First time Producer Sagal Hersi’s chance encounter with some funk music from her parents time in Somalia sparks a journey to discover how it was used to unite and strengthen the movement for change in Somalia in the 70s and 80s.

Often frustrating, the messy story reveals much but leaves Sagal with perhaps more questions than answers.

This short documentary could not have been made without Multitrack a charity set up with the aim of making the Audio industry more inclusive and accessible. Sagal, who made the programme, undertook the Multitrack Fellowship and this programme is the culmination of that course.

The music for this short documentary came from 'Sweet as Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa' on Ostinato Records and 'Volume 5' on Awesome Tapes From Africa

Written Presented and Produced by Sagal Hersi Edited by Leon Chambers Music by kind permission of Ostinato Records and Awesome Tapes From Africa Executive Producer: Gordon Kennedy

An Absolutely production for BBC Radio 4

By Tonderai Munyevu

A touching story based on true events. Tonde returns to his place of birth in Zimbabwe to bury his mother as she wished. But traditional funeral rites mean this is far more difficult than he ever imagined.

This unique drama, with original music is a powerful meditation on grief, tradition, and love.

Cast:

Tonde ..... Tonderai Munyevu Aunty/Mo ..... Pamela Nomvete Sekuru ..... Femi Elufowoju Jr. Dee ..... Chipo Kureya Medium/Cousin ..... Estella Daniels Partner ..... John Lightbody

Original music by Tendai Humphrey Sitima

Singing by the cast and Tendai Humphrey Sitima

Produced and directed by Jessica Mitic Sound by Alison Craig, Andy Garratt and Sue Stonestreet Production co-ordination by Pippa Day

A BBC Audio Drama North production

An EcoAudio certified production

South Africa is a country still wrestling with profound political and economic challenges. In the last 12 months, more than twenty politicians have been murdered there. Most of those are from the governing African National Congress (ANC). A new fight for justice has begun: the struggle for money and power in a country beset by corruption.

It's thirty years after Nelson Mandela’s famous Nobel Peace Prize speech in which he promised to make South Africans “children of paradise.” The worst violence is taking place in the coastal province of KwaZulu Natal - a place that saw a war between Zulu political factions in the run up to the first democratic elections in 1994.

As the BBC's South Africa correspondent at the time, Fergal Keane, lived through some of the country's most desperate times. In this episode of 5 Minutes On, Fergal has returned to the country, re-visiting some of the places and people he encountered in the lead up to the end of Apartheid.

(Image credit: Barnaby Mitchell)

The Congo River is the world’s deepest and most powerful waterway. In its basin, a wilderness bigger than Alaska, natural resources abound - oil, gold, diamonds, rubber. But this river, more than any other, is also linked with some of the darkest times in human history – with slavery, war and corruption.

So what do we know of the early communities who lived on its shores? Why did it take Europeans so long to explore the river? And what role did the Congo play in the development of motor cars, the atomic bomb and mobile phones?

From Noiser, this is a Short History of the Congo River.

Written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Tim Butcher, a travel history writer and author of 'Blood River', based on his journey down the Congo.

On 23 March 2021, the Ever Given – one of the largest container ships ever built – ploughed into the sandy bank of the Suez Canal, blocking the entire waterway. It stopped all traffic in one of the most important shipping lanes in the world for almost a week, causing a ‘ship jam’ of over 300 vessels and delaying deliveries of billions of pounds of vital food, fuel and medical supplies. The disruption to the global supply chain lasted for months.

How did such an advanced ship crash in one of the most closely monitored shipping lanes in the world? How did a team of engineers free the ship in just six days? And who or what is to blame?

Using never-before seen footage, testimony from witnesses speaking for the very first time, and expert analysis, this documentary aims to uncover the inside story of the Ever Given accident. And with over 2,500 shipping incidents a year, the film also asks if this was just a freak accident or whether it reveals a serious weakness in the world’s critical supply chain.

The queue has grown rapidly since a container vessel became wedged, a sailor says.