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Outlook: The giant window and the race against time

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The giant window and the race against time

07/03/2022 GMT

BBC World Service - Outlook, The giant window and the race against time

Artists Tim Carey and Narcissus Quagliata built the world's biggest stained glass window

When artists Tim Carey and Narcissus Quagliata were commissioned to build a giant stained glass window for a Kansas mega church, they didn't know if it could be done.

Tim Carey was a talented but little-known artist working with stained glass, when a huge opportunity fell into his lap. A mega church was being built in Kansas, and Tim was asked to build a huge window for it. It would be the biggest stained glass window in the world - the size of a basketball court. Tim said yes, but deep down he had no idea whether he could actually pull it off, so he approached a maverick stained glass artist called Narcissus Quagliata, a legend in the field. Together they took on the project, and formed a close bond in the process. There's a film about their story called Holy Frit.

The song Under Mi Sleng Teng was a massive Jamaican dancehall hit in the 80s, and the electronic sample it used was borrowed by lots of other artists too. Its sound changed the direction of Jamaican music, but the sample itself had been created in Japan five years before. The woman behind it was Okuda Hiroko - a reggae fan employed by Casio to make pre-set tunes for their new range of keyboards. She tells Mobeen Azhar that she had no idea how famous her work would become. 

Vidou H was a music producer and DJ with an enviable life in Cameroon, but everything changed when he and his brothers were falsely accused of murder. He was sent to a tough overcrowded prison to await trial, a process that took two years. For much of that time he had no access to music, until a recording studio was set up inside the prison - the idea of an Italian artist called Dione Roach. Dione hoped music could help with rehabilitation, and Vidou H was quickly put in charge of the production side. He started making an album with the talent he found in prison. The result is the soon to be released Jail Time Records Vol.1. Jo Fidgen spoke to Vidou H and Dione Roach in February 2021.

Photo: Tim Carey and Narcissus Quagliata 
Credit: Kyle J. Mickelson

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