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The Verb at The Proms

The first Verb of a new season, recorded at the 2019 Proms. Ian McMillan is joined by Cerys Matthews, Jules Buckley, Jason Singh and Caleb Femi, and Debris Stevenson.

The Verb is back for a new season with a programme recorded at Beit Hall, Imperial College Union as part of the 2019 Ö÷²¥´óÐã Proms. Joining Ian and his proms audience are musician and broadcaster Cerys Matthews. Cerys has just published 'Where the Wild Cooks Go', a cookery book that tells stories about food, travel, music, poetry and people.

Jason Singh & Caleb Femi perform their collaboration 'The Raven', from The Lost Words Prom. Jason Singh also gives us a short lesson in how he uses his voice to become a raven, and Caleb explains the place of dance in his work. Debris Stevenson performs her poem written to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Sir Henry Wood, the Founder-Conductor of the Proms. Her poem 'The Breakables', draws a line between the start of the proms and the present day, taking us to our final guest, Jules Buckley, who is conducting 'The Breaks' prom which celebrates breaking and early hip-hop culture.

Presenter: Ian McMillan
Producer: Jessica Treen

44 minutes

Last on

Fri 20 Sep 2019 22:00

Debris Stevenson

Debris Stevenson
Debris Stevenson has written a very special poem for the 2019 Proms season. 'The Breakables' celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Proms founder-conductor Sir Henry Wood, and this year's innovative 'The Breaks' prom, curated by Jules Buckley. Debris also presents work in progress from her new show ‘The Write to Rave’. Mixing poetry, dance, music and theatre, Debris looks into the radicalism of raving and the politics of a female body dancing alone.

Cerys Matthews

Cerys Matthews
The songwriter and broadcaster Cerys Matthews is a cultural magpie, and her latest book takes inspiration from the scrapbooks she has kept over the years. 'Where the Wild Cooks Go' is more than just a book of recipes, it's a celebration of music, poetry, place, and people - and the ways in which all of these things are an inextricable part of our culinary culture. 

Jason Singh

Jason Singh
Composer and Beatboxer Jason Singh has long been fascinated with the Raven, so being asked to create a soundscape celebrating the bird for the Lost Words Prom was a dream come true. The Lost Words Prom was based on Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris' modern cult classic book, and saw Jason collaborating with poet Caleb Femi and dancer Thomas Carsley. Jason gives us a lesson into just how he uses his voice to become an impressive variety of birds. 

Caleb Femi

Caleb Femi
Poet Caleb Femi took Robert Macfarlane's 'spell' on the raven from his Lost Words book and added his own words as part of his performance with Jason Singh. Caleb also performs 'Wishbone', and explains a little about his complicated history with dancing. 

Jules Buckley

Jules Buckley
Jules Buckley is a composer, conductor of the Heritage Orchestra, the Metropole Orkest and he’s just been announced as the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Symphony Orchestra’s Creative Artist in Association. He's also behind one of this year's most innovative proms, 'The Breaks', celebrating the musical style pioneered by Kool Herc in New York in the early seventies of isolating the bit of a song that makes you want to dance and keeping it going...

Broadcast

  • Fri 20 Sep 2019 22:00

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