124. Firouz FarmanFarmaian; Escaping Tehran, Kashmiri Houseboats, Trekking Kyrgyzstan, Rock Bands and Contemporary Art
Release Date: 11/30/2021
125. Christmas Special 2021; Sathnam Sanghera, Lisa Jewell, Matt Forde, Anne Sebba, Olly Mann, Greenham Common and more
The Big Travel Podcast
Authors Anne Sebba on the Royal abdication, Sathnam Sanghera's dismal Christmas restaurant, Lisa Jewell's Boney M in Barbados, adventurer Jamie Douglas-Hamilton rowing to the Antarctic, satirist Matt Forde in an NYC Irish bar, podcaster Olly Mann’s disappointing LA Santa, artist Firouz FarmanFarmaian Muslim Catholic Christmas in Marrakesh, adventurer Sam McManus's ancient Spanish fiesta, Festival promoter Huw Win's Thai rainforest & Nobel Peace Prize winner Rebecca Johnson's Christmas at Greenham Common.
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124. Firouz FarmanFarmaian; Escaping Tehran, Kashmiri Houseboats, Trekking Kyrgyzstan, Rock Bands and Contemporary Art
The Big Travel Podcast
Born in Tehran, the descendent of a nomadic tribe, Contemporary Artist Firouz FarmanFarmaian's family scattered after the Islamic Revolution. He grew up trekking mountains and deserts, touring with his Indie rock band and now with his internationally acclaimed art. With a gallery in Tarifa, Spain, and a new base in Athens, he travels the globe sourcing ideas and materials with craftswomen in remote regions and will be representing Kyrgyzstan at the Venice Biennale with the exhibition Gates of Turan.
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123. On Location in Marbella Old Town with Tour Guide Javier Gonzalez
The Big Travel Podcast
A journey through the maze of Marbella's 16th Century cobbled lanes surrounding the old 'Orange Square', encountering flamenco singers and opera stars and sampling some of the coast's most wonderful tapas. With tour guide Javier Gonzalez and staying at the stunning Anantara Villa Padierna Palace, with its classical Italian design and sophisticated yet arty vibe.
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122. Matt Forde; Billy Connolly in New York, Liam Gallagher in Berlin and Nick Leeson's Worldwide 'British Scandal' Jaunt
The Big Travel Podcast
Comedian, political satirist and Spitting Image star Matt Forde talks accosting Billy Connolly in New York, 'dying' on stage in Luxemborg, pints of Carling in ex-pat clubs in Bahrain, Nick Leeson's luxury hotel dash around the world, spending 3 months locked in a first floor flat, an emotional pilgrimage to the Ghostbusters fire station, being the voice of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump (yes he does give us some excellent impressions) and posh people behaving badly on the podcast British Scandal.
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121. Sam McManus; Adventure Travel When the World Closes, Costa Rica, Green Northern Spain and the Unexpected Pull of Home
The Big Travel Podcast
Just as the world was closing Sam McManus from YellowWood Adventures took a daunting gamble and hopped on a plane to Costa Rica. We talk about how the pandemic can change travel (even for the better), tourism being potentially a means for good, eco-tourism and re-forestation, surfing, small pueblos in the green hills of Northern Spain, his wonderful travelogue about his explorations - Wax and Gold Journeys in Ethiopia & Other Roads Less Travelled - and feeling the pull of friends, family and home.
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120. UK TRAVEL UPDATE; Travel Opens Up, Vaccines, Quarantine and a Call to Action to The Government
The Big Travel Podcast
Good news at least for those people who have had two UK administered vaccines. From 19th July we can now go to amber list countries without quarantining on return. BUT at the moment this is just for UK administered vaccines meaning the country is not yet open to inbound tourism. Travel needs to be two-way! We need people in the UK to support our business too. Whilst we are aware it needs to be done safely we also need to get aviation and travel moving even further.
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119. UK TRAVEL UPDATE; New Rules, Traffic Lights, Vaccinations
The Big Travel Podcast
A Big Travel Podcast special on the latest UK Travel Update; the new rules, the changes in the traffic light ratings, vaccinations soon to be taken into account and much more. A ten minute episode of essential listening.
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118. Olly Mann; Guns On Trucks in Malawi, Swim-Up Bar Piña Coladas, Greyhounds and The American Dream
The Big Travel Podcast
Olly Mann, from Answer Me This podcast fame, his new The Retrospectors and much more, loves nothing more than researching trivia especially with travel. We talk Wrigley’s chewing gum and decapitation, leaving your baby outside a pub, people who get erections on public transport, a love for Luton Airport, the misleading American Dream, cocktails worth shortening your life for, having a bottom accident on an African roadside (yes this episode does feature the S word) and much more.
