Sacred Harp pioneer and former punk frontman, Tim Eriksen, takes us into the hair-raising sound of shape note singing – an American choral tradition experiencing a resurgence across the US and in Europe. All people and all faiths are welcome. As a new edition of the songbook approaches publication, Tim explores why this music is drawing more singers and how it’s managing to remain inclusive despite increasing political polarisation in the wider culture. Sacred Harp is sung a-cappella in four-par...
Apr 18, 2025•26 min
Built around a game of braille Scrabble, Emma Tracey presents a celebration of braille, 200 years after it was invented. Emma, who’s been blind since birth, talks to others who love the six tiny dots: Geerat Vermeij, one of the world’s leading experts in molluscs; Yetnebersh Nigussie, an Ethiopian lawyer, who describes her blindness as "a lottery I won at the age of five"; Sheri Wells-Jensen, a linguistics professor who’s been a linguistic consultant on Star Trek and is on the US advisory board ...
Apr 17, 2025•27 min
Olympique Lyonnais is the most successful club in women’s football, dominating Europe over the last 15 years winning eight Champions League titles. Only Barcelona have recently been able to compete. Lyon's success is the vision of club president Jean-Michel Aulas who wanted to create an iconic team, with the best players, but in the case of Aulas he also promised to ensure both male and female players were treated equally. This included the first mixed football training academy. In Olympique Lyo...
Apr 16, 2025•49 min
Māori in New Zealand have been resisting moves by the current right-of-centre government to abolish certain indigenous-specific rights aimed at combatting disadvantage. In a 9-day hikoi or march of defiance they walked from the top of New Zealand down to the capital Wellington, joined by non-Māori supporters - all opposed to the changes. A separate Māori Health Authority has been dismantled, for example. It was set up by the previous centre-left government to tackle health inequalities that mean...
Apr 15, 2025•27 min
For 60 years, New York composer Steve Reich has been one of classical music’s most celebrated revolutionaries. Pioneering minimalism in the 1960s, a musical style based on repetition and shifting rhythms, his strange experiments with cassette tape led to orchestral masterpieces – now performed around the world. His career has not only helped define the latest era of classical music, but had an enormous influence on pop, rock and electronica. He has helped shape 20th Century music in a way few ca...
Apr 14, 2025•26 min
On 8 May 1945 Britain, the US and many other countries were rejoicing. Germany had surrendered, and World War Two was over, at least in Europe. Yet it was not a day of celebration for everyone - for the vanquished Germans, it marked the end of bombings and of Nazi rule. But it was also a time of deprivation and chaos, fear and soul-searching. Millions of ethnic Germans had fled their homes to escape the approaching Red Army. Lore Wolfson Windemuth, whose own father grew up under Nazi rule, unear...
Apr 13, 2025•49 min
On his first day as president, Donald Trump signed an executive order shutting down the asylum system at the US-Mexico border. He also promised huge changes to the US immigration system, including arrests and mass deportations of undocumented migrants. Santiago Vanegas from BBC Mundo has been following a group of Venezuelans who are trying to go back to their home country, undertaking a dangerous journey through Central America. Plus, Gopal Kateshiya visits some Kutchi bhungas, traditional mud h...
Apr 12, 2025•20 min
Donald Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on global trade has sent the world reeling. Stock markets have tanked. Gloomy economists have hit the airwaves. Governments, their backs against the wall, have responded with either stoic resignation or threats of revenge. But it’s business owners who find themselves at the centre of the storm. Steve in Boston, USA, runs a company whose flagship product contains three Chinese parts. He’s concerned about the effect tariffs will have on his business and othe...
Apr 12, 2025•27 min
On 4 September 2024, the town of Winder in the US state of Georgia became the latest scene of a school mass shooting. Two students and two teachers were killed. The suspect was 14 years old. The deadly attack at Apalachee High School left a community torn apart by guns and brought together in grief. In each of the previous four years there have been more than 600 mass shootings in the United States - almost two a day on average. Edward Stourton has been to Georgia to visit the church community a...
Apr 11, 2025•26 min
***This programme contains descriptions of genocide and violence against children*** Fifty years ago the fall of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, to the Khmer Rouge sparked a modern-day genocide that saw millions murdered in just four years. Today, a group that was almost entirely destroyed in the bloodshed is working both in person and online to heal the wounds that are still keenly felt. Religious practice was effectively outlawed under the Khmer Rouge and Buddhist monks were viciously targeted...
