It’s like saying hip-hop is not inclusive

Above: In a church one of the ladies doing the flowers produced this impressive tribute to The Last Night At The Proms (including red, white and blue flowers - you can click on the image to enlarge it). “It’s not very inclusive” I said jokingly. “It’s not meant to be” she snapped back.

The BBC Promenade Concerts come to an end tomorrow with the institutional Last Night At The Proms. My uncle and aunt (who were both blind, my uncle blind from birth) used to go to the Last Night every year. Recently the concert has come under fire because it is not “inclusive” and attempts have been made to meddle with the traditional formula. This tactless interfering is the sort of thing that gets political correctness such a bad name. The behaviour of the audience at the Last Night is sometimes a bit juvenile, but to suggest they need some form of internationalist re-education is crazy. It’s like saying hip-hop is not inclusive.



Above: One of the Promenade concerts this year included Mozart’s Requiem. I listen to all sorts of music, and my main interest is the way in which musical expression relates to cultural identity (and also the way music relates to moving images). But the music that has most impact on me is religious choral music (I used to find classical music boring, but it has crept up on me over the years).