museradio.fm blog

For those of you who enjoy trawling through music blogs, Ive got a very good recommendation: Sound of the World, BBC radio host Charlie Gillett’s website. Charlie has been on the radio for the past 40 years or so, beginning on Capital Radio in the 1970’s, a time when England was into Rock, and where he was playing little known pre-1960’s American music. He’s traveled a long way musically, while never losing his roots so to speak, and currently selects and plays some of the best and least known contemporary music coming from many parts of the world.


These days Charlie has a weekly music program on the BBC World Service (the only music show on the world service!) and focuses mainly on music traditions from around the world. As strange a category as that may seem, he weaves together songs from different parts of the world that speak to one another through rhythm, instrumentation, melody or some less definable but palpable connection.


Im listening to the show currently posted on the BBC World Service site, and the theme is songs sung in languages invented by the singers! The first song is by Julien Jacob from Benin, followed by Rhett Brewer from the US and then DVA from the Czech Republic…


There is a fantastic forum on Charlie’s website, where people share comments on all kinds of topics ranging from live shows to music discoveries, to best youtube music video clips and playlists on spotify.