Apr 10, 2025•27 min
In South East Asia, cinema attendances are growing, thanks to a renewed interest in local product. For instance, the Thai movie How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, broke box office records this year. We hear from director Pat Boonnitipat about the reasons why he believes his film touched the hearts of so many people. The same is true in Vietnam. Last year the country produced its biggest national and international hit Mai, which also became a social media sensation. Historian Tuyet Van Huy...
Apr 09, 2025•26 min
When mysterious orb-like lights were recorded in the sky above Koge, a small port town in Denmark, the UFO scene took notice. But it wasn't just believers who wanted to know what these unidentified flying objects were. Danish police and the Danish security services describe the objects as large drones - similar to the ones seen on the USA's East Coast before Christmas. But no-one can say who is flying them, or why. Could it be the Russians? Lucy Proctor meets the people involved in Denmark's uni...
Apr 08, 2025•27 min
Contemporary classical music composer Anna Clyne is one of the most performed and in demand composers in the world. For her next commission, she is working on a new concerto for the St Louis Symphony Orchestra in Missouri, US. The piece is called PALETTE, and will feature seven movements related to seven colours: plum, amber, lava, ebony, teal, tangerine and emerald green. Anna will be working with her Grammy-winning audio engineer, sound artist and designer husband Jody Elff on the composition,...
Apr 07, 2025•26 min
President Trump has upended the international order to promote his “America First” agenda. He has thrown countries and their leaders around the world off balance with his radical departure from decades-old United States foreign policy. With so many changes going in different and sometimes seemingly opposing directions, Jamie Coomarasamy tries to get behind what’s driving the President’s agenda, and looks at how the world is adjusting to a new reality.
Apr 06, 2025•49 min
Delhi correspondent Divya Arya recently met a woman who claims to perform miracles. She’s called Radhe Maa and her devotees see her as a God. She’s not the only person in India who claims to have god-like powers, but she is unusual as mostly these people are men. Divya got rare access to the lavish home in which the 'godwoman' lives, to better understand this world of unquestioning faith. Presented by Faranak Amidi Produced by Caroline Ferguson and Alice Gioia (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tric...
Apr 05, 2025•27 min
The hit Netflix show, Adolescence, has prompted a global conversation on toxic masculinity. The series is based in the north of England and centres on a 13-year-old boy, Jamie, accused of murdering a teenage girl. In our conversations we explore some of the issues the series has raised, including the role of social media in promoting online misogyny and bullying. We hear from a group of boys who tell us what they have been viewing online, one girl we speak to wonders if she would be better off n...
Apr 05, 2025•23 min
School shootings in the USA continue to be a far too common tragedy. In January 2017, 16-year-old Logan Cole, who lives in a small town in the American mid-west was shot in the bathroom of his high school by a fellow student. His injuries were extensive. Afraid for their own lives, other students jumped out of school windows, running shoeless across snowy fields in the freezing Ohio winter. As the news rippled around the small neighbourhood, there was an overwhelming sense of shock, despair and ...
Apr 04, 2025•27 min
The 'accidental' severing of undersea cables or pipelines seem an almost daily occurrence these days but how reliant are we on this infrastructure, how much of it is there, and what steps are being taken to protect it? Business and economics editor Douglas Fraser investigates who might be behind these thinly veiled acts of sabotage and what their motivation might be. With much of the activity happening in the North and Baltic seas Douglas travels to Norway to see how the Navy there have long ant...
Apr 03, 2025•26 min
Headphones and earbuds have experienced a phenomenal rise in popularity worldwide, transforming how people consume audio content and impacting on various aspects of daily life. Per Sennström, one of the creators of Swedish company Earin, shares insights into how wireless earbuds first came about and how the revolution in listening took hold so quickly. The allure of high-quality sound, sleek designs, and wireless connectivity has led to their status as fashion accessories, often seen as a statem...
Apr 02, 2025•27 min
Hezbollah, the militia and political movement in Lebanon, has been battered by the war with Israel. Its leaders were assassinated, hundreds of fighters killed, and many of its communities now lie in ruins. Until recently a formidable power with the ability to paralyse the country, the group now appears a shadow of its former self. For the first time in decades, even some supporters are questioning its purpose. Is this a turning point? The BBC’s Hugo Bachega travels to Hezbollah’s strongholds to ...
