Power Lines

BBC Radio 4 FM

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BBC Radio 4 LW

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Series about the world of spoken word poetry and how it is gaining popularity in the UK.

Poets and performers explore the escalating popularity of spoken word poetry and see how it has become the breeding ground for a whole new generation of writers.

Power Lines: Series 3: Power Lines: Music

Power Lines: Music

Series 3

BBC Radio 4 - Power Lines, Series 3, Power Lines: Music

Yomi Ṣode talks to poets about the power of music.

Yomi Ṣode brings together 21st century poets whose work is underpinned by a love of music to talk about that influence and to perform poems reflecting passion.

Yomi Ṣode talks to poets about the power of music.

Poetry and music has a history spanning centuries. In this episode, Power Lines brings together 21st century poets whose work is underpinned by a love of music to talk about that influence and to perform poems reflecting that passion.  

Roger Robinson and Caleb Femi are both poets and recording artists and join Yomi in a conversation about the importance of music to their lives and work.

Jessie Summerhayes is a new poet whose poetry writing took off during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, when she began creating new work with her folk musician dad, part of the folk duo Ciderhouse Rebellion. They perform a new poem in the open air of the North Yorkshire Moors.

Miss Yankey argues for a broader adoption of spoken word across all genres of music and performs "I Still Pray For You".

Kayo Chingonyi is a poet, DJ and passionate unraveller of the meaning and making of lyrics. He talks to Yomi and reads 16 Bars for the Bits from his new collection A Blood Condition.

And Yomi reflects on Remnants, his collaboration with Chi-chi Nwanoku’s Chineke! Orchestra and composer James B Wilson to mark a powerful moment in the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. Its public premiere to a live audience was the first performance after the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall in London.


A Bellow Stories production for BBC Radio 4

Power Lines: Series 3

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Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

The most dynamic poets in the UK bring their insightful poetry to Radio 4.

The most dynamic poets in the UK bring their inventive and insightful poetry and distinctive perspectives to Radio 4 from the places where they live and write.

The most dynamic poets in the UK bring their inventive and insightful poetry and distinctive perspectives to Radio 4 from the places where they live and write. Poets whose work is rooted in performance explore the link between poetry being written now and music, the body and the coast.

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