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Global Hit: Paganini
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For today’s Global Hit, we tackle a very serious subject: classical music. Or maybe not so serious, if you’re checking out Paganini, a comedy string quartet from Spain and Lebanon. The group’s mission is to get the world of classical music to lighten up. The World’s Gerry Hadden went to one of Paganini’s shows in Spain. Download MP3Home of the potato
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On Thanksgiving Day, we want you to ponder the origins of the potatoes in your holiday meal. No, we’re not interested in where Aunt Gladys or Cousin Mike picked up those potatoes to mash and bring over to your feast. For today’s Geo Quiz we want to know where the potato was first grown for food. Download MP3
Night Witches
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We take you back to World War II for today’s Geography Quiz. We’re looking for the first nation to put female pilots into combat. This nation had three regiments of female pilots, and during the war they flew more than 30,000 missions. Their enemies called them the Night Witches, and they are the subject of a new documentary by the BBC’s Lucy Ash. Download MP3Ghana’s first skier off to the Olympics
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Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong was born in the Scottish city of Glasgow, but he grew up in Accra, Ghana. That never stopped him from dreaming of becoming a professional skier. He honed his skills on an artificial slope in Britain. And now, the “snow leopard” as he’s known will be Ghana’s one-man ski team next year at the Vancouver Winter Games. The World’s Alex Gallafent has the story. Download MP3(Audio available after 5PM Eastern)A return to the East German border
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Next week marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But today, we’re taking you to an even deadlier part of the former border between East and West Germany. Twenty four years ago, our Europe Correspondent Gerry Hadden lived along that dividing line in Travemunde, West Germany. He returns to explore the region’s past, present and future. Download MP3 (Photo: Gerry Hadden)Zen archers take aim in Manhattan
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Before there was Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, there was the original: Zen in the Art of Archery. The 1953 book chronicled the story of Eugen Herrigel, a German who traveled to Japan to learn Kyudo, the Way of the Bow. But you don’t have to go that far. The World’s Alex Gallafent visits a zen archery class in the heart of Manhattan.Download MP3 (Photo: Alex Gallafent)One Spanish town’s recession
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In Spain, the economic crisis is hitting small towns particularly hard. Many villages got rich during the country’s housing boom. And they assumed they’d keep getting richer. So they borrowed lots of money. But then real estate went bust and their collateral, undeveloped public land, lost its value. Now, basic public services such as trash pick-up are going neglected in places such as the tiny mountain village of Collbato, in northeast Spain. The World’s Gerry Hadden just returned from Collbato, and has the story. Download MP3 (Photo: Gerry Hadden)Global Hit: The Soldiers
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Lieutenant Corporal Ryan Idzi, Sergeant Major Gary Chilton, and Sergeant Richie Maddocks are all currently serving in the British Army. They’ve never fought together on the battlefields of Iraq or Afghanistan, but they have made an album together. They call themselves, unsurprisingly, The Soldiers, and they’ve just released their first album, Coming Home. The World’s Laura Lynch has today’s Global Hit. Download MP3 Istanbul struggles with gentrification
Some of Istanbul’s old neighborhoods are struggling to modernize. The Turkish government is razing buildings to make way for new homes. But in the process, some argue, the original character of the neighborhoods is being destroyed, along with the fabric of the communities that live there. Aaron Schachter reports from Istanbul. (Audio available after 5PM Eastern)
Festival of Harps
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Recently, some 40 international harpists and groups of harpists gathered in Oakland, California. The idea behind this Festival of Harps was to move harp music beyond its traditional conventions. That wasn’t hard to do, given that the harps included everything from the African kora, to the Celtic harp, to the Paraguayan harp. Lonny Shavelson will have our story later today. Also, be sure to click below for Lonny’s video of a rehearsal session. Download MP3 Global political cartoons: October 17-23, 2009
Balloon boy made a lasting impression on cartoonists all over the world. It conjured images as familiar as a ballooning deficit and as unusual as the Afghan election being carried away in a balloon.
Global cartoonists and Obama’s peace prize
Global reaction to President Obama’s winning of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize has ranged from praise to anger. Editorial cartoonists across the globe have certainly wasted no time in putting pen and ink to paper. The World’s Carol Hills has been trolling through some of their work today, and put together this slideshow.
Global Political Cartoons with Daryl Cagle
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Each week, The World’s Carol Hills produces a slideshow of some of the best in global political cartoons. Some make her laugh, some make her cry, and some just leave her scratching her head and going, “huh?” So this week, she gets help from cartoonist Daryl Cagle, the daily editorial cartoonist for MSNBC. Cagle also likes to look at how artists from the far reaches of the globe do their work. Download MP3Clothing with a secret
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“Dress Codes” is a new exhibit at the International Center of Photography in New York. The exhibit highlights some clothes that have a secret. The World’s Alex Gallafent interviews Peruvian photographer Milagros de la Torre. Click the link below for the audio slideshow. Download MP3An interview with Madeleine Albright
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To get what you want in foreign policy, according to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, you’ve got military force at one end of the spectrum. And at the other end are words of reason. Somewhere in the middle is diplomacy, economic sanctions, foreign aid, and…pins. Brooches. Madeleine Albright’s extensive collection of brooches. Some are delicate, some are gaudy. Secretary Albright stopped by our studios to chat with Marco Werman.Download MP3
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