Slow Radio: Fair Winds

Original version

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

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

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Fair Winds

BBC Radio 3 - Slow Radio, Fair Winds

The ever-present and changing sound of the wind on Fair Isle.

The ever-present and changing sound of the wind on Fair Isle, from cave to clifftop, turbine to tide.

Fair Isle sits between Orkney and Shetland and is the most geographically remote inhabited island in the UK with a population of around 60 people. The world-famous Fair Isle knitting patterns originate from there, and are still in production to this day on the island. It is also a stopping off point for migratory birds, and, as a result, is a mecca for bird watchers who visit the island to try and spot a 'blow in'.  

Inge Thomson is a musician and composer who was brought up on Fair Isle and spent her childhood playing in rock pools and birdwatching. Her music has been influenced deeply by not only the traditional music of Fair Isle, but the sounds she grew up hearing around her - lapwings, the ever present and changing wind and the sea around her.

In this Slow Radio piece, producer Helen Needham accompanies Inge to Fair Isle after an absence of eight months.  They explore the island together, from clifftop to cave, capturing the unique sounds of this special place. They also stop by the knitting studio of Marie Bruhat to capture her at work on her contemporary Fair Isle pieces. And finally we hear a sound composition created specially for BBC Radio 3 by Inge featuring sounds from Fair Isle.

Produced in Aberdeen by Helen Needham
Sound Composition by Inge Thomson
Mixed by Ron McCaskill

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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