Words and Music

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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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A journey of discovery, weaving music with poetry and prose read by leading actors.

A weekly journey of discovery, weaving together a range of music with poetry and prose read by leading actors.

Words and Music: Nights in the Gardens of Spain

Nights in the Gardens of Spain

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Actors Candela Gomez and Khalid Abdalla with readings, music and recordings from Granada.

Actors Candela Gomez and Khalid Abdalla with readings from Abd Allah ibn al-Simak and Lorca to Sameer Rahim and Victoria Hislop, plus music from Manuel da Falla and Souad Massi.

The Alhambra Palace in Granada is our focus today. The city was home to one of Spain’s greatest poets, Federico Garcia Lorca, from the age of 11 through to his 20s. Field recordings made in Granada combine with music and readings connected to this captivating city, from the epigraphic poems that are written into the very walls of the Alhambra, to the medieval verse of Abd Allah ibn al-Simak, through to the verse and letters of Lorca. Actors Candela Gomez and Khalid Abdalla also read contemporary takes on Granada's Flamenco bars by Victoria Hislop, and  a melancholy modern-day visit to the Alhambra from Sameer Rahim's latest novel which considers its imprint of Islamic rule. 

The Spanish soundtrack includes Flamenco specially recorded in one of Granada's historic guitar workshops by singer Juan Panilla and guitarist Francisco Manuel Diaz, pieces by that great Andalusian Manuel Da Falla as well as fellow Spaniards Albeniz and Granados, and a song from the Algerian singer Souad Massi who wrote a whole album inspired by the Arab-Andalusian poets. The music melds with the sounds of Granada's fountains, cicadas and birdsong for this special edition of the programme as we transport you to Al-Andalus.

Producer: Georgia Mann. Recordings in Granada made by Robert Winter.

READINGS:
Epigraphic poem on the Basin of the Lions at the Alhambra
Epigraphic poem from the Hall of the Two Sisters at the Alhambra
Extract from a letter by Federico Garcia Lorca to Melchor Fernandez Almagro
 Garcia Lorca -La Guitarra  
Washington Irving - Tales of the Alhambra  
Sameer Rahim - Asghar and Zahra 
 Garcia Lorca - Baladilla de los tres ríos 
Ibn Sa’id al-Maghribi -The Battle  
Victoria Hislop - The Return  
Gerald Brenan - South of Granada 
Abu J’far, Ahmad ibn Sa’id - The Procuress  
Abd Allah ibn al-Simak - The Garden  
Extract from a letter by Federico Garcia Lorca to Benjamin Palencia
Garcia Lorca - Arbolé, Arbolé  
Théophile Gautier - The Last Sigh of the Moor 
 Garcia Lorca - Little Tales of the Wind 
Epigraphic poem Comares' Gate at the Alhambra
Garcia Lorca - Holy Week in Granada

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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