Mixtape 56: Countdown
While 2021 was overshadowed by pandemic-shaped clouds, it still had a silver lining. For Charles Leonard it came in the form of new music releases – he plays his favourites on this mixtape.
Radio New Frame
Mixtape 55: Lust for life
This last mixtape of 2021 is a countdown to the new year. Looking on the bright side of life, Charles Leonard has selected cautiously optimistic songs to make you feel good.
Mixtape 54: Cool Yule
Festive playlists don’t have to mean Boney M and Mariah Carey tying you up in tinsel. On this Christmas mixtape, Charles Leonard leaves 25 all-cool, no-kitsch tunes under your tree.
S6 Episode 14: Gatvol Christmas | 2021’s best | Oops
We visit Gatvol, where Christmas is set to be bleak. As in many places, politicians’ promises to shack dwellers have come to nothing. Also, our best and our bloopers of 2021.
S6 Episode 13: Apartheid hitman | Anti-apartheid hitmakers
South Africa has much unfinished business. A security cop’s book lifts the lid on unpunished apartheid crimes and we rediscover the role Prophets of Da City played in the cultural revolution.
S6 Episode 12: Absent fathers: The impact on SA’s children
Two out of every three fathers in South Africa do not play an active role in their children’s lives. We examine the reasons for this and hear how it can be reversed.
Mixtape 53: People have the power
Over the years, socially conscious musicians have produced songs about the environment. In the face of the climate crisis, Charles Leonard has picked the best ones for this mixtape.
S6 Episode 11: Land matters: Tembeka Ngcukaitobi speaks to us
Despite the promises made in the Constitution, South Africa’s farm workers still cannot gain any ground. That is why land matters, lawyer and author Tembeka Ngcukaitobi explains.
S6 Episode 10: End of liberation parties | SA’s New Left?
What does the future hold for the ANC after the hiding it got at the polls? Swapo’s experience in Namibia gives some answers. And, a party of the proper Left is what the ANC should fear.
S6 Episode 9: Food insecurity | The Red Party Part 2
Even with enough food, South Africa still has a high level of food insecurity. We talk to people who are fixing the problem. Also, historian Tom Lodge assesses the SACP’s influence.
S6 Episode 8: The Red Party | Fat Freddy’s Drop
Inside the secretive world of the SACP with author Tom Lodge. And, a party of a different kind: Fat Freddy’s Drop are the ultimate party band and Covid-19 won’t stop that.
S6 Episode 7: A town of darkness | Nomboniso Gasa
What election? We visit a North West town to see what happens when a municipality fails. Also, political researcher Nomboniso Gasa explains why democracy is about more than voting.
Mixtape 52: Hey there, little insect
It’s summer in the southern hemisphere, and in the mind of Charles Leonard it means one thing: mosquitoes. This has prompted him to make a mixtape buzzing with songs about insects.
S6 Episode 6: The case for a shorter working week
We look at Iceland’s effective four-day workweek, hear from dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson about what he’d do with more time and find out from sociologist Eddie Webster if it could work in South Africa.
S6 Episode 5: Jabbed workers | Poisoners | India protests
Only 20% of people in South Africa are vaccinated. We visit a mine that achieved 80%. Also, Imraan Coovadia on poison as a political weapon and why the farmer protests in India still matter.
Mixtape 51: Keep on moving
For this second part of the mixtape’s golden anniversary, Charles Leonard has dug into one of popular music’s vintage years exactly five decades ago. He’s unearthed some gems for you.
S6 Episode 4: Abolish prisons | Who’s the blues for?
Prison abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore talks about the one resource prisoners can never get back. Author Fred de Vries explains what makes the blues so alluring to white middle-class ears.
S6 Episode 3: Waste pickers of the world unite
They do essential work, yet most governments, cities and residents ignore them and their rights. We speak to reclaimers and the people who organise them globally.
Mixtape 50: Halfway to hundred
Our mixtape has reached a musical milestone celebrating its 50th edition. True to form, Charles Leonard has again gone totally catholic, wildly global and genre-fluid with his playlist. Oh, and all the songs are from 1971.
S6 Episode 2: Eco-justice | The Left and the climate emergency
An activist paid the ultimate price for resisting a mine digging for profit on her doorstep, but her neighbours fight on. Meanwhile, South Africa’s Left is getting the climate emergency wrong.
S6 Episode 1: Revisiting 9/11 with Mahmood Mamdani | Kyle Shepherd
Global thinker Mahmood Mamdani helps make sense of two decades of the so-called War on Terror. And Kyle Shepherd explains why his response to the Covid-19 pandemic is a solo piano album.