Soul Music

Rasputin was a massive disco hit for the British-German Caribbean group Boney M in 1978. Nearly fifty years later it remains a much loved symbol of happiness and freedom for a a truly global audience. This edition of Soul Music features stories from Iran, Cameroon, India and of course Russia.
Anahita Tishtar says Rasputin is a song that represents a golden age in Iran before the Islamic Revolution restricted Western music. It reminds subsequent generations of happier times when people were free to dance.
Famil Ismailov recollects his wild dancing in the style of Bobby Farrell at teenage discos in the former Soviet Union. Boney M was one of the first Western music acts allowed in Russia.
Eric Ngalle Charles heard the song on his sisters' cassette player as a small child in Cameroon. The song became significant to him a decade later when he was trafficked to Russia and ended up dancing on stage with Boney M at one of their many Russian concerts.
Sweta Amit danced to it as toddler at her parents' dinner parties in Thailand. As a child from a conservative Indian family the song represents freedom and a way to banish stress.
Rasputin on the violin and cello: the Scottish-Egyptian classical duo The Ayoub Sisters first heard it as children in the back of their surgeon father's car as he drove to the hospital to do his ward rounds. Later on they released a classical version of it.
The original lead singer of Boney M Liz Mitchell says Rasputin has a sound and rhythm that incorporates so many different styles of music that people all around the world can identify with, and that it just makes people feel free and happy.
Producer: Maggie Ayre

"When the rain is blowing in your face / And the whole world is on your case / I could offer you a warm embrace / To make you feel my love"
Written by Bob Dylan for his Time Out of Mind album, 'Make You Feel My Love' went on to become a huge hit for Adele and has been covered by Billy Joel, Ane Brun and many more.
With its promise of unfaltering love, we find out what the song means to different people around the world. It has inspired a translation into a 65,000 year old language and a choral version with the comfort of a psalm; it has soundtracked heartbreak and grief; and become a lullaby of parental love.
Featuring music writer Annie Zaleski, musicians Ane Brun and Dyagula, organist and conductor Anna Lapwood, Howard Simons, Aly Halberstadt, and Adele's manager Jonathan Dickins.
Produced by Mair Bosworth
A BBC Audio production for BBC Radio 4

Marking 25 years of the award-winning series, Soul Music features songs from the last 25 years.
“I tried to drink it away... I tried to run it away...” Solange’s hit song, written in 2008 and released eight years later, muses on themes of isolation, loneliness, and depression. She penned the lyrics to Raphael Saadiq’s instrumental in a Miami hotel room, gazing out at the cranes filling the skyline during the onset of the housing crisis and financial crash.
Solange Knowles released her debut album in 2002 at the age of 16. This single appears on her third album, A Seat at the Table. She's the younger sister of Beyoncé.
Featuring: Journalist Douglas Markowitz; music writer Kiana Fitzgerald; author of Why Solange Matters and Big Joanie guitarist Stephanie Phillips; and Rebecca McNeil.
Producer: Eliza Lomas

"Look at the stars, look how they shine for you..."
True stories of what Yellow, one of Coldplay's most iconic songs, means to people 25 years on from its release.
It's December 1999 and a relatively unknown band called Coldplay are midway through recording their debut studio album, Parachutes, at Rockfield Studios in Wales. The days are long, often working late into the evening. One night after a recording session, they step outside with their producer Ken, and look up to a sky full of stars. The rest, as they say, is history...
Featuring, in order of appearance:
Dylan Bode, musician and coma survivor
Ken Nelson, music producer on Coldplay's Parachutes album
Debs Wild, fan liaison for Coldplay and author of Life In Technicolor: A Celebration of Coldplay
Neil Brand, composer, writer and broadcaster
Katherine Ho, singer of the Mandarin version of Yellow for the film Crazy Rich Asians
Producer: Becky Ripley

A song that was everywhere after it was released as a single in 2000. Moby's Porcelain has been used in films, TV and adverts yet remains a much loved melancholic downbeat electronic ballad. Reportedly written about the fragility of love after a break up it's a track that has a place in many people's hearts.
The people featured are:
Felicia Narhi aka DJ Damselfly
Steve O'Brien
Gyu
Ola Mazzuca
John E Roy
Michael Weinhardt
Producer: Maggie Ayre