email from
1. Daniel Soon, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Dear Charlie,
May I request for a song?
Please play Imagine by Bee Gees and dedicate to my friends and World Service presenters.
Thanks, great day and week ahead!!!
Daniel Soon
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email from CG
Are you kidding, Daniel, I never played a Bee Gees song in my life
My show is a chance to play music that rarely gets played anywhere else, and rarely in English
I did play a Malaysian song a few months ago!
Charlie
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1-B. second email from Daniel Soon
OK Charlie, Bee Gees just doesn't sound good to you this time...
Can you play a weird song by Chinese, I am Chinese.
Daniel Soon
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second email from CG:
Now you’re talking, as they say in America
Charlie
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2. Abdinasir Musa, Wales
I am a keen follower of your weekly programme, which I anticipate with excitement every week. I would like to know why you don't play Taarab music which is quite popular and ancient as well, or any other aspiring artists from East Africa
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reply from CG
Coming up very soon!
I have recorded a whole programme about famous women singers and included a long piece by Bi Kidude
I used to play Taraab a lot and then moved on, it seems to be a cyclical thing with me, where I get almost obsessed with something and then leave it for a while
Charlie
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3. ali B.Y mafindi, jalingon taraba, Nigeria
Hello, good day sir, i jzt wrote in to let u kno dat i 've not been missin ur progrommes and i've not missed a episode, it's a lovely job u're doin plz keep it up, plz i'll like u to send this very song by Sezen Aksu (sanima inanma) down to my mail box. and don't forget to hi to on air. thanks.
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reply from CG
By coincidence, a song by Sezen is in a forthcoming show.
But I can't send songs by email
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4. chiny aja, accra, ghana
your program is the best on the bbc. It's so refreshing to hear music from all over the world instead of just exports from the U.S.A!!!!
do you have a cd collection of all the tracks you play on air for eg a year? would be good.
I would really like more Eastern European traditional music. I really really would like a show dedicated to that!!
keep up the good show
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5. Alice Harper, Colchester, UK
Dear Charlie - I'm half Armenian (the other half Irish and Scottish!) and would love to hear some Armenian music and singers please? (Apart from Charles Aznavour and Cher.)
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6. Sunir Pandey, Kathmandu, Nepal
Hello Charlie,
I'm a loyal, as far as time allows, listener of your show and I admire the variety of music you play and not understanding what the words actually mean makes the experience more enjoyable, as you get to listen to pure sounds instead of words with meanings, histories etceteras attached to them.
I understand yours is not a request show, but I had to write about a beautiful song I heard (for about 45 seconds) on the BBC's Closeup programme - Ilham al Madfai singing a colourful piece, not his ode to Baghdad though, accompanied by wonderful strumming and flutes among others. So if you ever decide to play Ilham al Madfai, I'll be listening.
Cheers,
Sunir
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7. Alan Digby, Whitby, UK
Love the show, why it's on so late goodness knows
Charlie please, please play a little more Greek Music, especially Haris Alexiou, I(e) Patritha. ( My Country) even if you don't play it listen to it yourself, If it doesn't break your heart then you can't possibly have one, which I know you have.
Good luck with the show.
Kindest regards,
Alan.
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8. Allan Rickards, Kingston, Jamaica
Your programme is a high point of my listening. If I could make a request it would be for a cut from a Indo-Jazz recording of the 60's by Joe Harroit and Ravi Shankar...recorded in London. Having spent the 60's in London in my young adult years, my friends and I have formed our musical tastes from those years.
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9. Catherine
i want to recommend the artist ishtar alabina in case you haven't come across her yet and play her please!
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CG reply
Very strange Catherine, as I have just recorded a show for the World Service that includes her song Alabina, and am doing another one tomorrow to be broadcast next Monday on Radio 3, that will include the same song
What kind of syncronicity is this?
Charlie