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117. Huw Wyn; Arabian Nights in Cairo, Hitching Through Nepal, Tibetan Medicine in Scotland and Tom Hardy Dropping into his Festival
The Big Travel Podcast
Into The Wild Festival promoter Huw Wyn grew up in his mother’s hotel in Wales then moved to Spain. We talk growing up feral in Andalucia, hitchhiking across Europe, fish-packing in the Netherlands, Glastonbury, Arabian Nights in Cairo, the poetic side of being a London bin man, orphanages in India, Mother Theresa in Calcutta, meeting the Dalai Lama, studying Tibetan medicine in Scotland, the remote Buddhist kingdom in Ladakh, hitching 2000 miles through Nepal, Tom Hardy at his festival and much
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116. Anne Sebba; Parisian Women and Nazis, Film Stars in Rome, ‘Communists’ in Sing Sing Prison
The Big Travel Podcast
The author of one of Lisa’s favourite books, Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved and Died in the 1940s, Anne Sebba explores the lives of women ‘writers and fighters’. As a journalist and author she's worked in film-star-filled 70s Rome, moved to New York with a baby, camped in the Mexico desert with Wallis Simpson’s free-diving step-son, had her camera film thrown into the Ganges while tracing Mother Theresa and, for her most recent book on Ethel Rosenburg, to Belarus and Sing Sing
info_outlineBorn in Tehran, the descendent of a nomadic tribe traced back to the 1400s, Contemporary Artist Firouz FarmanFarmaian's family scattered after the Islamic Revolution, from Paris to Marrakesh and a houseboat on a lily-covered lake in Kashmir. He grew up trekking mountains and deserts, touring with his Indie rock band and now with his internationally acclaimed art. With a gallery in Tarifa, Spain, and a new base in Athens, he travels the globe sourcing ideas and materials with craftswomen in remote regions and will be representing Kyrgyzstan at the Venice Biennale with the exhibition Gates of Turan.
@werthenomads
On this episode we explore:
His recent 5 week trek through Kyrgystan
Landlocked country not unlike Switzerland in look
Separated by mountains from China
Krysgystan's pristine nomadic tradition
'Interweaving' metaphorically, material and cultural ideas
His pluralesque approach to artist interaction
Being important to connect to archaic cultures and what they have to teach us
Soviet brutalist architecture in the Bishkek capital, frozen in time
How losing his own country to the Islamic revolution made him a citizen of the world
The Russians industrialising in the 19th century
Working towards the Venice Biennale for 2022
Going on sourcing/production trips to remote areas
Mostly working with craftswomen
His job as an artist being to highlight the 'virtual circle' of craft history
The beauty of the mountains and yurts around the Issyk-Kul lake
'The village of 100 yurt makers'
Local craftswomen developing felt for Muji
Felt becoming the centre of Firouz's artwork
How craftmaking empowers women
His We R The Nomad agency
Preparing another show for the Istanbul Biennale
The government completely changing cabinet in the middle of his government journey
Growing up in Iran just before the revolution
Taking one of the last flights out of Tehran before the Ayatollah took over
Being sent to boarding school in Paris
Growing up with his father in Marrakesh
His father growing up a hunter before becoming a trekker
The family houseboat in Kashmir
Trekking the Himalayas with mules, eating with their hands and travelling as a nomad
Killing a live mutton to feast on around the fire
His work stemming from this sense of displacement
Getting lost in the middle of the Sahara overnight
His father reading the stars and finding their way out
The ancient family tribe of Turkish descent going back to the 1400s and Mongol invasions
His father's radical approach to travelling (as a hippy in the 60s and a nomadic background)
Contrast being a key part of his life - privilege, nomadism, radicality creating richness in his art
His grandfather, a well known architect in Iran, narrowly escaping execution
Touring in an indie rock band for many years
Shooting experimental black and white movies in art school
Opening for Interpol for New York and the Notting Hill Arts Club
Wanting to always better himself
Working with his wife Camilla and Balenciaga
Facing his fear of solitude
The pandemic making them spread their wings with both art and travels
How Athens currently feels like Berlin after the wall of the wall
Street art and cultural events everywhere
The Bob Dylan song that takes him back to sunset on the lily-covered lake in Kashmir