10/06/2012

Available for over a year

Presented by Simon Pitts. Musican Refugees in Germany Jutta Schwengsbier investigates the plight of musicians seeking refuge in Germany which was brought to light by the German singer-songwriter Heinz Ratz. We hear the background stories of some of the musicians including that of Hosein whose rap was not acceptable in Afghanistan and Iran, and Sam, whose singing was taboo in Gambia. Now they live in poor conditions in German refugee camps waiting, often for years, to be allowed to integrate properly into society. Heinz Ratz has put together a CD of some of the musicians, title: Strom und Wasser featuring the Refugees, and they are also touring. Patti Smith Sarfraz Manzoor talks to Patti Smith, the legendary American singer songwriter. She is one of the influential artists in rock music, her debut album Horses which was released in 1975 led to her later dubbed the godmother of punk. But alongside her music Patti Smith is also a best-selling author, a poet and a photographer. This week she releases her 11th album Banga. Imogen Heap Lawrence Pollard meets Imogen Heap. Musician sound artist composer, she defies categorisation. Heap spent six weeks working with people in china, in Hungjzo, to create a piece of music made up by stitching together the sounds she found there, of birdsong, car doors, water, alarms, and the people. She takes us through this amazing project. (Image: Harry Belafonte. Credit: John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images)