The programme explores the unprecedented recording of griotte Aby Ngana Diop, who performed taasu over mbalax music ( "taasu is a form of oral poetry spoken to the rhythmic accompaniment of sabar and tama drums [...]It is a rhythmically declaimed speech in call-and-response with a small chorus of female vocalists'' Patricia Tang for Awesome Tapes From Africa).

She released her only album in 1994 in Senegal, which Awesome Tapes From Africa distributed in 2014." The combination of Diop and her backup vocalists with their powerful taasu, along with the driving, complex rhythms of the sabar and tama drums, mixed with key elements of mbalax (such as the syncopated, polyphonic marimba sounds played on the Yamaha DX7 keyboard) was something the Senegalese public had never heard before" P.Tang

Guests:

Marame Gueye is Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora literatures in the department of English at East Carolina in Greenville, NC.
Her research interests include African women’s art, African oral literatures, translation and immigration studies. Her articles have appeared in Research in African Literatures, African Studies Review, the Journal of Pan African Studies.
ABA DIOP is a Senegalese master sabar percussionist, vocalist and composer who comes from a lineage of griots ( griot: musicians, oral historians, poets, storytellers) . Aba Diop & the Yermande Family is a music ensemble that consists of Aba Diop (sabar, vocals), Noumoucounda Cissoko (kora, vocals), Samba Ndokh (tama), and Jason Hosier (electric guitar).
Amadou Bator Dieng is the founder of  Kirinapost, a pan-African newspaper. He worked as a correspondent for Pan African Music( PAM) in Dakar, Senegal. PAM is an online music magazine in both French and English, dedicated to promoting music from the African continent and diaspora.

" Black and Irish, Navigating Racism in Ireland" examines how institutional racism affects Black Irish, Mixed-Race Irish and African migrants within the industrial care system, the direct provision system and the education system.

Assistant Professor of Black Studies Dr. Philomena will give an in-depth look at her childhood in the Irish industrial school system to depict race relations in the 1960s and 1970s and how they affected the construction of Mixed- race women’s identity. We also discuss the recent introduction of Black Studies in Ireland’s curriculum.

We delve into the impact of encounters with racism on Mia O’Neill, who took her own life in 2019. Her mother, Aisling O’Neill, shares an emotional testimony as she sheds light on the trauma inherent to racism. She reflects on the role of the education system to foster a better understanding of race and racism.

We talk to Bukky Adebowale, born in Ireland, President of the student life at Maynooth University); Sandrine Ndahiro, PhD student in African Literature originally from Kenya; Cameroon-born artist Alicia Raye, who spent her teenage years in Direct Provision centers. They share personal stories to explain how racism and discrimination is prevalent in their daily interactions in colleges and universities.

We meet Black Irish teacher Alex Mbowua, activist Myriam Poizat (Youth Against Racism and Inequality), Adult learner advocate and Africa-Ireland Network’s founder Joy-Tendai Kangere to give an overview of the education system: curriculum, income disparity, lack of opportunities.

The Policy Officer for the Irish Network Against Racism, Patricia Munatsi, shares her determination to call for a national action plan against racism.

Credits: “Black and Irish, Navigating Racism in Ireland” was produced by Caroline Mudingo Dipanda and was funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland

Dr Philomena Mullen discusses her investigation into the identity construction of women of mixed African-Irish descent, with white Irish mothers and African fathers, who grew up in the Irish institutional care system. This crucial research explores how racial /ethnic identities are shaped by Irish society and how we read racialisation in White Irish culture.

- The Association of Mixed Race Irish

https://www.mixedraceirish.ie/

Additional music is composed by Microgramme.

'' We Are Starzz", Angel Bat Dawid.

A look at a popular subcultural movement in 90’s Ireland - fanzines. Representing perspectives and groups which were often missing from mainstream arts and media, fanzines like ‘Protest’ offer an insightful glimpse into this time. ‘Fanzines: Alternative Stories of the 90’s’ will take a deep dive into these alternative narratives and see how they provide a unique view of this time. 

Contributors: Siobhan Bardsley, Sean Fitzgerald, Victoria Chan, Tamasin MacCarthy Morrogh, Morty McCarthy. 

Fanzines: Alternative Stories of the 90’s was produced by Caroline B.Mudingo Dipanda and funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland under the Sound and Vision Scheme