Front Row - Okwui Okpokwasili, Literary events at non-literary festivals, Tiananmen Square, Apple moves to streaming
Samira talks to Nigerian American performer, choreographer and writer Okwui Okpokwasili about the UK premiere of Bronx Gothic at London’s Young Vic. How does the piece delve into one woman’s attempt to shake loose memory in a performance at the intersection of dance, theatre and visual installation.
Musical acts always used to be the headliners and sole draw for music festivals. Recently we have seen the rise of alternative stages at these events – often including literary events. But what make them different to what you might find at mainstream literature festivals? We speak to Laura Barton who programmes Green Man’s literary space and Colin Midson, the main programmer for Port Eliot Festival’s literary stage.
Thirty years ago today the name Tiananmen, which means the Gate of Heavenly Peace, assumed a tragic irony when the (also ironically named) People’s Liberation Army, massacred the crowd of young people peacefully calling for democracy in the Square. We'll look at the role of writers and musicians in creating a milieu in which that demonstration became possible. The actor and writer Daniel York Loh considers how cultural life in China has changed in the intervening 3 decades
After 18 years, Apple has announced the end of iTunes. What does the move from downloading to streaming mean to those of us who have been building our iTunes libraries for years and for how people will access music in the future?
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Oliver Jones
Published on Tuesday, 4th June 2019.
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