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Living for the City

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Musicians take the listener on a personal tour of a city they love.

Living for the City: Series 1

Living for the City: Series 1: Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird

18/09/2018

Series 1

BBC Radio 4 - Living for the City, Series 1, Andrew Bird

Andrew Bird offers a personal view on Chicago, the city where he grew up.

Andrew Bird takes the listener on a personal tour of the city of Chicago - a city of ghosts, faded grandeur and family legends.

Andrew Bird takes the listener on a tour of Chicago, a city of ghosts, faded grandeur and family legends.

In Living for the City, musicians take the listener on a personalised tour of a city they love. They project their inner worlds onto the canvas of the city, revealing how buildings and street corners, train lines and park views hold stories of heartache and inspiration. 

Andrew Bird revisits his birthplace, Chicago, in the week of a series of homecoming gigs, as a soloist and in a reunion with his band, Bowl of Fire. He reflects on how the music he writes has emerged from the city's streets, the faded grandeur of 1920s hotels and apartment blocks and the building downtown on Michigan Avenue where, as a young violinist, he rehearsed every week with the Junior Symphony.

(Photo credit: Shervin Lainez)
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.

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