World Service Music Documentaries

Simon Barber and Brian O’Connor, two Liverpool musicians collectively known as Sodajerker, quiz musicians on everything from the instruments they use and where they write to whether they thrive under deadline pressure. Their stellar list of interviewees includes Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (who have written dozens of hits, including You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling); Jimmy Webb; Joan Armatrading; Adele’s songwriter Dan Wilson; Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows and many more.

Asad Ali Chaudhry explores music of the world that unites fans, including Pakistani folk singer Bali Jatti, whose music is inspired by Indian culture, Cypriot folk music shared by Greeks and Turks, and a Russian folk metal band with a strong Finnish influence.

The unique music that can result when artists from different traditions come together to create new sounds. Including a Cuban/Bangladeshi group collaborating with Nigerian Afrobeats star Dele Sosimi and a Breton fiddle player who have joined forces with a trio from Mali.

What's happening physiologically and chemically to us when we sing - and why does it make us feel happy - and free.

How young Iranian musicians and singers are finding ways of breaking the restrictions on the public performance of music and songs. And how they're leaving Iran to do it.

The music that helped forge a new Argentine identity after the violence of military rule in the 1970s and 1980s.

American civil rights song and Nina Simon hit I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free is instantly recognisable. How did the song come to be written and what is its place in the US today?

Jimi Hendrix's 1967 gig at the Marquee club in London launched his career. His English girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, recalls her relationship with a man who would become a musical legend.

Beautiful singing in harmony from around the world. This documentary looks at when and why we sing, what it means to us musically and emotionally and how harmonising differs from place to place.

Forget its low-key, supper club reputation, bossa nova was tied to a political revolution in Brazil. Presenter Monica Vasconcelos travels to Rio to meet musicians that were part of the original bossa scene - Joyce and Marcus Valle, Eumir Deodato and music writer Ruy Castro.

Mike Williams talks to critics, fans, academics and historians to try and explain why Lou Reed's music changed everything.

Spain's current economic crisis is seeing the return of flamenco as a form of protest. Jason Webster explores its history.

For more than four decades, David Bowie has entranced his followers. As he releases his first new material in ten years, Samira Ahmed looks at his particular appeal for British Asian women across the generations.

Did Johnny Cash have any real impact on prison reform in America? Was it realistic for Cash to attempt to rehabilitate an inmate through music?

How singer Johnny Cash's experiences performing concerts in jails across the US turned him into a passionate prison reformer.