World Service Music Documentaries
Channel Details
World Service Music Documentaries
All the BBC World Service music podcasts gathered into one place. New documentaries will be added intermittently. Only available in the UK.
Recent Episodes
39 episodesOur Love for Indian Classical Music
Indian classical music is an art form that’s been in the making for thousands of years and has exponentially grown in popularity, seeing a 70% increas...
It Jus' Keeps Rolling: The Story of Ol' Man River
In 1927 Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein created Ol’ Man River to bind their breakthrough Broadway musical Show Boat. Giving it an almighty showstopp...
Aretha Franklin: Queen Of Soul
Aretha Franklin, for fifty years the Queen of Soul, with a voice of unique quality and who suffered a difficult and troubled life, has died at the age...
Martin Morales’s Peruvian Roadtrip
Peruvian-born chef and record producer Martin Morales heads back to his homeland to explore the inherent link between food and music in Andean culture...
Yevgeny Murzin: Master of the Synthesiser
Due to the political climate in Soviet Russia of the day, Yevgeny Murzin was forced to build his synthesizer in secret with little access to electroni...
Aretha at 75
Known as the Queen of Soul, voice artists have been in awe of Aretha Franklin for 50 years. In Aretha at 75 Mark Coles talks to musicians, fans and p...
Symphony of the Stones
Ancient history was not silent, so why is our study of it? The oldest-known musical instruments – bone flutes found in southern Germany – date back a...
Gabriela Montero: Improvisation Masterclass
Gabriela Montero, the exhilarating Venezuelan pianist, is playing in Miami. She is renowned for her live improvisations, a form of classical music tha...
Get Up, Stand Up: Reggae in Poland
What makes the sweet rhythmical music of a Caribbean island so appealing to young people in the eastern European country of Poland? How did a reggae s...
Van Morrison and me
John McCarthy explores how Van Morrison’s music has influenced people’s lives and Brian Keenan takes John on a tour of Van’s home city of Belfast.
Steve Earle’s Songwriting Bootcamp
Legendary country singer-songwriter Steve Earle unveils the secrets of composing a great song. Every year he runs a four-day intensive training sessio...
Bob Dylan – In So Many Words
Marco Werman investigates Bob Dylan’s work, weighing the evidence on whether he’s a worthy Nobel Literature Prize winner.
The Caribbean Musical Melting Pot: Keeping it Real?
Gemma Cairney reports on attempts to keep musical traditions alive on both Guadeloupe and Puerto Rico. In Guadeloupe – much of the music is driven by...
The Caribbean Musical Melting Pot: The Rise and Rise of Soca
Music from all over the Caribbean is gaining international recognition as it increasingly draws on influences from all around the world. In this first...
A symphony for Syria
A symphony for Syria is the story of how 50 Syrian musicians beat the odds to find their way to Holland to perform together. The Orchestra of Syrian M...
The Secrets of Songwriting
Simon Barber and Brian O’Connor, two Liverpool musicians collectively known as Sodajerker, quiz musicians on everything from the instruments they use...
Music that Unites Us
Asad Ali Chaudhry explores music of the world that unites fans, including Pakistani folk singer Bali Jatti, whose music is inspired by Indian culture,...
Cross Cultural Collaborations
The unique music that can result when artists from different traditions come together to create new sounds. Including a Cuban/Bangladeshi group collab...
The Human Voice
What's happening physiologically and chemically to us when we sing - and why does it make us feel happy - and free.
The Persian Underground
How young Iranian musicians and singers are finding ways of breaking the restrictions on the public performance of music and songs. And how they're le...
Argentina’s Rock and Roll
The music that helped forge a new Argentine identity after the violence of military rule in the 1970s and 1980s.
Freedom Songs
American civil rights song and Nina Simon hit I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free is instantly recognisable. How did the song come to be writte...
Jimi Hendrix's Time in London
Jimi Hendrix's 1967 gig at the Marquee club in London launched his career. His English girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, recalls her relationship with a m...
In Perfect Harmony
Beautiful singing in harmony from around the world. This documentary looks at when and why we sing, what it means to us musically and emotionally and...
The Secret History of Bossa Nova
Forget its low-key, supper club reputation, bossa nova was tied to a political revolution in Brazil. Presenter Monica Vasconcelos travels to Rio to me...
Walk on the Wild Side
Mike Williams talks to critics, fans, academics and historians to try and explain why Lou Reed's music changed everything.
Flashmob Flamenco
Spain's current economic crisis is seeing the return of flamenco as a form of protest. Jason Webster explores its history.
I Dressed Ziggy Stardust
For more than four decades, David Bowie has entranced his followers. As he releases his first new material in ten years, Samira Ahmed looks at his par...
Johnny Cash and the Forgotten Prison Blues
Did Johnny Cash have any real impact on prison reform in America? Was it realistic for Cash to attempt to rehabilitate an inmate through music?
Johnny Cash and the Forgotten Prison Blues
How singer Johnny Cash's experiences performing concerts in jails across the US turned him into a passionate prison reformer.
Michael Jackson - The Thrill Of Thriller
To mark the 30th anniversary of the world's biggest selling album we look at what Michael Jackson means to the Ivory Coast village of Krindjabo - wher...
Wheel And Come Again - 50 Years Of Jamaican Music
Colin Grant explores the daring and innovative music that has come from Jamaica since its independence, 50 years ago.
Southern Tracks - Part Two
Writer and DJ Joe Fletcher tracks down forgotten musicians who made records in the 60's and 70's, in America's Deep South. In part two he speaks to Pa...
Southern Tracks - Part One
Writer and DJ Joe Fletcher tracks down forgotten musicians who made records in the 60's and 70's, in America's Deep South. In part one he speaks to Jo...
Song by Song by London - Part Two
Robert Elms continues his search for the musical soul of London. He discusses the pride that puts a swagger in the step of Londoners. He finds it in t...
Song by Song by London - Part One
Robert Elms searches for the musical soul of London, celebrated in over a century of song. This two-part special features songs by The Clash, David Bo...
Ziggy Changed My Life
Gary Kemp presents this programme which marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most influential albums ever recorded - David Bowie's The Rise and Fa...
One Love: the Legacy of Bob Marley
Poet Lemn Sissay - whose own life was uniquely altered on hearing Marley's music and by discovering a shared Ethiopian connection - talks to fans and...
What's Going On - Music that Defined a Decade
Smokey Robinson explores the social and political impact of Marvin Gaye's classic album - What's Going On - and explains why Marvin's masterpiece stil...