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Rogues’ gallery, some of the many …
Notorious, violent, controlling, paranoid, ruthless, and excessive, history is filled with them, their rise supported by the fear and apathy. Constantly a threat, from history to the present and future, what are their traits, and how are they portrayed in song?
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The classic poisoner’s choice …
Natural or handmade, animal or chemical, fast or slow, murderous or accidental, we inhabit a world of toxins and venoms, but how are they expressed in song? With inspiration here, the more specific and colourful the better but there’s also the mental and metaphorical …
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Shadowplay: from the video for Come, by French singer-songwriter Jain
Visual, auditory, via media, rumour, or any other distortion of perceptions, from personal experience to the political, this week we search for songs about the interplay of the senses and idea of illusions as a primary focus
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Water year it’s been …
It’s time to reflect on an extraordinary year, about events public or personal, to celebrate those artists who have sadly left us, and also include in particular your discoveries in music old or new, here at the Bar or elsewhere
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Early music recording attempts at the end of the 19th century
This global history topic takes in many events, inventions, people and social trends, but beyond dates and facts, it is particularly about life of the times, habits, attitudes and values, and can also include fictional and other artistic styles
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The common nightingale
The inspiration of poets and songwriters for thousands of years, advertising with infinite music invention and energy, it’s also the national bird of Ukraine, defending its territory. So let’s celebrate the nightingale, and thrush cousin, in music and lyrics
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Arctic wolves in full song
Hunter or hunted, in a pack or working alone, in metaphor or myth, human connections from werewolf to dire wolf, this week they are all at the door, so it’s time to howl out your song suggestions referring magnificent canis lupus
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The Red Army Choir gives it some welly
Time to sing out! This week, in any genre, music and songs featuring choirs, whether they are the main performers, or come alongside other musicians or singers and then play a prominent or pivotal role
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There is a light …
With this week’s topic cycle straddling two months, let’s capture both in songs that may be autumnal, seasonal, celebratory or mournful, during a time of year of change, activity and a strange red-tinged beauty
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Onwards!
They express the joys, hopes, triumphs and tragedies of the human race coming together, – mixed emotions, war to civil rights, weddings to funerals, religious and sports to military might to floral festivals. But where do they come up in song?
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Help! A knockout moment from Muhammed Ali and the Beatles in 1964
Every picture tells a story, but this time let’s do it with songs inspired by, or about photographs or photography, and to help inspire here’s a selection of rare and usual shots to provoke memory, imagination, mystery and wonder
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No two walks are the same …
We all walk slightly differently, so this week it’s all about music that expresses various strolls, swings, swaggers, ambles or strides, and whether in politics or personal, marching bands or military, let’s capture the movement of the people
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Meeting of metaphor or the literal? Well, it's all a question of scale …
No, it’s not the World Cup. Or is it? This week let’s delve into music’s interpretation of the murky world of imagined or otherwise undercover plots from Roswell to JFK, 9/11 to Russian interference, and er … lizards
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Hang out at the Bar. You'll enjoy it.
Folk to rock, pop to hip hop and more, from grisly executions to leisure time with friends, to ending phone calls, let's hang out at the Song Bar and explore songs using these many idioms
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Awkward … your life in their hands. May, Trump and poor old Washington
Mass campaigns to crowd manipulation, political U-turns to personal deception, suggest songs about the art and artifice of changing facts for dubious or other purposes, but here to make truthful playlists
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Land of hope? The Big Apple beckons
Bollocks to the ban. This week at the bar let's fly in the face of immigration policy ignorance and welcome everyone in – with musical tales of bravery against cruelty, and human spirit seeking its way to a better life
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Four of the Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble's finest
Prokofiev to Prince to Pussy Riot, Mussorgsky to Marc Almond, east meets west in a perfect political and personal parade encoded by this week's secret agent, EnglishOutlaw, from last week's topic
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Vladimir, in a gesture of true hospitality, is taking his friend Donald for a ride
Language need be no barrier. Let’s reveal, explore, inaugurate, even celebrate, from classical, film to pop, from inside and out, the rich musical heritage inspired by this vast, contradictory country
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