Matt's Writing

DJ Matt Werner interviewed University of Edinburgh composer Maciej Zurawski about the world premiere of his orchestra piece Love and War on May 25, 2009. The interview can be found at http://mattswriting.com/ In this interview, Werner and Dr. Zurawski discuss music theory, Zurawski's battle with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the role of illness in art, hill walking in the Scottish Highlands, film music, and his compositions, including Love and War, My Home is in the Mountains, What Life Could Be, and The Journey Towards the Open Sea. Maciej Zurawski's newest work will be premeiring at the Music of Climate Change concert taking place in the city centre of London on Saturday November 28th at 7.30 p.m. Please visit this site for more details: http://earlymusicexperiment.weebly.com/ideas.html And please visit Maciej Zurawski's website for more of his music: http://www.theseaofmusic.com/

Talib Kweli Interview with DJ Matt Werner on Fresh Air: The Alternative Phone interview recorded on March 3, 2009, This show aired on http://freshair.org.uk March 10, 2009. Click to download Part 1 and Part 2 of my interview with Talib Kweli Click here for the full 60 minute interview and feature (It's a 142 MB mp3 file). DJ MATT WERNER: This is DJ Matt Werner on Fresh Air: The Alternative. We’re coming at you from Edinburgh, Scotland, and we have Talib Kweli with us on a phone interview. And so Talib, you’ve been very active this last year, and I’ve read most of the interviews you’ve conducted this last year online: on everything from your song about Lauren Hill, J Dilla, MCEO, and other projects, so I don’t want to repeat questions that’ve already been asked in these other interviews. But my listeners here in Scotland have had two main questions for you. One is on… TALIB KWELI: Black Star? DJ MATT WERNER: Yeah, Black Star. TALIB KWELI: [laughs] DJ MATT WERNER: They’re wonderi...

I had the great honor to interview the ground-breaking poet and musician Saul Williams by phone on Fresh Air: The Alternative. This podcast was originally broadcast on December 9, 2008 on Fresh Air , the University of Edinburgh, Scotland student radio. Topics and ideas discussed in the interview include Saul Williams' third album, the Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, collaborating with Trent Reznor, esoteric religions, William Butler Yeats, poetry as an intuitive artform, what is beyond words, Walt Whitman, how we are so much more than how we are perceived, and Barack Obama. This hour-long feature on Saul Williams also features much of his poetry and music, including: Sha Clack Clack, Black Stacey, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Wine, Twice the First Time, Release, Amethyst Rocks, 1987, and Children of the Night. My past interviews can be found at http://www.youtube.com/djmattwerner

For more photos of Edinburgh, please click here.

Dispatch #1: Matt Werner’s First Semester in the United Kingdom December 14, 2008 [I wrote the following for the English-Speaking Union of San Francisco, which is generously funding my study for a Master's in English here at the University of Edinburgh.] Matt Werner with his brother Mike, atop Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland. I moved to Edinburgh on September 13, 2008, and it’s amazing to look back at all that’s happened in the past four months, as I’ve been studying for my Master’s in English Literature. Two words sum up my first semester at the University of Edinburgh: Barack Obama. Shortly after arriving in Scotland, my sister Gretchen sent me a campaign button of Barack Obama standing in front of the White House with the words “Barack Obama: 2008” written on it. I decided to pin this on my backpack, and little did I know what I was in for. Nearly every day someone would come up to me and initiate conversation about the U.S. election, whether in line at the supermarket, or ...