On Michael Parkinsons last Sunday a.m. BBC Radio 2 show he wishes luck to his successor but also said that he hoped the musical playist he was allowed to pick and play would be honoured. So did I, his music just fitted snugly into Sunday mornings, Ella, Frank, Swing and Big Band. Plus he bought a plethora of young jazz musicians; Jamie Cullum and Michael Buble et al.

And so we are given Michael Ball, a safe and middle-of-the-road choice who instantly trashes the music policy. He brings soft pop to Sunday mornings and brings it down to the level of mediocrity which would have Parky crying into his Australian beer.

Congratultions BBC for wiping jazz music off the face of the earth in a time spot which was perfect and reached a wide audience. Congratulations for delivering even more musical dross, easily forgettable and depressing in it's relentlessness. Ball's an OK bloke but he's not a natural and I suppose like all your current male presenters, he'll have this Sunday a.m. slot for the next 100 years!

Humphrey Lyttleton - we miss you already. xx

For one who loves music wherever I am, it pains me to write that my car aerial has snapped off! Cut down in it's prime by a stressed driver who has entered their own driveway a thousand times and not once been too close to the hedge. The driver was me, had so much on my mind I carelessley catapualted into my driveway and as my car went forward, my aerial got stuck on a branch in the hedge and did not follow. It gets repaired at I know not what cost ['well, we have to take your wheel off then we have to . . . .']on Wednesday.
So unable to train my ears to an interupted radio signal I put on whatever is to hand from the CD's wedge into my little CD box between the front seats. And I had plenty of time to cover 7 tracks as the Monday traffic did not dissapoint.

The CD is ALVE by Chinese singer Sa Dingding. It took a little while to get use to but it is beautiful in parts and dynamic in others and quite unique. She brings together Chinese folk songs [most of the tracks have a snippet of an original old recording of each song] and Western techno and pop together and it works. Her voice sounds like the typical Chinese stringed instrument of which I have no idea what it's called but she soon hooks you in.

I also have no idea what she is singing about as all the lyrics are in Chinese - which is only correct but the booklet contained in the CD case have high gloss photo's and the lyrics to each song but again in Chinese. Obviously marketed for Western sales, it would have helped to have some translations. So to help you here is one of the songs chorus:

San Go Na Jia No
A GoNa Jia Na
A Na Nei
Sang Go Na Jia No
A Go Na Jia Ja
A Na Yi Yiu Na Yi Yiu

In all seriousness I am going to label this CD a keeper and am already on my 2nd hearing. You may not want to consider this album but you can get a free listening to a lot of it on her impressive website:

www.sadingding.co.uk