Category: American Radio Works/Archives

HV117- War Torn

Hearing Voices from NPR®
117 War Torn: Weapons-grade Radio
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2011-06-08

“War Torn” (52:00 mp3):

A weapons-grade hour of wartime radio. The people who start the fight, and the people who pay the price:

“Beach Fight” (1940 / 0:59 excerpt) Winston Churchill

From the British prime minister’s speech to the House of Commons, June 4 1940, preceding the Battle of Britain:

We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

“Atomic Mother” & “Trinity” (2011 / 4:50 excerpts) Jonathan Elias

From the benefit CD Path To Zero – A Prayer Cycle I(video below). Proceeds go to Global Zero, an international organization dedicated to nuclear disarmament. Some voices on the album: Sting (on “Atomic Mother”), Robert Downey Jr., Sinead O’Connor, Jonathan Davis of Korn, Jon Anderson of Yes, Angelique Kidjo, and Pakistan’s Rahat Fateh Ali Khan; along with archival tape, including a previously unreleased recording of Jim Morrison, performing a poem on the plight of Native Americans in Los Alamos, New Mexico. (Face: Prayer Cycle | Space: Jonathan Elias.), and J. Robert Oppenheimer, “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Wind Wagon, a 35-ft sound sculture by Gary Bates

“B-san (Bright Chrysanthemum)” (4:13) Barrett Golding

The recollections of Hiroshima survivor Kaz Suyeishi, rendered by two young Japanese woman, Kazuka and Kiyo. Alvin Huntsman performed the improvisational music by banging, scraping, and bowing several large sculptures by Gary Bates, including the “Wind Wagon,” a 35-foot multi-stringed banjo-like structure.

“The Unknown War” (1962 / 4:51) Carl Sandburg

From The Poetry Of Carl Sandburg, an out-of-print Caedmon Audio collection. Background sounds: Mazen Kerbaj “Starry Night” (info below).

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HV039- Portrait of a Plague

Hearing Voices from NPR®
039 Portrait of a Plague: For AIDS Awareness Day
Host: Joe Richman of Radio Diaries
Airs week of: 2011-11-30 (Originally: 2008-11-26)

“Portrait of a Plague” (52:00 mp3):

W.H.O. World AIDS DayCreative Time- Web Action banner by Superbad
The 1st of December Red ribbon, symbol of AIDS Awareness A Day Without Art

Creative Time- Web Action banner by Guthrie DolinSister Agnes Ramashiga makes her rounds at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto; 2000 patients check in daily, half are HIV positive. It’s “Just Another Day At the Biggest Hospital In the World,” a Radio Diaries by Joe Richman & Sue Johnson (Picture-Projects).

HIV-Positive teenagers, Tanya, Mark, and Tenisha, record audio diaries about living “The Positive Life”; produced by by Stephen Smith & Stephanie Curtis for American RadioWorks (photos and journals at ARW).)

Poet Lisa Buscani is “Counting” on her mom’s health advice, from the book Jangle and the CD Word Up

Creative Time- Web Action bannerAnd Trouble Came: An African AIDS Diary (CD at Arkiv Music) by Laura Kaminsky is a compositon for viola, cello, piano, and for a narrator, reciting poems, biblical verse, and stories of Tamakloe, a warrior, tailor, and AIDS victim.

AIDS once meant death. Now improved treatments keep HIV-positive people alive for decides. So what’s that like, being brought back from the dead; as when Jesus revived his dead friend “Lazarus;” by Krandall Kraus from his book Book: It’s Never About What It’s About.

“Letters to Butchie” are a dying mother’s writings to a son she’ll never see, produced by Dave Isay Sound Portraits (music: Nick Drake).

Creative Time- Web Action banner by Friederike PaetzoldWeb Resources:
CDC (USA), Critcal Path, AVERT (UK), UN AIDS, Know HIV/AIDS, AIDS Diary, Visual AIDS.

Animations from Creative Time- Day Without Art: Web Action, top to bottom:
Ben Benjamin- Superbad & Chisato Uyeki- Chisa, Guthrie Dolin, Yoshi Sodeoka- Soundtoys, Friederike Paetzold- Iconogene, Lance Arthur of Glassdog.

Creative Time- Web Action banner by Lance Arthur.