KATY CARR’s ALBUM PROVIDENCE LAUNCH ON THE BBC TODAY !

I was delighted to perform and to be interviewed by the wonderful Robert Elms on his BBC Radio London show today.

I performed songs from my album Providence for the first time including ‘Miracle on the Vistula’ and ‘Boadicea.’ Listen to Miracle on the Vistula on Spotify here : https://open.spotify.com/album/0EBVooLZZ4YWLXFA6oPICj

Interview transcript below

ROBERT ELMS : (RE)
This is a Miracle On the Vistula, that’s the title of this track, which is by Katy Carr we’re going to hear from her in a bit …

Robert plays Miracle on the Vistula

RE :
That’s a Miracle on the Vistula and that’s one of the tracks from a new album, titled Providence by Katy Carr, who’s on the line now – hello Katy

KATY CARR (KC)
Hello it’s lovely to speak to you, Robert and hello London I’m so excited to be on the show it’s like a dream come true.

RE :
That’s wonderful. Now this album is part of a kind of a series of records exploring your Polish roots isn’t it because I’ve done my homework on the Miracle on the Vistula so tell us, you know why, why is that what took you back to that path?

KC :
Well, it started actually with a release in 2012 called Paszport, and I’ve been writing about the Polish Second World War experience, as I’ve been discovering my Polish roots and understanding what my history really means to me, and Paszport was inspired by the Devil’s Alliance, which was the Molotov – Ribbentrop agreement of course which started the war and was signed by Hitler and Stalin on the 23rd of August 1939 before the German and Soviet Invasion of Poland in Sept 1939, and the effects of that and what it meant to lose your passport during the Second World War in Poland. And then I wrote an album called Polonia inspired by the effects of the Yalta Conference which was in February 1945, and then Providence is an inspiration from the effects of the Iron Curtain and what that meant, and Polish people and also to the whole of the Eastern Block and Central Europe.

RE :
most people make albums about love songs…

KC :
Well there are love songs there but I think it’s a real desire for me to understand my roots and, you know, like, the wonderful Marcus Garvey which I quote in the album you know ‘that a people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots,’ And history is such an important thing and it’s something that it’s always marvels me and I like to be able to give untold voices of the past of voice. There’s many many millions of people, you know, that lost their voices during this terrible conflict and it’s it’s an ability to really use that metaphor in a way to explain stuff in the present.

RE :

It’s not just Polish past is it because we’re going to hear it from a track called Boudicca…

KC :
Yes, Boadicea is a wonderful inspiration, you know, to Britain and I wrote the song because I live very close to Boudicca’s mound here in Hampstead Heath, and I had a vision of her – well I’m sure it wasn’t the alcohol or anything, well i had a vision of her walking through the heath and I thought ooh she’s trying to tell me something so I wrote the song, and obviously she’s a British folk hero. And there’s a wonderful monument to her that was commissioned by Queen Victoria opposite to the houses of Parliament on the Thames’ embankment. And, you know, it’s wonderful to see her riding high in Londonium the previous Roman capital of Britain.

RE :

So we’re going to hear this track now and this is a special version you recorded for us is the album Providence out now.

KC :
Yes the record is out now and I’m really excited to be able to share this with London and I’ve got lots of people listening from all over the world so hello to say hello to everybody.

RE :
Thank you very very much. this is Katy Carr, and and especially recorded version of Boudicca or Boadicea whichever you prefer from the album Providence.

Robert plays Boadicea by Katy Carr

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Direct link to show : https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08v7lr2 #RobertElms#BBCRadioLondon #BBC #AlbumLaunch #NewMusic #NewMusicLondon#London #newalbum