Away Being, Coming Home
Samira Ahmed explores understandings of 'home' and the experiences of people leaving, desiring to leave and returning to their former dwelling places.
Samira Ahmed explores understandings of 'home' and the experiences of young people leaving, desiring to leave and returning to their former dwelling places.
When the Beatles wrote their iconic song She's Leaving Home, they painted a picture of the post-war suburban house as a claustrophobic cage, trapping the free spirited young woman eager to make her way in the brave new world of 1960's Britain.
Decades later, the 'boomerang generation' abounds, as rapidly growing numbers of young adults return to the parental home due to economic or employment pressures. This situation can be emotionally and practically challenging for all the family.
The term 'home' implies much more than simply a building or a geographical location. It can also be a community, a family, an institution, a sense of emotional well being. Not all houses are a home to those who reside there.
Samira Ahmed considers 'home' and how writers and musicians have explored relationships between parents and children, at this pivotal point of leaving home. The title - Away Being, Coming Home - refers to a cross arts project in which young people, writers and musicians created work inspired by photographs of empty croft houses in the Hebrides, and the stories of their former inhabitants. The programme opens with a poem, Barren, a response to an image of one of these homes left behind.
Includes music from The Beatles, Yo La Tengo, South African bassist and composer Benjamin Jephta and The Smiths. There's poetry from Tony Harrison, Cecil Day Lewis and Grace Nichols, and readings from L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks, and Jill by Phillip Larkin.
The readers are Rachel Atkins, Natasha Gordon and Peter Ormond.
Producer: Lucy Dichmont
A Whistledown production for 大象传媒 Radio 4.
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Music Played
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The Beatles
She's Leaving Home
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
- EMI.
- B0025KVLTM.
- 6.
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The Animals
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
- The Bootleg Beatles: Hits Of The '60s.
- EMI.
- B0011W6KMS.
- 6.
-
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Benjamin Jephta
Homecoming
Performer: Benjamin Jephta Quintet.- Homecoming.
- Benjamin Jephta.
- B00TKVUCIK.
- 1.
-
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Lord Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts)
London Is The Place For Me
Performer: Lord Kitchener.- London Is The Place For Me: Trinidadian Calypso In London, 1950-1956.
- Honest Jon's.
- B000068GU3.
- 1.
-
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Shankar - Jaikishan & Shailendra
Mera Joota Hai Japani Revival (Revival)
Performer: Mukesh.- Shree 420 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).
- Saregama.
- B00LRBHRSY.
- 2.
-
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Morrisey & Marr Johnny
There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
Performer: The Smiths.- The Sound of The Smiths.
- Rhino.
- B001ECE6CQ.
- 15.
-
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Yo La Tengo
Leaving Home
Performer: Yo La Tengo.- They Shoot, We Score.
- Egon Records.
- B0051FLDH8.
- 1.
-
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One eskimO
Hometime
Performer: One eskimO.- One eskimO.
- Artist First.
- B002JODUO8.
- 1.
Samira Ahmed's blog
Readings
Title:听叠补谤谤别苍
Synopsis: poem inspired by a photograph titled 'Unmade Bed, Lewis' depicting an empty croft house in the Hebrides,听听seemingly abandoned hastily. The poet imagines what might have happened to the former occupants.
Author: Marjorie听Lotfi Gill
听
The poem is unpublished but image and text can be viewed at The Thrive Archive听
听
Title:听the L- Shaped Room
Synopsis: Thrown out of her family home after becoming pregnant, the unmarried protagonist contemplates her new home, a room on the margins of mainstream society.
Author: Lynne Reid Banks
From:听the L- Shaped Room
Publisher
Random House, 2014( reprint original 1962)
ISBN听听听听听听1446426270,
听听听听听听听听听听听听听听9781446426272
听
Title:听Bookends
Synopsis: Poem exploring how the poet's relationship with his father changes after the sudden death of his mother.听听Read by the author.
Author: Tony Harrison
From: Tony Harrison: Selected Poems
Publisher:听Penguin Books Ltd; 2nd Revised edition edition (29 Jun. 1995)
ISBN-10:听0140587314
ISBN-13:听978-0140587319
听
听
Title:听Walking away (For Sean)
Synopsis: Poem describing a father's emotions as he watches his young son walking into school for the first time
Author:听by C Day Lewis
From: The听Gate and Other Poems
Publisher: Cape (1969)
ISBN N/A
Walking Away is read by permission of Peters Fraser & Dunlop on behalf of the Estate of C Day Lewis
听
Title:听Extract from the Women's Room听听听听听听听听
Synopsis: protagonist Mira reflects on the process of children separating from their mothers.
Author: Marilyn French
From: The Women's Room
Publisher:听Andrew Deutsch (1978) Warner Books reprint (1992)
ISBN 0听听听75150538 2
听
Title:听Like a Beacon
Synopsis:听听Smells and sights trigger powerful memories and longings for home.
Author: Grace Nichols
From:听Poems on the Underground, Tenth Edition, edited by Gerard Benson, Judith Chernaik & Cicely Herbert
Publisher: W&N, 2001)
听
ISBN-10:听0304348589
ISBN-13:听978-0304348589
听
听
Title:听A house of my own
Synopsis:听听The author reflects on the freedom of having a house that belongs entirely to her.
Author: Sandra Cisneros
From: The House on Mango Street
Publisher:听Bloomsbury (2004) reprint of 1991 Vintage
ISBN-10:听0747560870
ISBN-13:听978-0747560876
听
Title:听Extract from 'Jill'
Synopsis:听听a young working class man arrives at university, and is disturbed听听to find his room occupied by students of a different social class.
Author: Phillip Larkin
From: Jill
Publisher:听Overlook Press (1984)
ISBN
0879519614,
9780879519612
听
听
Title:听Saturday at the canal
Synopsis: a young man dreams of running away to the hippy haven of San Francisco.
Author: Gary Soto
From: Home Course in religion
Publisher:听Chronicle Books (1991)
ISBN ISBN-10:听087701857X
ISBN-13:听978-0877018575
Related Links
The programme title: 鈥楢way Being, Coming Home鈥�,听 refers to a cross arts project in which young people, writers and musicians created work inspired by photographs of empty croft houses in the Hebrides, and the stories of their former inhabitants.听 The programme opens with a poem, 'Barren', read by author Marjorie Gill, in response to an image of one of these homes left behind, entitled听 'Unmade Bed, Lewis', by photographer Ian Paterson.
More images and details about the exhibition can be found at:
Broadcasts
- Sun 26 Jul 2015 06:05大象传媒 Radio 4
- Sun 26 Jul 2015 23:30大象传媒 Radio 4