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New Homes, Strange Lands

Mark Tully explores the hardships and the joys of making your home in a new country and talks to the Syrian poet, writer and refugee Ghias Aljundi about his experiences.

Mark Tully explores the pleasures, the pain and the potentials of making your home in a new country, both for those who choose to do so and for those forced to by circumstance.

He talks to Syrian poet, writer and refugee Ghias Aljundi about his experiences of becoming a British citizen and he draws on the work of musicians and writers from all round the world, who have lived in more than one country.

There are readings from the work of Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul and Gustavo Perez Firmat and music from Hans Gal and Maryam Mursai.

The readers are Samantha Bond, Sam Dastor and Ivan Pilo.

Presenter: Mark Tully

Producer: Frank Stirling
A Unique Broadcasting Company production for BBC Radio 4

28 minutes

Last on

Sun 12 Dec 202123:30
BBC Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Antonín Dvořák

    String Quartet No. 12 In F Major, Op 96, American: III Molto Vivace

    Performer: Vlachovo kvarteto Praha.
    • The Very Best of Dvorák.
    • Naxos.

  • Yusef Aden

    Qax (The Refugee)

    Performer: Maryam Mursal.
    • The Journey.
    • RealWorld/CEMA/Real World Records.

  • Hans Gál

    No. 2 Drei Skizzen: Lento e dolce

    Performer: Martin Jones.
    • Hans Gal: The Right Tempo.
    • Gramola.

  • Lolita

    Seemann, Deine Heimat Ist Das Meer

    • Seemann, Deine Heimat Ist Das Meer.
    • CGH Ventures Inc..

  • Duke Ellington

    Tourist Point of View

    Performer: Duke Ellington.
    • The Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite.
    • Bluebird.

Readings

Title: Half a Life

Author: V.S. Naipaul

Published by Vintage Books

Title: Foreign

Author: Carol Ann Duffy

Published by Bloodaxe (in Being Human)

Title: Bilingual Blues

Author: Gustavo Perez Firmat

Published by Bilingual Press, Tempe Arizona

Title: Imaginary Homelands

Author: Salman Rushdie

Published by Granta Books

Title: The Passport

Author: Mahmoud Darwish

Publisher: The Greenfield Review Press 

Broadcasts

  • Sun 8 Nov 201506:05
    BBC Radio 4
  • Sun 8 Nov 201523:30
    BBC Radio 4
  • Sun 12 Dec 202106:05
    BBC Radio 4
  • Sun 12 Dec 202123:30
    BBC Radio 4