International Women’s Day is coming up on Monday 8th March and I was invited to be part of a really special and creative project to celebrate the day. I was among 30 women artists & community radio practitioners from all over the UK asked to contribute a short, original piece from home for Lightning Birds: A Game of Sonic Tag. This new, fast-paced collaboration brings together women’s voices from a partnership of 14 community radio stations across the country.
The one hour programme works like a 'sonic tag', each woman responded to the previous short piece with their own original work, composed in a day, and then passed on their piece (whether it be music, poetry, spoken word) on to the next in the chain. Each artist only heard the audio that came before – and won’t hear the others until the final broadcast. Every piece is less than 2 minutes and it was a really fun and unique way for women to make radio together and respond to each other's work. The overall theme is about women's voices and lives, our homes, the restrictions of home, and how lockdown impacts women.
Each participating woman also recorded a series of specific indoor sounds which will be used to compose original music, bringing them all together into a single one hour piece to be broadcast on International Women's Day, Monday March 8th 2021.
I really enjoyed the challenge of writing a brand new original song in such a short amount of time. Being creative and writing is an essential outlet for me - particularly during this time - and the process of following another piece, and having an idea to follow, really focused my energies and made me feel very inspired. I have begun writing and recording personalised songs for fans and their special occasions, based on some initial thoughts they send me, and it’s really stimulating having a starting point and writing around a specific theme.
Below are the community radio stations that will be part of Sonic Tags – this includes Future Radio in Norwich who will broadcast the final one hour feature at 6pm on Monday. I’m really excited to hear the final broadcast for the first time; it was exciting to be part of such a unique project.
https://www.soundartradio.org.uk/a-game-of-sonic-tag/
More information about Stellaria Media - the radio production company behind the creation of Sonic Tags:
https://www.soundartradio.org.uk/services/radio-production/stellaria-media/
BBC Radio Norfolk Music Feature
I’m also part of a brand new fun regular music feature on Rob Butler’s evening show on BBC Radio Norfolk where I’ll be playing requests - live acoustic versions recorded from home of classic songs from the 80’s and beyond as well as Britpop tracks and Pride anthems. Rob previously featured the Future Radio fundraising single ‘This Fine City’ and interviewed me about it for Norwich City fanzine show The Scrimmage. It’s been really fun to have a weekly covers challenge and so far I have performed three brilliant songs: the classic pop of Erasure’s ‘A Little Respect’, Tom Petty’s anthemic ‘I Won’t Back Down’ and last week I covered ‘Jolene’ by the one and Dolly Parton.
You can listen to them again via BBC Sounds or see the links for the shows on my Facebook page facebook.com/lisaredfordmusic or website lisaredford.com
Although I love writing original material I also enjoy interpreting other’s songs and feel at this time nostalgia and classic songs from the past has been so important in bringing us a bit of joy at this difficult time.
I also performed a live cover of Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ at home:
My acoustic cover of Erasure’s ‘A Little Respect’ has also been uploaded to my SoundCloud page which features other favourite songs I’ve recorded in the past:
https://soundcloud.com/lisaredford/a-little-respect-live-acoustic-erasure-cover
My next covers challenge is also on Monday March 8th during Rob’s evening show ahead of the 80’s hour at 9pm. This next acoustic song is an alternative 80’s classic by one of my favourite bands.
‘One in the Crowd’ Charity Song for Dog Rescue Charity
Huge thanks to BBC Upload – a show that showcases local creative talent of all kinds – for playing my charity song ‘One in the Crowd’ and having me on the show to talk about its inspiration. Thanks also to the many radio shows both local and around the country that have played and featured the song. It really means a lot and all helps to raise awareness – and more importantly funds – for local rescue charity Safe Rescue for Dogs.
Thanks to the brilliant Belles and Gals - the home of female country music - for this lovely article
To listen to Future Radio - 107.8fm or visit http://futureradio.co.uk/
To find out more about my music and teaching please go to my website: lisaredford.com
