Radio National Segment by Lorena Allam
The battle of John Axam has much to offer in terms of radio musicales. Strong composition and storytelling techniques such as these had never been used before, and arguably haven’t been used since to this effect apart from the other ballads of the series.
This rich textural feature by radio producer Charles Parker composer Ewan McColl, and musician Peggy Seeger was an innovative piece with pioneering ideas on the affordances and use of radio as a legitimate form of story-telling and a creative way of expressing non-fiction.
It introduced to the world a new form of communicating through music of a time and place, enhanced by lyrics taken from the mouths of real people, projected by actors.