Name: Robin Currie
Show: Random Radio/ SOFT Toys
When are you on?
I am on every Monday from 2pm to 4pm.
What type of music can we expect to hear on the show?
On the show I play a combination of jazz, swing, blues, soul, classical, world, ethnic and crossover designed for those people who love music but don’t want to dance.
How did you discover this music?
I grew up listening to pop music until about 1971 but then I got really really bored with it. Around this time I discovered Beethoven and I discovered jazz. As the pop music around turned into something I really hated I started to go sideways and when I discovered jazz and classical music almost at the same time it was a real revelation. I found an amazing amount of extraordinary, creative, innovative, emotional and intellectual music that I’d never even heard of but had been around for between 50 and 600 years. Around the some time, in the early 70s, it was the beginning of classical music with jazz improvisation in the middle and that really did it for me.
I also discovered that people had been doing improvised music for hundreds of years. When you hear it for the first time you think: “Wow, I had no idea,” and you learn so much more about an individual musician when they improvise.
How long have you been DJ’ing?
I’ve been presenting on the radio for about four years, I started with a show on Vibraphonic.
How did you start DJ’ing?
A friend invited me to do a show on Vibraphonic FM and it all started from there. When Vibraphonic changed to Phonic FM I continued doing my show only on a more regular basis.
Can we find you DJ’ing anywhere other than on Phonic FM?
I only DJ on Phonic.
What has been your most embarrassing DJ’ing moment?
After playing a track I particularly loved I had a deeply emotional interaction with the audience and then discovered I’d turned the microphone off!
What has been your best DJ’ing moment?
Probably the same one!
Who is your favourite artist?
What a question! H’mmm. Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett, Glenn Gould, Jacques Loussier, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, John Abercrombie, Nina Simone, Stacey Kent, Ella Fitzgerald …anyone who can play wonderfully and improvise from the heart.
A lot of these artists are on a German label called ECM. At one stage I would buy any CD that came out on ECM because I knew it was fantastic.
What is you all time favourite album?
It changes from time to time. At the moment it’s probably Officium by Jan Garbarek & the Hilliard Ensemble – one of the most wonderful pieces I’ve ever heard, a combination of sacred classical music and jazz improvisation. Wonderfully left-field.
Where do you shop for music?
I mostly go to the library or shop online as I can find access to stuff that I’ve never heard or come across, I can take it home and, if I like it, can copy it onto the PC.
Tags: Random Radio, Robin Currie, SOFT Toys