TAPE: George Michael

TAPE : George Michael

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Rewinding the History of Music

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Austere face, dark looks, tormented psyche: at first glance, Nick Cave is a gothic hero. But the king of indie music and the world of darkness have more of a love/hate relationship.

Nick Cave

Freddie Mercury and Queen brought Queer culture into the family home in a series of audacious music videos and live performances shown on TV at a time when homosexuality was still taboo in the media.

TAPE: Queen

Sting was an ecologically-conscious yogi hipster before it was even a thing. He's always been fighting for our right to enjoy a better future than the one we are making for ourselves. Perhaps a strange mission for someone with punk musical roots?

Tape

Sting was an ecologically-conscious yogi hipster before it was even a thing

Sting

1974: ABBA’s victory at the Eurovision Song Contest was a taste of things to come. But a year later, when it was up to Sweden to host the Eurovision, the counterculture mobilised big time. On Channel 1 was the Eurovision and on Channel 2, a rival, parody version of the competition designed to mock ABBA and mainstream music as hopelessly capitalist and try hard.

ABBA

When it was up to Sweden to host the Eurovision, the counterculture mobilised big time in a bid to take down ABBA

At a time when the climate emergency is being felt everywhere, we need to be all hands on deck to solve it. And that includes rock stars. Even Deep Purple might need to get a little green...

Deep Purple

United States, Gabon, Bahamas... Serge Gainsbourg wasn't just an artist, he was also a traveller. The wanderings of this icon led him to Jamaica, the Mecca of musical renewal.

United States, Gabon, Bahamas... Serge Gainsbourg wasn't just an artist, he was also a traveller

Serge Gainsbourg

The number one rule of being a gangster? You never, ever rat out your friends. And yet that's exactly what Tekashi 69 did when he betrayed the Nine Tray Bloods. The entire world of hip hop turned its back on him, and he even got death threats.

The number one rule of being a gangster? You never, ever rat out your friends...

Tekashi 69

Satanist texts and bloody imagery are standard fare for Iron Maiden. But at the beginning of the 90s, the US government decided to use them in a road safety campaign. Road deaths fell significantly in the space of a year.

Iron Maiden

Wanting to smell like a slut doused in blood and sperm, and having a polite meeting the Dalai Lama may sound like contradictions. But they're just different sides of the same coin when it comes to Lady Gaga. She speaks out on behalf of the voiceless, insists on expressing herself and her strangeness. 

 Lady Gaga speaks out on behalf of the voiceless, and insists on expressing herself and her strangeness

Lady Gaga

Bono is on a mission to make the world a better place, from charity fundraisers, meetings with the Pope and humanitarian trips... Bono is rock's Mother Teresa. But can celebrities save the world?

In 1998, Johnny Cash received the Grammy Award for best album of the year. But that only came after a decade of being shunned by the industry and his peers in Nashville. 

Johnny Cash won a Grammy but only after a decade of being given the cold shoulder

Johnny Cash

In the track Godzilla, Eminem hits a record-breaking 7.46 words per second: listening to him is like being hit with a wall of words. But breaking and making records is just a part of Eminem's MO.

Breaking and making records is just a part of Eminem's MO

Eminem

At a party organized by GQ magazine, Noel Gallagher admitted it: the Oasis secret sauce for success is good old-fashioned plagiarism. How did the greatest rock band of all time manage to copy all the other greatest rock bands of all time - and get away with it?

At a party organized by GQ magazine, Noel Gallagher admitted it: the Oasis secret sauce for success is good old-fashioned plagiarism

Oasis

When Cardi B won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album of the Year 2019, haters around the world piled on to her; saying she didn't deserve it and that she was a bimbo. The backslash was so bad that Cardi B temporarily left the platform. 

When Cardi B won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album of the Year 2019, haters around the world piled on to her

Cardi B

On December 25, 2006, the whole of America went into mourning: James Brown was dead. His funeral was of an opulence that matched his luxe, zany life, with a solid gold coffin and a stadium full of mourners.

James Brown's funeral was of an opulence that matched his luxe, zany life

James Brown

Thanks to her 1994 smash hit 'All I Want for Christmas is You', Mariah Carey is almost as Christmassy as Santa himself. The diva has managed to not only storm the charts but turn Christmas into her very own money-making machine.

Thanks to her 1994 smash hit 'All I Want for Christmas is You', Mariah Carey is almost as Christmassy as Santa himself

Mariah Carey

Britney Spears is like kryptonite to Somali pirates: so much so that the British navy have taken to using her tunes as a weapon of war. One blast of Britney and the pirates are out of there.

How Britney songs are fighting piracy in Somalia

Britney Spears

Kanye West started off as a megalomaniac hip-hop star who transformed himself into a modern-day messiah. But is his preaching just another type of celebrity? After all, it is lucrative...

