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Outlook Arts: Big Spender, Chicken Crazy, Singing Nun

Shirley Bassey, Koen Vanmechelen,Sister Cristina Scuccia

28/11/2014

Big Spender, Chicken Crazy, Singing Nun

BBC World Service - Outlook Arts, Big Spender, Chicken Crazy, Singing Nun

Shirley Bassey, Cosmopolitan Chicken Project, Nun who won Voice of Italy

Poppy Shakespeare writer; Conceptual artist Koen Vanmechelen; Nigerian political music; Algerian singer Souad Massi; Singing nun Cristina Scuccia; Shirley Bassey.

Clare Allan, author of Poppy Shakespeare, a satire on mental health.  Clare's own depression came on suddenly when she was in her 20s, and resulted in her being sectioned on a mental health ward. Despite being told by her consultant that her aspirations as a writer were a delusion and part of her illness, one of Clare's short stories won the inaugural Orange Short Story Award in 2002.  In 2006, her acclaimed novel Poppy Shakespeare was published and was subsequently made into a Channel 4 film.

Koen Vanmechelen is a conceptual artist from Belgium who is obsessed with chickens. For the past fifteen years he has been cross breeding hens and roosters from across the world to create his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project.  It can be seen at St Pancras Church, London and celebrates the chicken through photography, video installation, and taxidermy. 

Focus On Africa's Peter Okwoche talks about music and how it reflects politics in Nigeria. 

Algerian singer songwriter Souad Massi started her music career in Algiers in the early 1990s, when the country was suffering a Civil War. In 1999 she was invited to Paris to perform at a concert called Women from Algeria. She won a recording contract and moved to live there.  Since then, Souad Massi has released five albums, with sounds and influences from Pakistan, American folk rock, Spanish flamenco, Arabic lutes and African instruments.

A top TV talent contest in Italy has been won by a singing nun.  Now Sister Cristina Scuccia combines her duties as a nun with a fledgling pop career. Her first album, is called "Sister Cristina". 

The Welsh singer, Dame Shirley Bassey has had a showbusiness career lasting more than sixty years. She reached her biggest audience by singing  the theme songs to more James Bond films than any other artist, bringing her the worldwide hits: Diamonds are Forever, Moonraker and Goldfinger.  Her new album is called "Hello Like Before". 

Picture: Shirley Bassey; Koen Vanmechelen; Sister Cristina Scuccia
Credit for Koen Vanmechelen picture: Florian Voggender

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