In this optimistic view of mechanisation for TEDx Brighton (2011), I reveal some surprising connections between two types of dance music, inspired by the relentless beat of the factory machine, which flourished two centuries apart. The earliest was devised by women working in Lancashire cotton mills.
Background notes from my TEDx talk Loving the Machine. We can’t say with certainty that industrial music was born in Detroit or post-war Germany. It’s undoubtedly had many beginnings – and one of those was in the cottton mills of Lancashire, in the early nineteenth century, when women clog dancers mimicked the sounds and actions of the factory machines.
Centuries before the advent of the phonograph, captured songbirds were trained to sing fashionable melodies in the home. In this documentary for BBC Radio 4, I explore the surprising history of teaching songbirds to sing. Produced by Neil McCarthy.
Background notes on the Bird Fancyer’s Delight, including a list of music in the show, example tunes for birds and transcripts from treatise on teaching your birds to sing.