'Life Blood' - If a river could speak, what would it say?

Available for over a year

Water is a live phenomena that twists and shifts with every second. Its flow takes with it stories, energies and sounds from source to sea. For millennia, it has been our life blood. But it is now one of the most polluted natural resources in the world, and the UK is ranked as one of the worst countries in Europe for water quality. The Afon Teifi (river Teifi) was named the most polluted river in Wales in 2023. At 75 miles, it is the longest river that exists wholly within Wales, flowing from the Cambrian Mountains of Mid Wales through Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire before spilling out into the Irish sea at Cardigan bay. The Afon Teifi is the heartland for coracle fishing, a rapidly disappearing age-old tradition, which now only continues in these particular waters. The song of the river has changed drastically in a generation. Working with renowned Welsh sound artist and composer Gwen Siôn, and Calvin Griffiths, a coracler who has built a life long relationship with the Afon Teifi, we follow the river from source to sea, asking: if this river could speak, what would it say? Using poetry, music, archive and original interview we blend sound ecologies, personal story, and musical voice to interpret this river's song - revealing a sonicscape of our human relationship to water and its long history in Wales. Presented and Produced by Georgie Styles Sound Design by Georgie Styles Original Music by Gwen Siôn Mixed by Nigel Appleton Executive Producer: Leonie Thomas With special thanks to Calvin Griffiths A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 3 Commissioned in association with the Multitrack Audio Producers Fellowship for new talent in feature-making.