Transmissions
I Will Not Grow Old Here: A Girl from Alex
Mary-Ann Nobele (SA 2022)
Mary-Ann Nobele / Radio Workshop (SA 2022)
27 min Episode 1 of 3
This story starts with a number: 70%. That's how many young people in South Africa are unemployed. Youth hustle and hope to find success, but how do you make it in a place like Alexandra township in Johannesburg? And how do you get out? In this three-part series, 23-year-old Mary-Ann Nobele brings listeners into her life in Alex and shows us why she's made this promise to herself: I will not grow old here.
Hosted by Lesedi Mogoatlhe, the Radio Workshop is a podcast of the Children’s Radio Foundation. We collaborate with youth reporters and radio stations across Africa to tell stories from places that are often overlooked, in ways that reflect how young people see the continent.
Narrated and Produced by Mary-Ann Nobele
The Painting
Neil Sandell (CA 2019)
Neil Sandell (CA 2019)
9 min
This we much we know. The woman in the portrait is wearing pearls, leaning forward, smoking a cigarette. But the rest is unknown – who she was, her relationship with an unknown artist. It is open to speculation. This absence of information invites those who see her to project their own stories onto her. She is like a mirror. Knocked off balance by the painting, the narrator ponders what lies behind his obsession with the woman in the portrait. He revisits an upheaval in his life and a stark truth that he has been avoiding.
Writer/Narrator: Neil Sandell
Producers: Neil Sandell with Mira Burt-Wintonick, Cristal Duhaime & Sarah Geis Sound Design: Mira Burt-Wintonick & Neil Sandell
Selected by guest curator, sound artist and podcast producer Cristina Marras
“I find this piece fascinating yet disquieting for the way in which it manages to embody absence, making us feel all the melancholy of not knowing, that transcends the search for information on the object at the centre of the narration, to become subtle nostalgia, a sensation well known to all expats around the world.”
Kaalavastha: Kerala Podcast
Vaaka Media (IN 2020)
Vaaka Media (IN 2020)
30min Episode 1 of 6
Kaalavastha can be roughly translated as 'weather' in Malayalam. Monsoons in Kerala bathe the state in verdant splendor. Even as this tropical change is romanticized by Keralites, the monsoon of 2018 brings back painful memories of loss and destruction. With hundreds of lives lost and critical lifelines of the state adversely impacted, the tenacity and perseverance of the people of Kerala refused to bring the state to a halt. Instead, the floods gave an opportunity to pave the way for 'Nava Keralam'- a new Kerala on a path to a progressive development trajectory.
This podcast series has been funded by the World Bank so there will be a bias in this story about Kerala's development, but it is region we hear very little about.
Narrator: Radhika Viswanathan
Written and produced by: Radhika Viswanathan and Samyuktha Varma
Music by: Erwick D’souza
A Vaaka production for the World Bank
Listen to the series
XMTR Radio Hour Ep18 : The Devil Museum by Jacob Dwyer
Social Broadcasts (UK 2022)
Produced by Social Broadcasts / Jacob Dwyer (UK 2022)
60 min / Episode 18 of 18
The Devil Museum is a one man radio play, the audio diary of a man photographing all three-thousand of the museum’s devil sculptures. (And yes the museum exists, we looked it up)
For a number of reasons, however, the project cannot be completed. As the diary tracks these failings, the piece moves subtly into less tangible subjects such as boredom, isolation and loneliness.
Produced by Jacob Dywer on residency at Rupert (Lithuania) and contains original compositions by Kareem Lotfy.
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Sound Observations with Maria Chavez & Christina Carter
Sonosphere (US 2018)
Produced by Sonosphere (US 2018)
40 min
Sound Observations is a quarterly performance and lecture series featuring experimental artists from around the nation. This recording features turntablist and DJ Maria Chavez, and vocalist and musician Christina Carter of The Charalambides on May 11, 2018. Maria and Christina's site specific works took place in the atrium of the Crosstown Concourse building, an old Sears Roebuck building retrofitted for art galleries, residential and commercial spaces. The result is echoing vocals and scratchy, vinyl sounds that swirl up a red staircase to the entrance of the stage.
