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Musical round up - 1Xtra's 10th birthday; Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mark Kermode's musical roots

2012-08-10T15:09:19+00:00

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

I wanted to share a selection of upcoming music programming across BBC Radio that you might like. As well as listening live you'll be able to catch up on all the programmes online.

This Thursday, 16 August, BBC Radio 1Xtra celebrates its 10th birthday with ten artists performing live sessions from the BBC Maida Vale Studios.

Every hour from 10am, the station's showcasing the many musical genres the station has supported over the last 10 years. The sessions will open with Trevor Nelson’s show featuring performances from Jessie J and Professor Green [Update: Dizzee can't do it now as originally announced here].

1Xtra also wants listeners to share their favourite top three tunes heard on 1Xtra from the last ten years and why.

There's more programme information on the 12 days of partying with 1Xtra on the BBC press site.

Film critic Mark Kermode is also an accomplished skiffle bass player and devotee of American roots, jug-band, bluegrass and rockabilly music. There's a one-hour Radio 2 special with Kermode as he makes a musical pilgrimage to Memphis, Tennessee. That's on Monday, Radio 2 at 10pm.

On Thursday 16 August BBC Asian Network pays tribute to legendary Qawwali maestro, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to commemorate the 15th anniversary of his death. There's archive material exclusively recorded for the BBC plus interviews from artists who worked with him.

The Proms continue with every concert live on Radio 3 and online in HD sound. There's a collection of Daniel Barenboim's Beethoven symphony cycle from the Proms available in its entirety that's available until 24 August.

Paul Murphy is the editor of the BBC Radio Blog

BBC Asian Network: Mintu Rahman on Bangladesh at 40

2011-12-16T16:33:19+00:00

Ed's note: This week, BBC Radio Asian Network has been reporting on Bangladesh as the country commemorates 40 years of independence. Interactive Producer, Mintu Rahman returned to Bangladesh and retraced his childhood journey during War of Liberation. - PM.

On Friday 16 December, Bangladesh marked the 40th Anniversary of its independence, and I was fortunate enough to be part of a team covering the event for the BBC.

I've had mixed emotions about returning to Bangladesh for this event as this where I was born and had witnessed the brutal events of 1971.

Revisiting these old sites, have brought back many memories. When things took a turn for the worse I was only thirteen with six other siblings and only my mother to look after us. My mum was adamant and strong minded and wanted to save us from the grips of a war that eventually claimed millions of people's lives.

When the war started on 25 March, my older brother and I had to flee our boarding school to our village home. Within weeks the war escalated to take in the rest of the countryside which meant no place was safe.

It wasn't long before we heard news that Pakistani soldiers were on their way. We waited till the last minute before moving out. My mum dug a hole at the back of our house and hid our gold, taking only the very basics things that we could carry. Within a few days of that I saw soldiers come to our neighbour's house and tried to abuse his daughter. When her father tried to intervene he was shot dead.

Our houses were burned down and my beloved pet dog was killed. We were made homeless with nowhere to go. Nobody wanted to put us up because some of my cousins had joined the liberation movement and this would put anyone who helped us at risk.

My mum carried us from village to village, through wet muddy bogs and paddy fields. We were robbed of the small possessions we had by collaborators of Pakistan.

After what seemed a life time pleading for a place to stay, hope came in an unlikely form. One of the poorest women in our local area, a former servant in fact, took us into her home. My mother had to handle everything on her own as my father was by this time in the UK. She was prepared to do anything to save us.

Solders were now only targetting young men and boys. Despite this my cousins all decided to join the Liberation Army that was now forming in India. I too wanted to go with them but my mum wouldn't agree. Eventually she gave in on the condition that I didn't actually become a freedom fighter, and that I would go to India and contact my father.

The night of my departure finally came on a dark night. There was a knock on the door, it was my turn. It was a very emotional goodbye between my mother and myself. I remember the tight grip she gave me. It took us three days and nights, crossing three rivers, sewers and canals to make it to the Indian border.

Once I got to India I was in a training camp and I kept in mind at all times my promise to my mother to not become a fighter. I spent my time helping injured soldiers. Now seeing these same places, I often feel that I had been fortunate enough to survive where many of my friends perished, including my roommate, Illiayas.

Bangladesh has come a long way since those days of liberation. Many people associate Bangladesh with poverty and floods, but Bangladesh has indeed prospered in its short history.

I felt privileged to be able to share some of my childhood memories with Sonia Deol. I have had so many heartfelt responses to my appearance on the show. I have never even shared these stories with my own wife and children. After hearing me on the show they were surprised and curious to know why I had neglected to tell them. I explained to my children that this was a deeply upsetting stage in my life, that until now I hadn't wanted to revisit.

Today I went to visit the Geneva Camp in Dhaka, also known as the Camp for the Stranded Pakistanis. It made me very sad to hear stories that were as gruesome and frightening as mine. This made me realise the value of my freedom. I feel very proud to have had a hand in the making of Bangladesh.

Mintu Rahman is interactive producer, BBC Asian Network

More on the Asian Network's Bangladesh at 40 coverage
Listen to live broadcasts on Sunday 18 December
Read more at the Editors Blog

Asian Network Homepage Changes

2011-12-12T10:52:15+00:00

The Asian Network's website is starting a journey of change as of today.

We've released a new, more dynamic homepage that focuses on live radio. It takes full advantage of a widescreen format and gives us better spaces to promote Asian Network content. The long term aim is that we develop the Asian Network homepage into something more like the current Radio 1 and 1xtra homepages. These took over a year to come to fruition from concept to launch (read more here), but rather than wait another year, we've decided to strip back the site and release something now that we can develop over time.

