Jan 6: The Birth of Music - Radio 4

As we are at the birth of this new blog, this is a programme made for Radio 4 and presented by Jude Rogers, who was featured on the 2nd of January because of her book on the importance of music to our lives.

This looks back at when music first started. 

How did we come to develop a range of sounds which became music and mixed with our voices?

Details:

The ancient West Kennet Long Barrow burial chamber near Avebury in Wiltshire was built around 3650 BC. Its cave-like spaces, formed by vast rocks, are the setting for Jude Rogers’ exploration of how Neolithic people of that time might have made music.

We can’t know for sure of course, but music, ritual and dance are universal features of human life, and so it must have been even in pre-history. So what might be the links between prehistoric music gatherings and dance music culture today? A rave in the cave?

Jude is joined by Professor Rupert Till from the University of Huddersfield aka Professor Chill, a DJ and electronic music producer who knows about sound frequencies in ancient sites, and Letty Stott, a musician and PHD student who can get a tune from a conch. Historical context is provided by Dr Ben Chan, a highly experienced archaeologist from the University of Bristol who works at Avebury nearby.

We also hear from Ritta Rainio in Finland, whose research into prehistoric pendants culminated in a wild dance in a costume of rattling elk teeth. Artist and musician Jem Finer tells us the story of the Gurdy Stone.

Meanwhile musician ‘Spaceship’ Mark Williamson is hard at work recording sounds inside a neolithic tomb in Anglesey.

It was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2024 but is still available to listen to on BBC Sounds, and was repeated a week or so ago.