The Stage

Radio review - Light programme

Published Monday 26 November 2007 at 15:00 by Derek Smith

Probably the very epitome of a band which divides musical opinion, Kraftwerk were never going to be loved by everyone. But the German exponents of industrialised, mechanical music are now retrospectively looked upon with a lot more fondness now than during their peak in the early and mid seventies.

Born out of a love of a weird hybrid of influences such as architecture, the classical music of Karlheinz Stockhausen and indeed bicycles (yes, bicycles), the band soon trimmed down to its two members (Ralf and Florian) who wanted the techno group to look and sound German.

In Radio 4’s Kraftwerk - We Are The Robots, we got a brief, but certainly interesting insight into what made them tick - or rather bleep. It’s no surprise that the likes of Brit electronic artists Gary Numan and John Foxx are mentioned as having been influenced by their music, a little more surprising though when the name of ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr crops up, having worked with them some ten years ago. Such was their desire to keep the music - Autobahn and The Model among their better known singles - they even turned down the opportunity to support David Bowie on tour for fear they would be influenced musically, wanting to keep their sound pure. Best of all here, we learnt of their eccentricities, like hating excessive noise and even disconnecting the bell on the home phone. If you wanted to speak to them, you had to call at an exact time and they would pick up the phone when arranged. You’d also surely have to describe a Catholic nun who taught boxing, played tennis and ran a mobile disco as a little out of the ordinary too. In this instance it was Sister Mary Ignatius Davies, who for some 60 years ran a school in Kingston, Jamaica, for wayward lads. But, teaching pupils how to jab and counter-punch aside, the reason she’s the subject of Radio 4’s The Nun Who Nurtured Reggae is that her Alpha Boys School taught music, in particular brass instruments, several going on to play in leading reggae bands, including the legendary Wailers. One student, who spoke to her just before her death in 2003, told her she was his living saint and the affection the school’s ex-musicians hold for her is obvious from start to finish. A musical sanctuary in what, especially during the sixties and seventies, was a tough area to grow up in, the school evidently helped many stay on the straight and narrow and become leading exponents in brass instruments. Apparently, when she died, the media paid little interest in the life and achievements of Sister Davies - this affectionate half an hour made up a little for that. The best radio documentaries are those that can come up with a few new nuggets of information about a subject you’re confident you already know everything about. Like during Radio 4’s Stage to Screen, fronted by Paul Gambaccini, which honed in just how the wonderful movie Oliver was eventually created from the stage version.

Premiered in 1968, the curtain on the original stage show had gone up back in London in 1960 - incidentally with worryingly poor advance ticket sales.

First up, there was the director to choose, the producers eventually plumping for Carol Reed, regarded by many as an unusual choice given his previous body of more serious work such as The Third Man. He famously resigned from directing Mutiny On The Bounty after a dust-up with Marlon Brando on set. Other key factors were, of course, getting the brilliant Ron Moody to play loveable rogue Fagin, as he had done on the London stage. Then there was the actual music composition - a collaboration by American music director Johnny Green and Eric Rogers, more known for his Carry On work.

Like all the most successful productions, Oliver was just a case of the right music, right theme and perfect cast all coming together at the right time. And, more than a few touches of genius from songwriter Lionel Bart, of course. On Bart, one contributor rather unkindly said: “I’Il think he’ll always be remembered for Oliver, but not much else.”

If that really is the case, and I’m not sure it is at all, then it remains a wonderful epitaph few others can match.

DETAILS

Kraftwerk - We Are The Robots - R4, November 22

The Nun Who Nurtured Reggae - R4, November 24

Stage to Screen 3/3 - R4, November 24 (repeated from November 20)