Mar 31, 2025•28 min
Lindy Lee’s Ouroboros is the most expensive single artwork commission in Australian history. A $14 million, three-tonne, 10-metre wide freestanding shell of mirror-polished stainless steel with 48,000 individually cut plasma-cut perforations: Lindy calls the Ouroboros “her”. Mia Hull talks to artist Lindy Lee, NGA Director Nick Mitzevich, foundry director Eve Willems, haulage “megatrucker” Jon Kelly and legendary pilot driver Nick.
Mar 31, 2025•26 min
Five years on from the global lockdown we catch up with the "Covid Generation", the class of 2020 - school leavers and graduates from around the world, to find out how the coronavirus pandemic affected their lives and studies as well as employment prospects. Did they have to change plans, were their careers put on hold, did they spot a new opportunity? We hear about the ongoing effect of the coronavirus pandemic on young people's prospects and what advice the class of 2020 has for today's school...
Mar 30, 2025•49 min
Faranak Amidi visits three places in Tbilisi, Georgia to find out more about its history and what's behind the current political turmoil in the country. The Parliament building has been the site of the recent protests, where people have been gathering for more than 100 days. The ‘Dezerter bazar’ was said to be founded by deserters from the Czar’s army, who came there to sell their equipment over 100 years ago. Now it’s the biggest farmers market in Tbilisi. The history of the sulphur baths date ...
Mar 29, 2025•27 min
Across Turkey, hundreds of thousands of people have been taking to the streets after the arrest of President Erdogan’s main political rival, the Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu. It is the worst unrest for more than a decade and police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protestors and arrested hundreds of people. Presenter Mark Lowen was in Turkey earlier this week and meets two university students, who say they are protesting to protect democracy. He also brings together three Turkish jo...
Mar 29, 2025•23 min
In a cinema in south-west Germany, an audience is gathered to watch an Oscar-winning film, The Zone of Interest, about the life of Rudolf Höss, commandant of Auschwitz. Those present comprise Jewish people from around the world, and the special guest is Rudolf’s grandson, Kai.The topic was rarely visited during Kai's childhood. It was only after a school history lesson that he began to comprehend Rudolf’s role as head of the largest mass murder site in history. Journalist Shiroma Silva talks to ...
Mar 28, 2025•27 min
The fires that devastated parts of Los Angeles in January this year killed at least 29 people and destroyed thousands of homes. Angelino Laura Hubber talks to those affected by the fires and looks at the ongoing impact on the artistic and cultural life of the city. She explores how LA is dealing with loss, and how it will rebuild, both physically and artistically. We hear from artist Alec Egan, who lost his home and studio, along with his paintings that were due to be shown at international exhi...
Mar 27, 2025•26 min
Life expectancy in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, increased by 19 years (from 46 to 65) from 2000 to 2019 - mostly due to reductions in mortality from HIV, TB and malaria, and declines in childhood diseases. What does this very rapid demographic change mean for governments, policy planners and ordinary people now living so much longer? Will overstretched health and social protection services be able to cope with the demands that come with longer lives - rapidly increasing non...
Mar 26, 2025•36 min
The global online scamming industry is said to be worth some $500 billion a year. It operates in secret, in complexes hidden behind high fences in countries all over the world. It is a particular problem in the Philippines, where much of the industry is run by Chinese criminal organisations. The scammers, whose job it is to persuade their victims to part with their hard-earned money, are often themselves the victims of crime, people trafficked across borders by gangsters and held prisoner in the...
Mar 25, 2025•27 min
The so-called ‘parents’ revolution’ is happening in America - and it’s a revolt against the public education system. School choice campaigns are gaining ground across the country, fighting for tax-funded vouchers giving parents the opportunity to select their preferred school. More and more families are ditching institutions altogether, with home-schooling reportedly the fastest growing form of education in the US. Why are families turning away from traditional schooling, and what does this mean...
Mar 24, 2025•28 min
In our time of looming ecological disaster, radical minds are needed to rethink the way we live. In Saudi Arabia, NEOM are building a futuristic new city: The Line. The Line will consist of two gigantic, unbroken rows of skyscrapers, with living space in-between. Nicknamed 'the groundscraper', The Line is planned to be taller than any building in Europe, Africa or Latin America - and 10 times denser than Manhattan, with nine million people expected to live inside. We meet the architects behind T...
Mar 24, 2025•27 min