Kanye West started off as a megalomaniac hip-hop star who transformed himself into a modern-day messiah

Kanye West

By 1988 the Beach Boys were no longer the fresh-faced success story of their youth. In desperation they wrote a song for the Tom Cruise movie, Cocktail which turned out to be the worst film of the eighties.

Beach Boys

Provocative, creative, and with an unhealthy interest in vomit, Tyler, the Creator breaks the mould of US rap. But did he really eat that cockroach? TAPE tells all.

Provocative, an unhealthy interest in vomit, Tyler, the Creator breaks the mould of US rap. But did he really eat that cockroach? TAPE tells all.

Tyler, the Creator

Elton John may have been knighted, but his rock ‘n’ roll past is less than noble. Three minutes to round up Elton’s Captain Fantastic past.

Elton John

When international superstar Beyoncé wanted some new dance moves for her latest video, she chose little known Mozambique dance trio Tofo Tofo to create the choreography.

When international superstar Beyoncé wanted some new dance moves for her latest video, she chose little known Mozambique dance trio, Tofo Tofo to create the choreography.

TAPE: Beyoncé

French rap duo PNL’s  music video for their track ‘Au DD’ saw the twosome sitting on top of the Eiffel Tower. But were they really there? Internet conspiracies abound.

How did Snoop Dogg change from being American public enemy no. 1 to the public’s favourite rapper. TAPE rewinds the life of a genius of personal branding.

Snoop Dogg

Pharrell Williams manages to combine coolness and super-geekdom à la Star Trek. But how?

Pharrell Williams manages to combine coolness and super-geekdom. But how?

Pharrell Williams

Back in the early 1990s Madonna’s provocative sexual persona was seen as a threat to the Catholic Church.

Madonna

Allegations against R. Kelly have dogged the R’n’B star for decades. With alleged sexual abuse and child pornography, can we still listen to R. Kelly songs?

TAPE: R. Kelly

Since his birth, Keith Richards has been burning the candle at both ends, and yet he's still fighting fit. He's even survived 2016. Is the Rolling Stones guitarist too rocky for The Reaper? Quite possibly... 

Since his birth, Keith Richards has been burning the candle at both ends, and yet he's still fighting fit

TAPE: Keith Richards

David Bowie - 49 years of career, 23 albums, 140 million of sold copies. But above all, it’s a masterfully conducted career in which each stage was connected with the following. In this episode, TAPE rewinds the career of this musical UFO.

TAPE: David Bowie

TAPE - Rewinding the History of Music

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To celebrate 50 years of French radio station FIP, Sting gives a special performance in the monumental surroundings of the Pantheon in Paris.

50 Years of FIP Radio

Sting at the Pantheon in Paris

Jamie Cullum, Britain’s best-selling jazz artist, natural showman and fearless performer, made his mark with covers of Rihanna’s “Don't Stop the Music” and “Frontin'” by Pharrell Williams. This special live performance comes from Versailles’s old royal hospital, the Espace Richaud.

Jamie Cullum: piano solo

ARTE Concert Festival welcomes a legend, Damon Albarn performs live from his new album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows.

ARTE Concert Festival 2021

Damon Albarn

After four years of waiting London Grammar have finally released a new album. To celebrate ,the British trio are invited onto the Ground Control set and ,as usual with London Grammar, the result is beautiful.

Ground Control

After four years of waiting London Grammar have finally released a new album. To celebrate ,the British trio are invited onto the Ground Control set to perform.

London Grammar

In a special private concert in Paris, Greg Gonzales and his band perform from their newly released second album, ‘Cry’.

Cigarettes After Sex in Private Paris Concert

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Meet two of Poland's oldest hippies: Juliusz (92) and Krystof (77) have been living on the shores of Lake Solina, in almost total isolation and surrounded by nature and animals, for decades. But life in the middle of nowhere is increasingly hard on their aging bodies. 

Meet two of Poland's oldest hippies: Juliusz (92) and Krystof (77)

Re: An Unconventional Retirement

Behind his polite exterior lies a formidable leader with a ruthless character, ready to do anything to make China the world's leading power by the People’s Republic’s centenary in 2049. This well-documented portrait of the Chinese president gives an unprecedented insight into his politics and shows how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

A portrait of the Chinese president giving an unprecedented insight into his politics and showing how Xi Jinping's personal journey has shaped his choices as he steers China towards world domination.

The New World of Xi Jinping

Faced with more frequent and violent natural disasters caused by climate change, animals and plants are adapting. Some species, such as sharks, which are able to sense the change in atmospheric pressure of a coming hurricane, move away from danger. Others learn to live with it, such as curlews, which use the hot ash from erupting volcanoes in Papua New Guinea to incubate their eggs. A surprising and inspiring documentary about nature's survivors.

How Animals and Plants Survive

Faced with more frequent and violent natural disasters caused by climate change, animals and plants are adapting. A surprising and inspiring documentary about nature's survivors.

