DJ and broadcaster Gilles Peterson releases a 600-page book devised over a year in lockdown

Gilles Peterson – a London-based DJ, broadcaster and record label founder also known as Gilles Jérôme Moehrle – has launched a new publication titled Lockdown FM: Broadcasting in a pandemic. A 600-page documentation of life over the course of the pandemic, the book is published by Worldwide FM, featuring design and art direction by Hugh Miller plus edits by British music magazine Straight No Chaser’s Paul Bradshaw.

The book was borne during the first UK lockdown, announced on 23 March 2020, and conceived around playlists from 80 Worldwide FM and BBC6 Music radio broadcasts created by Gilles. These playlists provide the structure of the book, which resultantly brought in other contributions from creatives such as British jazz and soul singer Zara McFarlane, British guitarist and musician Jean-Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick and record producer Simon Emmerson. Other contributors include Rob Gallagher, Emily Moxon, Louie Vega, François Kervorkian, Brian Bacchus, Adrian Younge, Kassa Overall, Jazz Re:-freshed, Damu The Fudgemunk and Raw Poetic.

“Gilles Peterson delivered 80 radio broadcasts and Lockdown FM is a musical and visual feast  – an alternatively sobering and celebratory response to Lockdown,” states the book’s editor Paul in an announcement. The book, in this sense, is a celebration of the industry greats and honours the birthdays of those closest to Gilles, such as Stevie Wonder and Dee Dee Bridgewater. But equally, it’s also a commemoration of the many lives lost to Covid-19, which includes artists and musicians like McCoy Tyner, Manu Dibango, Tony Allen, Ty and Mike Huckaby.

The pandemic caused a momentous shift and pause in the music industry, with events and shows halted temporarily. At the time of the first lockdown, Gilles headed back to his Brownswood basement – his London-based independent record label launched in 2006 – which is where the content for Lockdown FM first took shape. "I wanted to document the most turbulent period in my life and how so many of us got through it – with music,” explains Gilles in the release.

The book begins during a time before lockdown on New Year’s Eve, and takes the reader through Gilles’ busy schedule as it navigates through a tour of New York, Chicago, Australia, New Zealand and London, up until his diary cleared as a result of Covid-19. Other contributions include Gilles’ inquest into different genres under the name The 20 – a series which brings together Jazz Dance (Combat), Trip Hop, Jazz Funk and Modal Jazz. "An eclectic journal and cultural documentation of an unprecedented time told through music, essays, poetry, photography and design,” says Hugh, the book’s designer and art director in the release.

Along with the pandemic, the last year has also witnessed the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to the murder of George Floyd. Lockdown FM responds and engages with the impact of the movement, and this includes contributions from broadcaster, presenter, writer and DJ Erica McKoy, Thristian from the multi-platform brand Global Roots – who’s also the co-founder of Boiler Room and has collaborated with Gilles to create Worldwide FM – plus musician Paul Martin.

Lockdown FM: Broadcasting In A Pandemic is published by Worldwide FM and is available here.