More Motown on BBC 4 starting this week
Friday 4 September, start of a new series - "Soul America".
[[Quotes taken from the Radio Times)
Part 1: Amazing Grace [[4 Sep 21:30)
"The story of how, in the early 1960s, soul music emerged from the world of gospel to deliver an assertive vision of black America during the Civil Rights era. This episode travels through the South from Muscle Shoals in Alabama to Stax in Memphis and takes a detour north to Detroit, to argue that Motown's most soulful achievement was to show the world a successful, sophisticated image of black people. Featuring contributions from Mavis Staples, Candi Staton, Duke Fakir, Martha Reeves, Mary Wilson, Otis Williams, the Holland Brothers and Clarence Carter."
For more information [[and click on Show More):
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000m7h1
Part 2: Say It Loud [[11 Sep 21:30)
"In the late 1960s and early 70s, poverty and racism fanned the flames of radical black politics and a harder soul sound. James Brown spoke out against inequality by writing "Say It Loud". Stax Records went from being a label built around an integrated house band to becoming a black-centric business. Meanwhile in Detroit, the Temptations tackled subjects such as the Detroit riot and absent fathers, and Marvin Gaye conceived the epic "What's Going On".
For more information:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mfbz
Part 3: Sweet Love [[18 Sep 21:30)
"How, in the 70s and 80s, a second coming of soul men, led by Teddy Pendergrass, Marvin Gaye and Luther Vandross, offered a black female audience slow jams and sexual healing".
For more information:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mmg6
In addition to the above, there are repeats of two other programmes:
4 September on BBC 4 at 23:25, there is "Smokey Robinson at the Electric Proms" with the BBC Concert Orchestra, dating from 2009.
11 September on BBC 4 at 22:30 there is "Motown at the BBC" including performances by Diana Ross and the Supremes, Temptations, Jackson 5 and Stevie Wonder. [[As an aside this is followed by "Stax with Jools Holland" from the BBC Proms 2017 alongside several star names.
