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Harriett Gilbert and friends present global arts, culture and entertainment.

This programme is no longer on-air, listen to our archive of available episodes online. The Strand brings you news and reviews from the best in arts, culture and entertainment.

*** This programme is no longer on-air, but please listen to our archive of available episodes online ***

The Strand is a daily 18 minute programme highlighting the best of what's going in the arts. Wide-ranging and with eclectic interests, The Strand reflects the artistic response to the BBC's news agenda. Presented by Harriett Gilbert and friends, it features discussions, reviews, big-name interviews and location reports as well as live studio performances and Hollywood, Bollywood gossip.

The Strand

The Strand Archive: 05/09/2009

05/09/2009

BBC World Service - The Strand Archive, 05/09/2009

The best of the world's arts, film, music, literature and music brought to you every day.

The best of the world's arts, film, music, literature and music including Bahaa Taher and Pestival

Bahaa Taher
The veteran novelist Bahaa Taher is one of the most respected writers in the Arab world and last year was the winner of the first International Prize for Arabic Fiction. To celebrate the publication in English of his winning book - Sunset Oasis - he talks to Bidisha about tolerance, exile and his belief in the power of writing.
Whitney Houston - new album "I look to you" 
Whitney Houston has released a new album after 7 years of silence. But is she still as powerful and important as she once was? Jacqueline Springer reviews the diva's return.  
Whitneyhouston.com 
Nada Awar Jarrar 
The Lebanese writer talks about her new novel A Good Land, a moving and tragic account of survivors of wars old and new, set in Beirut during the 2006 bombings . 
Published by Harper Collins
Slow art 
"What is this life, if full of care we have no time to stand and stare?"
Do we take enough time to enjoy and really appreciate art rather than just witness it? There's a new movement to slow down our encounters with art rather than racing through it.
The Day that Leham Died
On September 15, 2008 Lehman Brothers, one of the oldest and largest investment banks in the world filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It was the largest bankruptcy case in US history and sent the already unstable markets into an uncontrollable tailspin.   As part of the BBC World Service's Aftershock season exploring the impact of the global recession, a play will be broadcast - The Day that Lehman Died - which dramatizes events over the weekend leading up to the bank's collapse.  We talk to the play's writer Matthew Solon and director John Dryden. 
Re-mastering The Beatles music - a good or bad thing?
Next week sees the release of The Beatles entire back catalogue re-mastered, remixed and cleaned-up for the digital era. This coincides with 'The Beatles: Rock Band' music video game hitting the shops worldwide. The re-mastering process has taken the engineers at the Abbey Road studios in London nearly fours years to complete. But, some argue that the band's music should be heard as it was released back in the '60s and '70s with all those electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops and bad edits which give the music its unique, instantly recognisable sound. Mark is joined by the music critics John Aizlewood and Caspar Llewellyn Smith to discuss. 
Pestival
Insects have been used in arts for centuries. Now in its 3rd year, Pestival is an arts festival in London examining insect-human interactivity in bioscience, through art, cinema, music and comedy. We talked to its organiser, Bridget Nicholls, to the Japanese artist Tsubaki Noboru and the music curator, singer/songwriter Robyn Hitchcock.  Pestival runs from the 4th to 6th of September at the Southbank Centre.

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