and one individual in particular, Efrén López, who links to music well beyond Spain, into Persian, Ottoman genres. Also on the early music list are Mara Aranda and Capella de Ministrers.
Restaurants and Cafes in Ljubljana – some suggestions
A friend of a friend emailed me. He and his wife were going to Slovenia for a holiday and he would be grateful for any suggestions. The Visit Ljubljana website is excellent for places to go and things to do, but I think personal recommendations are better for restaurants and cafes (beats TripAdvisor hands down to actually speak to someone).
Last week an other friend of a relative said he was going to Ljubljana and Bled and asked for suggestions. So here are a few thoughts on restaurants in Ljubljana. Fir information on Bled, I have written this book.
Mediterranean Music – Murcia
The next stop on my make-believe music of the Mediterranean tour is Murcia. Aside from one discovery – Cuadrillas – the search is disappointing. But there are a couple of highlights for my rather paltry playlist – video and audio.
Mediterranean Music – Andalusia (or Andalucía) Part 2
The next part of my imaginary journey around the Mediterranean –
music from Andalucía. If, when you think of Spain you see images of flamenco dancers, bull-fights and holidaymakers on packed summer beaches in soaring temperatures, then this is the Spain you are thinking about.
Mediterranean Music – Andalusia Part 1
In the last post my imaginary journey was a walk through the border between Gibraltar and Spain. My intention was first to travel east exploring the sounds of Andalusia. And I will. But just as I was leaving the Rock, I read about Gibraltar Productions who run the Gibraltar World Music Festival. One of the artists that they represent is Jose Carlos Gomez. He is from Algeciras 20 kilometers on the other side of the Bay of Gibraltar.
Mediterranean Music – Gibraltar
The beginning of the journey and the beginning of the project. The search for interesting and challenging music around the Mediterranean starting in Gibraltar.
Exploring the music of the Mediterranean
This will be a tour I would love to take in real time; I doubt if I ever will. Our starting point and finish line are The Pillars of Hercules. The route is Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Malta, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. I have all the time in the world.
FutureLearn Courses
Its website says “FutureLearn aims to pioneer the best social learning experiences for everyone, anywhere.” With leading educational partners from around the world, it offers hundreds of courses. “Podcasting” isn’t one of them, but there are a few relevant courses that might interest a podcaster.
Not everyone uses music in their podcasts and not all of this taster course will be relevant to podcasters, but I thought someone might find Music Copyright and Me useful.
Now I’m listening to … Dikanda
Then I discovered the “Related Artists” link on Spotify. (As I write incidentally I am listening to this.) A few years ago I lamented on Facebook that I was just so tired of music.
I have rediscovered the excitement of finding new (to me) music that I once had as a DJ.
Podcasting for Journalism Students Second Edition – Free Copy
I have thought about distributing this through the podcast, but as people expect an audio file, not a PDF, I decided it was better to post this PDF here and allow anyone to download it … for a short time at least.
Podcasting for Journalism Students bookIt is available on Kindle and as a paperback
The book is for young, trainee, or student journalists not specialising in broadcast media. It is an introduction to “making content”, podcasting and broadcasting whether you want to understand production on a professional level or simply because you want to create podcasts for fun or add something useful to your CV.
Irish Times – Podcasts and Digital First
Like the Guardian Newspaper – which is owned by the Scott Trust – the Irish Times Trust gives the publisher greater scope than those with more commercial obligations. In the digital age, it was one of the first 30 newspapers in the world to go online when it had the domain Ireland.com – now owned by the Irish Tourism – and now, it is becoming a digital first publication.
Declan Conlon is The Irish Times’s podcast producer. We met in their radio studio in a converted office just off the main newsroom.
A Firsthand Guide to Bled Slovenia
Firsthand Guides publish 3 guidebooks (paperback and Kindle) about Bled in Slovenia. The basic Shorter Edition has the information, Standard, information and interviews and Special, which adds photos to the Standard.
Radio and podcast production – Structure – Week 5
Even the simplest podcast or radio programme has a structure. Whether you have thought about it or not, you are going to have a beginning, middle, end. The question is, how can you best structure your podcast to bring your listener through from beginning to the end, keeping the listener informed, surprising them with information they did not already know, motivating them to become involved and leaving them wanting more? There is more than a dash of showbiz in your average podcast.
Radio and podcast production – week 4
A podcast will have a running order which communicates to everyone involved what is planned and what is happening. The running order starts out the prospects owned by the producer which also keeps everyone informed about the progress of the show’s production.
Radio and podcast production – week 3
Recording away from the studio. There are all sorts of reasons why you would record outside. A podcast episode can benefit from changes in tone and atmosphere. Reporting from a place rather than just about a place can give context to the story. It can add new textures and make the episode more interesting.
Radio and podcast production – week 2
“Having an intention is really important. The intention [of The Radio Stuff Podcast] was and is to connect radio lovers around the world and share great ideas and be as positive about the radio industry as we can. It’s really about following our curiosities and talking to interesting people.” This section asks you to identify the purpose of your podcast. If you like, leave it for now and come back once you have read the rest of the book. The purpose will always be central to whatever you do.
Radio and podcast production – week 1
This is an introduction to radio and podcast production. Radio and audio podcasts are not exactly the same thing, each have unique factors, but there is a shared core to their production.
Episode 21 – The story so far
As we reach episode 21 … this is the story so far. Now the podcast is part of a project with two books Podcasting for Communities and Podcasting for Student Journalists.
Along with this blog they are a guide for anyone who wants learn to produce podcasts or community radio. I’ve looked at production strategies such as structure, technical challenges, organising a production team, podcast platforms, community management and purpose
Travelling between Ljubljana and Dublin January 2017
I spent a lot of time travelling in January. I had started teaching in Dublin again and was living in Slovenia. Transport between the two is not easy. So I found myself trying different routes, partly to see what can be done on a budget and partly because I had the time to experiment.
Radio and podcast production – introduction
This is the outline of a course I teach on radio and podcast production. The students are studying journalism at BA level. They are not specialising in broadcast media, some don’t listen to speech radio much – if at all, some do not plan a career in traditional journalism.
Some recent listening
I have been listening to a lot of good stuff recently and I should share more often.
For now I’m going to mention two, one a BBC Radio Drama the other a long standing US podcast.
“From Airwaves to Earbuds” – research on podcasting by Knight Foundation
A report by the Knight Foundation about podcasting and on-demand radio “From Airwaves to Earbuds”. With Knight Foundation partners, both public broadcasters, supported by grants, and for-profit companies, which received investments from the Knight Enterprise Fund who provide insight into the fast growing area of podcasting.
No Such Thing as a Fish – recording and editing
Talking to Alex and Freddie of the QI Elves about No Such Thing as a Fish, not only because I’m a fan, but because of the technical and production approach they take. I wanted to know how they do what they do.