Podcast: Radio Atlas

By Gianluca Stazi and Giuseppe Casu for Radio3 Rai (2018)

Silvestro has worked in the mine since he was 23 years old – he’s the son of a miner, the son of the mine, now he is 67. Manlio, at 40, left teaching to go and work in the mine, but to know himself and this new world, had to take on its most infamous job – the time-keeper. He is now 88.

The paths of these two men, different but parallel, meet in 1992 when they barricade themselves into the San Giovanni mine for months – laying explosives across the opening, preventing its closure and the slow desertification of the territory at that time. Years later, after the mines are closed and the desertification advances, Manlio and Silvestro revisit the ghosts of their past.

Best Radio Documentary at the Prix Italia and Prix Europa 2018.

By Inga Janiulytė (2018)

A fleeting scene from a remote village in Polesia, south east Belarus. After lunch and liquor on the Saturday before Orthodox Easter at babka Maria’s house. No meat is allowed on the table. The only one exempt from this rule is Maria’s ginger cat…

Recorded as part of a documentary on the Belarusian photographer Siarhiej Leskiec, whilst he was capturing material for his project ‘Whisper’  in which he tries to capture the lives of the last whisperers – women who believe they are healing illnesses with incantations.

Inga Janiulytė is a journalist for Lithuanian National Radio

By René Farabet for France Culture (1992)

A feature which weaves together audio compositions created by inmates  serving long-term sentences interwoven with their reflections on sound and listening. Winner of the Prix Futura in 1993.

René Farabet (1934 – 2017) was one of the key figures in the Atelier de Creation Radiophonique at France Culture from its creation in 1969 until 2000. A master of the creative audio feature, his work was profoundly influential on radio-makers around the world.

The interviews in this program were recorded in the ‘Studio of Time’ at St Maur prison.

The Studio of Time was created in 1991 by the composer Nicolas Frize and his associates (Les Musiques de la Boulangère). Composed of twelve digitising studios, two radio and music studios and two workshops, this is a space where art and culture join forces to offer high-level training programs in sound skills and a profession to fifteen long term detainees. The Studio of Time continues to exist, functioning as a service of public utility in collaboration with institutions such as the National Sound Archive, the National Archives, various museums and other bodies.

Produced by Jonathan Zenti for HearSay International Audio Festival (November 2015)

For five years the radio producer Jonathan Zenti has been making recordings with elderly Italians that explore old cultural rites in his country that are in danger of disappearing.

Imelda, who appears in this short documentary, was one of the voices Zenti happened to capture for this ongoing project. The prayer she says to San Antonio would traditionally be used to rediscover very important lost items – wedding rings, documents, jewels etc – but at the time the only thing Zenti was keen to recover was his lost t-shirt.

‘I Am Analog’ won the Create GanBéarla Award at the 2015 HearSay International Audio Festival

An Iranian journalist, forced to flee the country, captures her search for a sense of home in Norway.

Produced by Sheida Jahanbin and Rikke Houd for NRK (2011)

My Share of the Sky artfully captures the disorientation of seeking refuge in a new country. Working on her first radio documentary – journalist Sheida Jahanbin recorded her own experiences, coached by Rikke Houd who also edited and structured the story with Jahanbin.

Together they offer an inventive audio language which cracks and fragments – English, Persian and Norwegian jaggedly interrupt each other, artfully dizzying the listener, embodying the feeling of being lost in translations.

The documentary placed third at the Prix Europa in 2011.

Produced by Charo Calvo for ABC Soundproof (30th September 2016)

A short feature from a longer work by the Spanish composer and sound designer Charo Calvo. In ‘Qualia’ – five women artists tell, in their mother tongue, a vital moment, an intense sensorial experience, that left a physical imprint. How can you transmit this experience through language when your words are translated? Qualia questions the impossibility of sharing with others the exact perception of a colour, of the temperature of a hand or the taste of wine.

In this short, we hear a story from Zahava Seewald – a singer and museum curator. Her story dances between Hebrew and a French translation.

By Kari Hesthamar for NRK, 2003

Cesilie’s family have wrapped their secrets in a brown parcel. Her father gave her the parcel ten years ago – asking her not to open it until two years after her mother has died. Ten years later, and almost two years after her mother has passed away, Cesilie is ready to see what’s inside.

By Bert Kommerij for NPO Radio 5 (1998)