Natural Disasters

Lowriding is a passion for cars where owners customise their vintage vehicles to look cool gliding along the Los Angeles boulevards. For long a male-only pursuit, more and more women are getting into it lowriding.

Geo Reportage

Lowriders of Los Angeles

Saudi Arabia is reputed to be one of the richest and most conservative nations on the planet. But how do its citizens live today?

Unknown Arabia

Saudi Arabia: The West

A region of Europe with a shared experience of communism and USSR dominance, Eastern Europe today is characterised by nations with diverse cultural and political identities.

Mapping the World

How many Eastern Europes?

Pippi Longstocking, the superhumanly strong redhead with pigtails and freckles, conquers the world of classical ballet. The Swedish dancer and choreographer Pär Isberg stages Astrid Lindgren’s favourite character from the Villa Villekulla for the Helsinki opera house. The ballet music is the work of Georg Riedel and Stefan Nilsson.

From the Helsinki Opera

The Swedish dancer and choreographer Pär Isberg stages Astrid Lindgren’s favourite character for the Helsinki opera house.

Pippi Longstocking

In recent years Oman has been opening up to western tourists. What awaits them is a land of mountains, deserts, fjords, and pristine beaches.

Fairytale Oman

Stuttgart Ballet performs ‘Onegin’, John Cranko’s acclaimed 1965 choreography of Alexander Pushkin’s novel. Classical ballet at its best in a version created for the cinema.

A Ballet by John Cranko

Stuttgart Ballet performs ‘Onegin’, John Cranko’s acclaimed 1965 choreography of Alexander Pushkin’s novel.

Onegin

Vadum Minsyuk and Yuri Andreyev fled the war in eastern Ukraine in 2014. In search of a new beginning, they decided to start a new life in the Chernobyl region, close to the exclusion zone from the 1986 nuclear disaster. The dangers of radiation are better than the rockets of war.

Vadum Minsyuk and Yuri Andreyev fled the war in eastern Ukraine to start a new life in the Chernobyl region,  The dangers of radiation are better than the rockets of war for them.

Re: New Beginning in Chernobyl

The Indian state of Sikkim has banned pesticides completely, allowing only organic farming. The results: healthy food and healthy soils.

ARTE Reportage

India: Sikkim - A Green New World

A special gala concert to celebrate five years of Hamburg’s fantastic new concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie, opened on January 11 2017. The NDR Elbphilharmonie orchestra performs works by Adams, Adès and Salonen with conductor Alan Gilbert and pianist Kiril Gerstein.

With Kirill Gerstein, Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra

A special gala concert to celebrate five years of Hamburg’s fantastic new concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie.

5 Years of the Elbphilharmonie

Iraq in 2022: Will the emerging nation succeed in resisting foreign influence and from Iran in particular? What does the future hold for the Kurdish autonomous region? And will the USA ever really leave?

Iraq in 2022: Will the emerging nation succeed in resisting influence from foreign powers, and from Iran in particular? 

Iraq - A Sovereign Country?

Present on the coast but also inland, dunes are shaped by the wind and are in perpetual movement. These extraordinary landscapes made of infinite grains of sand are ephemeral and inhospitable. Yet the environment they offer is astonishingly diverse.

Present on the coast but also inland, dunes are in perpetual movement, creating extraordinary ephemeral landscapes.

Dunes: Europe's Moving Landscapes

A journey through Middle-earth, or rather New Zealand. Peter Jackson used the natural beauty of his native land to great effect in his film adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s classic trilogy. A tour through locations for the Shire, the Misty Mountains and Mordor… 

Cult Film Locations

A journey through New Zealand used to great effect in the film adaptation of Tolkien’s classic.

Looking for the Lord of the Rings

It's big business: in summer, hundreds of kilos of mushrooms are illegally picked every day in Romanian forests. They are then transported to Italy by intermediaries where they are sold at astronomical prices. Romanian authorities do nothing as the forests are looted unsustainably for their grey gold.

It's big business: in summer, hundreds of kilos of mushrooms are illegally picked every day in Romanian forests

Re: Truffle Traffick in Romania

Carolyn Carlson and her company bid farewell to each other in a final creation. On the Chaillot theatre stage in Paris, the legendary choreographer and performer presents The Tree (Fragments of poetics on fire), an ode to nature and the elements.

Théâtre de Chaillot

The legendary American choreographer presents The Tree (Fragments of poetics on fire), an ode to nature and the elements.

Carolyn Carlson's The Tree

The United Arab Emirates includes the sci-fi like cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai with their breath taking towers and impressive beach resorts. It is also a land of expats with residents from over two hundred different nations.

The United Arab Emirates includes the sci-fi like cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It is also a land of expats with residents from over two hundred different nations.

TAPE - Rewinding the History of Music

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TAPE: George Michael

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