Podcast Six Pillars – ‘I Am Ashurbanipual, King of the World’ Part I and II

This week’s Six Pillars radio show: an in depth tour of “I Am Ashurbanipal, King of the World” currently on show at The British Museum London. One of history’s most dominant Kings, this Assyrian has yet been forgotten. A fierce, entirely merciless warrior, a proud scholar (the first in his line), empire-builder, a self-proclaimed king-slayer, … Continue reading →

Six Pillars Podcast – Piers Secunda Auction Special

Artist Piers Secunda has visited the edges of ISIS territory in Iraq, he has taken a decade of ‘rejected’ work and compacted it into a 1 metre cube, and sculpted ancient Chinese puzzles with paint. See Secunda’s fine art work donated to the Resonance104.4FM auction, you can still bid here. Broadcast Times: 6-6.30pm Mondays Repeats … Continue reading →

Six Pillars’ Broadcast – ResonanceFM Auction Special

Magic of Persia curator Leyla Fakhr and artist Piers Secunda visit the studio to discuss the their items donated to the ResonanceFM auction, that are from and about Iran and Iraq. Magic of Persia is a UK charity supporting artists from Iran. They have taken part in the ResonanceFM auction and support artists with the … Continue reading →

Six Pillars Broadcast – Omid Walidzadeh Guest Mix

Omid has been a guest on Six Pillars since the days of Myspace, (around 2006) and his career in USA has flourished since we first were in touch. Based in California, Omid began creating heavily sampled hip hop and other forms of electronic music for film and music release after a bachelor in recording arts … Continue reading →

Six Pillars’ Broadcast – News from Calais

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Six Pillars Broadcast – Classical Persian Music

This week, a political listening exercise. Too often when we discuss Iran today or even the Persian Empire that preceded it, homegrown classical music does not come to mind. But for how many years before the first notes were written down in Europe, were the Mesopotamians and their neighbours stringing the early versions of the … Continue reading →

Currently Listening to…Mitra Sumara

Mitra Sumara, a Persian big band in NYC, have released an album “Tahdig” in 2018 on Persian Cardinal Recordings. The band has a fantastic history: “The band is the creation of NYC singer Yvette Saatchi Perez, who was adopted and raised by American parents in Los Angeles. After twenty years of writing and recording her … Continue reading →

Six Pillars Broadcast: London Contemporary Music Festival

This week, Igor Toronyi-Lalic, Artistic Director of the London Contemporary Music Festival joins us to discuss LCMF, “an exploration into how to programme a music festival” as much as a celebration of choice international contemporary music and it’s history. We sample discuss the programming of BME performers and composers over the years and sample a … Continue reading →

Six Pillars Broadcast – Putting the Palestine Back into Christmas

Who were the first Christians and where were they? The Maronite and other denominations of Christians in Palestine and Jordan explained, with Arab songs of the Christian tradition. Numbers have dwindled in Occupied Palestine, with many Christians moving to Lebanon or nearby. But how did Christianity start as a “thing’? “The earliest followers of Jesus … Continue reading →

Six Pillars Broadcast: London Palestine Film Festival

The London Palestine Film Festival (LPFF) returns after a two year haitus, with diverse, rare and popular shorts, features and documentaries, working to connect audiences with international filmmakers focusing on Palestine-related issues. Joining the likes of Bella Freud and Eyal Weizman for the festival are this week’s Six Pillars’ guests (bios below): Mai Masri with … Continue reading →