Greater automation in this new homepage allows us to focus on producing content and building closer relationships with audiences through social media, such as our Facebook and Twitter pages, rather than spending lots of time manually updating the site.

The aim is that Asian Network audiences will have more information about the show that's currently on-air as well as better access to some of the best bits of the station's output that we're beginning to clip and publish online to listen and watch.

This new version of our homepage is the first step for Asian Network on the ladder towards a new radio and music product which will launch in 2012. Some of the ideas we're using on this version of the homepage may be incorporated into the radio and music product. We'll be releasing updated versions of the homepage during the coming months. Your feedback is really important in helping us on this journey - so please do tell us what you think here.

Dharmesh Rajput is Interactive Editor, BBC Asian Network

BBC Radio have also updated their current homepage. Read Chris Kimber's post on the Internet Blog for more information.

Round up: Identity is the crisis can't you see?

2011-07-22T14:43:00+00:00

Bollywood Stars: BBC Asian Network's Tommy Sandhu with Bipasha Basu at IIFA

The BBC Trust is currently reviewing BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra. The period for public submissions closed recently and the Trust promises to publish its finding in "due course".

In the meantime, several trade papers are reporting on what the trade body for commercial radio, the Radiocentre, called 5 Live's "identity crisis" in their submission.

Broadcast wrote:

'Commercial radio trade body Radiocentre has accused BBC Radio 5 Live of "suffering from an identity crisis and confusion over its purpose" and called for it to stop branding itself as an entertainment station.'

Radio consultant and ex-5 Live executive Bill Rogers wrote on his blog:

'The Centre's current target is the Richard Bacon show, for doing too much "celebrity and entertainment news". I suspect the authors of this report are only recent listeners to the station, and may be quite young. It's always been there. Hark back to The Magazine, with Diana Madill. Remember Eddie Mair's jousts with Cliff Richard...'

You can download the Radiocentre's submission via Bill Roger's blog post.

You have until Sunday to catch the BBC Asian Network's coverage of the International Indian Film Academy Awards in Toronto on the BBC's Red Button digital TV services. You can also catch photos and videos on the Asian Network website now and extended video footage from this Monday. Maestro Cam and Soloist Cam also return to the Red Button for this season's Proms. More details of both items and other Red Button services here.

On the About the BBC blog the head of Audiences has written a post Measuring quality and reach at the BBC announcing the quarterly publication of audience figures related to, wait for it, quality and reach across all platforms including radio. The first report, covering January to March 2011, makes for happy reading for UK radio executives:

'Overall radio listening remains strong, not just for the BBC but for the wider radio industry. The most recent data release from RAJAR (...) relating to Q1 2011 shows radio to be in better health than ever before with 91.6 per cent of the adult population listening to a UK radio station every week (47m). 68 per cent of UK adults 15+ (35 million) consume at least 15 minutes of BBC Radio in an average week (the highest figure on record) and listeners spend over 16 and a half hours on average per week listening to BBC Radio.'

Read the rest of Measuring quality and reach at the BBC and download the report on the About the BBC blog.

Paul Murphy is the Editor of the Radio blog

Andy Parfitt says goodbye to Radio 1

2011-07-21T08:10:00+00:00

After 13 years I'm setting down the Controllership of BBC Radio 1 (and 1Xtra and The Asian Network and BBC Popular Music). I've clearly believed passionately in really sticking at a strategy for the long-term, based on the understanding that real change only happens with sustained effort over long periods - but 13 years (a record period at the helm in Radio 1's 44 year history) is enough for any one leader!

Having said that, leaving has been a long thought out and tough decision to make but I walk away immensely proud to have held this position and knowing I'm leaving with all three stations in great shape - with their listening figures at record highs.

In Radio 1's case we've come a long long way from staring at a declining reach of 9.5 million - now we've a buoyant 11.5 plus million, with nearly half the UK's 15-24s listening every week - as importantly we've a station set up for success in a mobile/visual web world.

I also leave Radio 1 better "understood' as a BBC service with clear public value aims for the young UK population, and that's not always been the case. I'm most proud of the teams I'm leaving behind, I've taken some of my greatest satisfaction of helping individuals develop and fulfill their potential.

Our stations are full of focused, open minded, optimistic and creative people that are not only a credit to the BBC, but also I hope an inspiration to the BBC of a flexible, multi-skilled modern workforce - I include all our DJs and presenters in this of course - it's one big (appropriately sized - I should say) happy family - "As One" as our marketing strap-line goes.

Looking to the future, I am about to embark on the next chapter of my life with a feeling of great excitement at what lies ahead. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am fascinated by the way organisations work (or don't work) and delivering practical change for the better. I'm also inspired by the idea of making audiences (or customers) truly the central creative focus of activity - it's much harder than it sounds, but many of the embedded "ways of life" at Radio 1 are based on these principles.

With this in mind, I'm going to work part-time for BBC Radio, focussing on leadership development and I am taking on a part-time advisory role with Comic Relief - working with Chief Executive Kevin Cahill and his very able team of Directors on their next goals - and will be looking to broaden my experience and use my skills in other businesses and organisations outside of the BBC.

But I care passionately for the BBC and its values, and in particular how they are expressed through its awesome set of national radio services, I've been involved with them all in one capacity or another across my long radio career - and over the next years or so I hope to make a final and lasting contribution to their long term health.

If you are reading this as one of the many many people who've served the mighty Radio 1; the sharp and cool 1Xtra and the passionate people at the Asian Network over the years - I'd like to say a heart felt thank you - all audiences need to get something they love and value from the BBC - the young people of the UK are no exception - so thank you again for serving them.

Andy Parfitt is Controller Radio 1, 1Xtra, Popular Music and Asian Network

Read the press release Andy Parfitt leaves Radio 1 after 13 years as Controller