Football fan, musician and sociologist Les Back is obsessed with the symphony of football chants. He’s on a tour of British clubs to explore their role as modern day folk songs.
Sociologist, musician and Millwall fan Les Back is obsessed with the symphony of the spontaneous folk song of football chants. He’s on a tour of British clubs to chart the rise (and fall) of these chants and discover why they’re an important barometer of social change.
He starts at The Den, the home of Millwall in south-east London where he meets with former player Tony Witter (‘94-’98). He and Tony revisit recordings they made during the 90s to see what’s changed in terms of the relationship between players and fans.
Les travels from London to Glasgow stopping to speak to fans, players and musicians from Norwich City, Dulwich Hamlet, Newcastle United, Rangers, Celtic and Hibernian. He wants to know what their club chants tell us about their hyper-local identity and whether the folk musician Martin Carthy is right – are chants “the one surviving embodiment of an organic living folk tradition”?
With thanks to Andy Lawn, Ceylon Hickman, Charlotte Robson, Louis Abbott, Martin Carthy, Tony Witter, Alex Wilson, Mark Burnham, Bonnie and Pete from Good Habits, David Taylor, Leon Moosavi, Jonny Hurst, Devarshi Lodhia and Patrick and Dolly.
Presented by Professor Les Back
Produced by Alexandra Quinn with Freya Hellier
Sound Design by Jon Calver
Executive Producer Jane Long
A Hidden Flack production for BBC Radio 4
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