Produced by Sonosphere
Selected by guest curator, sound artist Labrador Basin
“María Chavez’s work to me feels so savvy yet subtle. Incredibly developmental yet effortless. As a listener this piece in collaboration with artist Christina Carter facilitates my view of new angles.”
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Bad Taste: Will native grains be key to saving Australia’s water?
Jess Ho for SBS (AUS 2022)
Jess Ho for SBS (AUS 2022)
35min Episode 2 of 3
Farmers have grown grain in Australia on a commercial scale for years, but none of it is indigenous to our country. We talk to industry experts Bruce Pascoe and Jacob Birch about the potential of native grain crops and the impact they can have on Australia.
Host and producer: Jess Ho
Executive producer: Michelle Macklem
Series producer: Bethany Atkinson-Quinton
Sound designer: Nicole Pingon
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Doing Bird
Steve Urquhart (UK 2022)
Steve Urquhart (UK 2022)
20min Episode 1 of 2
Inmates at HMP Perth engage with archive birdsong and oral history recordings from the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club in a unique, creative audio art collaboration. Peesweeps meet hip hop beats, grouse unlock coded prison language, and an unhatched kestrel chick provokes philosophy.
Engaging with Scotland's archive birdsong recordings encourages the men to recall positive memories, to spark creativity, to reflect on the purpose of prison, and to re-evaluate their connection to the world beyond prison walls. They also think deeply about the accessibility and value of oral history recordings, and about who gets to be involved.
Produced by Steve Urquhart
‘Doing Bird’ is supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.
Where@bouts: The Magic Skates
Mad Genius (2016)
Mad Genius (US 2016)
11 min Episode 4 of 13
Where@bouts is the art "popcast" that remixes the world. Found sound addicts Mad Genius build stories linked to a location's ambience. Our guests conduct their world like a song.
Jeanne Du Snark brings the pain for the Mad Rollin’ Dolls, a roller derby league in Madison, Wisconsin. She does this while living with her own persistent pain. “When I have my skates on, I’m awake and I’m alive. I don’t have to take drugs.” We recorded Jeanne’s world, remixing her skates into an arena-shaking stomp. “You could get hit from anywhere. Just be ready.”
Producer: Mad Genius
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Selected by our guest curator: Jesse Lawson - Audio Producer, Sound Designer + Facilitator
“I love how playful this piece is, it's really inspired my approach to sound design. 10/10 would recommend to a friend!”
Conversations Over a Brew: Andy and Scarlett on The Book of St Helens
Heart of Glass (UK 2021)
Heart Of Glass (UK 2021)
26min Episode 1 of 6
An insightful chat (recorded over a brew) between artist Andy Field and Scarlett, a school girl from St Helens. The pair reflect on working together and wonder if children have super powers for imagining the future.
The focus is on children's perspectives, and the power and possibility they hold for reimagining the world around us. To explore these themes, we hear from artist Andy Field and Scarlett, a primary school pupil from St Helens. Andy, and his partner Beckie Darlington, make work that starts conversations between children and adults. Over this past year Andy and Beckie have worked with 146 children from across St Helens to create a guidebook about the town from the perspectives of its young people. Simply titled, The Book Of St Helens, this guidebook takes you on a unique journey through the town, highlighting the area's magical possibilities. Scarlett was one of the children who worked with Andy and Beckie to make The Book Of St Helens.
Produced by Heart of Glass
Afrikan: Congo is Bleeding Part 1
AMBC (GHAN 2021)
Drc. Jaèy, for the AMBC (GHAN 2021)
17min Episode 1 of 5
In August 1998, a war broke out in the Democratic Republic of The Congo - barely a years after the First Congo War (or what was refereed to as the African World War 1 ) of 1996. Over 6 million people have died - massacred, and millions more displaced. And till this day, this war continues. The reality of things in the DRC is horrendous, utterly barbaric and it's well-staged. The Congo is bleeding and it’s said to be a modern-day genocide perpetuated by some world class capitalists geared towards economic and financial benefits. Documenting and addressing relevant happenings in and affecting the African societies.