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‘Even if they don’t have a message, the act of actually playing music itself is resistance,’ says Dr. Sara McGuiness. Classical Thai musician Luang Praditpairoh fought through the melodies of his songs surrounded by oppression; Ahmed Maher signed petitions to bring down the Morsi government in Egypt whilst at concerts around the country and the melody of an old Catalonian song travelled almost a century of different resistance movements.

This is a podcast of musical adventures.

Features conversations with musicians, writers and academics with special guest appearances from random people pulled off the street.

Produced by Lara Sarlak, Fino Patanasiri, Diego M. Mosquera and Kelly O’Donovan

Music by:

Luang Praditpairoh - San Kumneung

Maktoub - Kaf

Sheikh Imam - El Bahr Byedhak le

Hazem Shaheen and The Eskenderella Group - Safha Gedeeda

Dina El Wedidi - El Haram

Lluís Llach - L'Estaca

Jacek Kaczmarski - Mury

Habakuk - Mury

Emel Mathlouthi and Yasser Jeradi - Dima Dima

2016. Planet Earth. Millions of humans spend time reading, writing and learning in universities. Intrigued by this situation, a group of scientists invented a program capable of entering researchers' brains to discover their puzzling feelings about academia. After months of hard work, they finally set up their new machine at the entrance of SOAS, University of London, for a first test. Here starts an unusual journey through a whirlwind of thoughts in a quest to answer the question: "Is research sexy?"

A good movie or documentary can present a concept, an idea, or a historical background very well and efficiently. In this podcast, we will talk about how professors in SOAS see about introducing films into teaching— Are films a useful material? And how do we learn from a film? We have professors from different disciplines to talk to us about which movies best expresses the disciplines they teach, and how they see a movie.

This story is reminiscent of our childhood children’s fairytale when Hansel and Gretel leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find their way home.

Fast-forward to the hustle and bustle of London’s digital world, we turn our focus on a girl named Amanda and a trail of digital breadcrumbs she leaves behind. But, what exactly do we know about these trails? How are we creating them?

Will they “lead us back home” to safety and the world of convenience or does it actually pose a real threat to privacy and safety?

Listen to find out.