Mixtape 40: I fought the law
All rise in court for part two of Charles Leonard’s selection of songs about crime, crooks, theft and pilferage.
Radio New Frame
S4 Episode 12: Vaccines and variants | Kalk Bay
South African scientists have played a crucial role in global Covid-19 research. We go behind the scenes with one of them. Also, residents of Cape Town’s historic Kalk Bay feel the creep of gentrification.
S4 Episode 11: Cissie Gool | Paris Commune | ‘Internationale’
We visit the Cissie Gool House. Is this occupation a model for affordable housing? Why the Paris Commune matters 150 years on. And, the story of a song with its roots in the Commune.
Mixtape 39: Crime and injustice
Musicians across genres have always been fascinated by outlaws, criminals, crooks, justice, injustice and retribution. Charles Leonard picks the locks on his favourite tracks.
S4 Episode 10: Love under Covid-19
A year on, Covid-19 has affected us in so many profound ways. Yet, parts of normal life have continued. Some people still fall in and out of love. We tell their stories.
S4 Episode 9: Water in Joburg | LGBTQIA+ in Africa
We tell the story of an 80-year-old Joburger who shows us how water shaped the city into what it is today. Also, who are the Africans leading the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights?
Mixtape 38: Don’t touch that dial
In his ode to radio, Charles Leonard plays songs that celebrate the DJs, the shows and the company it brought.
S4 Episode 8: The new workers of the gig economy
The gig economy is a striking example of how work has changed during the Covid-19 pandemic. We investigate how this on-demand work has eroded workers’ rights but may lead to new types of unions.
S4 Episode 7: Vaccine apartheid | Solidarity | Harari
In a world divided by vaccine apartheid, can the Covid-19 pandemic be beaten? From Soweto Soul to militant Afro-rock: The two 1970s albums that changed South Africa’s musical landscape.
Mixtape 37: Joy bringers
As we mark one year of masking up against Covid-19, Charles Leonard brings you a mixtape brimming with songs to chase away the pandemic blues.
S4 Episode 6: Humourless in India | Me and Mama Afrika
The Modi regime detains an Indian comedian for a joke he didn’t tell as it clamps down on ‘dissent’. Why people share fake news. And the story of Miriam Makeba and the 1980s hit song Just the Two of Us.
S4 Episode 5: Workers under Covid-19 | Trauma today
Organising workers has always been a daunting job and Covid-19 has made it even more so. What can unions do? Also, with so many deaths during the pandemic, we look at how a nation mourns.
Mixtape 36: Bricks and mortar
In this mixtape, Charles Leonard plays songs about buildings, skyscrapers, houses, homes and the architects who design them.
S4 Episode 4: Prime Evil | Indian farmers protest
A convicted apartheid assassin is released on parole and subsidised by the State Security Agency. A victim’s son speaks out. And, what the protests by Indian farmers mean.
S4 Episode 3: Wealth tax | Chomsky, part two
South Africa is the most unequal country in the world economically. Here’s a way to fix that. Also, thinker Noam Chomsky tells us how to achieve peace in the Middle East.
Mixtape 35: Strings attached
On this first mixtape of 2021, Charles Leonard rekindles his love affair with the guitar by playing songs not by the usual crowd.
S4 Episode 2: Chomsky speaks to us | Black Power
Noam Chomsky gives us an exclusive, wide-ranging interview. We pay tribute to black consciousness leader Aubrey Mokoape. And when Cape Town’s working-class carnival got canned.
S4 Episode 1: Covid-19 conspiracies | SA’s new jazz dawn
Covid-19 hoaxes have been rife since the start of the pandemic. But where do these conspiracies originate? And why is it so easy to dupe so many?
Mixtape 34: The festive fix
This is a bumper 50-track edition of the mixtape, with half Christmassy, non-preachy songs, and the other half tunes welcoming in 2021 with cautious optimism.
S3 Episode 15: Great minds | Round table | Oops
In this final episode for the year, Radio New Frame reflects on 2020. For the first time since lockdown, the whole team, masked and at a distance, got together and picked some of our favourite interviews.
S3 Episode 14: Pumla Gqola | Trucks ablaze | Workers win
Feminist thinker Pumla Gqola tries to make sense of 2020, a migrant truck driver takes us on the road and what the Constitutional Court ruling means for South Africa’s domestic workers.