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Back to the spinning wheel

Jennifer Lucy Allan selects tracks for the week of St Distaff’s, the time when workers traditionally pick up their tools again after the revelry of the year's end.

Jennifer Lucy Allan gets into the new year spirit with songs to soothe and energise. And in the week of St Distaff's Day, the traditional moment in the new year at which weavers and women workers of the world returned to their posts, she brings selections that salute a vibrant return to some version of “productivity”. Pulling on the threads of the origins of St Distaff's Day, Jennifer selects an industrial folk tradition from early weaver’s songs alongside Franz Liszt's hearty piano arrangement of a spinning song by Richard Wagner. Plus: new beginnings, courtesy of Meredith Monk and Maxine Funke and a sort-of-ode to January from Sun Ra.

Produced by Cat Gough
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3

28 days left to listen

1 hour, 29 minutes

Last on

Friday22:00
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Loula Yorke

    Gleam

    • Hydrology (DiN94).
    • DiN.

  • Miss Mary Morrison And Chorus

    Latha Siubhal Beinne Dhomh (One Day As I Roamed The Hills)

    • Waulking Songs from Barra.
    • Greentrax.

  • Split Apex

    Cast in Light

    • Thoughts in 3D.
    • Ever/never Records.

  • The Sun Ra Arkestra

    Janus

    • The Invisible Shield.
    • Saturn Research.

  • Hiroshi Yoshimura

    Something Blue

    • Soundscape 1: Surround.
    • Misawa Home.

  • Margaret Dirrane

    Amhrán An Téi (Song of the Tea)

    • Songs of Aran.
    • Folkways Records.

  • Verónica Cerrotta

    Objetos 1

    • Música y Paisagem / Objetos.
    • Flag Day Recordings.

  • Women singing while spinning wool, Kitaki Island

    Itokuri-uta

    • Folk Music Of Japan.
    • Folkways Records.

  • Catherina MacMillan, Fannie McIsaac, Kate Nicholson, Mrs. Archie MacDonald, Mrs. McClellan, Mrs. McCormack, Mrs. Monk & Penny Morrison

    Three Waulking Songs And A Song For Finishing The Cloth (feat. Peggy Seeger & Ewan MacColl)

    • Scottish drinking and Pipe Songs.
    • Legacy International.

  • 响马 Bande

    Toil

    • Toy ‎توي.
    • Modern Sky.

  • Max Syedtollan

    Session track - track 4

    Composer: Mermaid Chunky. Performer: Mermaid Chunky. Performer: Max Syedtollan.
    • Max Syedtollan and Mermaid Chunky Late Junction Collaboration Session.

  • A. L. Lloyd

    The Weaver and The Factory Maid

    • The Iron Muse (A Panorama Of Industrial Folk Music).
    • Topic Records.

  • Henry Cowell

    Lilt of the Reel

    • Piano Music.
    • Smithsonian Folkways.

  • ORE & Sam Underwood

    Storm Drain in Calatayud

    • Storm Drain in Calatayud.

  • Dale Cornish

    New Chest

    • Altruism.
    • The Death Of Rave.

  • Derek Bailey & Tony Bevan

    Undated Cassette Letter

    • River Monsters.
    • ScatterArchive.

  • Running Out Of Time

    Super Bazar

    • Cash Back.
    • Tax Free Records.

  • Meredith Monk

    Strand (Gathering)

    • Songs of Ascension.
    • ECM Records.

  • Meredith Monk

    Winter Variation

    • Songs of Ascension.
    • ECM Records.

  • Okkyung Lee

    This Is A Never Ending Story (You Just Need To Close it)

    • 'Just Like Any Other Day (어느날): Background Music For Your Mundane Activities'.
    • Shelter Press.

  • Richard Wagner

    Spinnerlied aus "Der fliegende Holländer", S.440

    Performer: Yvonne Lefébure. Music Arranger: Franz Liszt.
    • Lefébure: Unissued Recordings, Vol. 2.

  • Shumar Khan Langa, Alladin Langa & Noor Mohmad Langa

    Charkho (The Spinning Wheel)

    • Musician Communities of Rajasthan - Sarangiya Langa.
    • Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

  • Khan Jamal

    Give The Vibes Some

    • Give The Vibes Some.
    • Palm.

  • Maxine Funke

    Rough Dark Dress

    • Timeless Town.

  • Maxine Funke

    Let's Go Another Year

    • Timeless Town.
    • Kashual Plastik.

Broadcast

  • Friday22:00
    BBC Radio 3

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