Back to the spinning wheel

Available for 27 days

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