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should be listening to

Emily Harrison

Podcasts have been steadily gaining popularity over the last few years. Almost everyone in the world has access to a smart device which has made listening to podcasts a lot easier. Podcasts are an amazing way to learn something new or to listen to a story on commutes to campus or walks to class. Locally, there have been a lot of podcasts started over the last few years. Here is a small portion of the best:

Alibi is an award winning South African podcast. There are currently two seasons available to listen to on most podcast platforms as well as on iono.fm and has a 4.5-star rating on Apple Podcasts. The first season investigates the case of a man who was behind bars for 17 years but may have been wrongfully convicted. After the very popular first series of episodes, the podcast won Best Radio Feature at the national Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards.

The second series, which was released late last year, follows award winning journalist ,Paul McNally, as he investigates what really happened at the now infamous Laduma High in KwaZulu-Natal. Any fan of investigative journalism or true crime is sure to be hooked. True Crime South Africa is the perfect podcast for true crime junkies. The podcast is released once a week and each episode follows a different South African crime, solved and unsolved. The host, Nicole Engelbrecht, researches every detail of the cases to give a true deep dive into the crime. The podcast also gives a voice and dignity to the victims of the crimes. You can listen to the podcast on most platforms (including iono.fm) and has a 4.5-star rating on Apple Podcasts.

The Burning Platform is a collaboration between Cliff Central and Nandos. Various political commentators and journalists join host Gareth Cliff to discuss the biggest news stories of the week and current trends in the world of politics. This podcast is great for anyone who wants to be more knowledgeable about the current political climate. The Burning Platform has a 4.5-star rating on Apple Podcasts and is available on most platforms as well as on cliffcentral.com. Polotiki is the politics podcast from the popular news

platform News24. The episodes are quick and range from 15 to 20 minutes each. The short episodes are an easy way to stay updated on the biggest political stories from each week. The podcast has a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts and is available for listening on most podcast streaming platforms.

Lesser Known Somebodies is one of the most popular comedy podcasts in South Africa. The podcast was started by comedian Simmi Areff after his bosses at a radio station refused to put him on air. Areff talks to all types of talented South Africans from comedians to journalists and everything in between. His podcasts are hilarious but also feel genuine. The podcast is great for introducing audiences to new talent as well as uncovering interesting facts about well-known personalities. The podcast has a 4.5-star rating on Apple Podcasts and is available everywhere. The Sobering is a popular hip-hop podcast hosted by Lil FRAT, Kitso Moremi (one half of the rap duo Fratpack) and Mokgethwa. The podcast features hip-hop playlists made up of only local artists as well as interviews with important figures in the South African hip-hop scene. The podcast usually comes out once a month, but it is worth the wait. The show is great for discovering new music and gaining knowledge on the local hip-hop community. The Sobering has a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts and is available for streaming on most podcast platforms.

Tuks FM Podcast. Most students are unaware that Tuks FM has a podcast where they discuss a variety of subjects and interview many interesting people. You can listen to the podcast on the station’s website.

Illustration: Marchall Potgieter

Kendra Connock A child goes missing every five hours in South Africa. Approximately 30% of missing children are never found, while almost 50% of missing adults never re-emerge” according to the SAPS Missing Persons Bureau, 2013.

It is this statistic and the many notifications of missing people across the country that spurred on the development of KykNET’s newest drama series, Projek Dina. The show relies on expert advice from a former Hawks investigator and members of Missing Children SA portray the effort that goes into missing person investigations. As a result of these specialist consultants, the stories in the show are inspired by real events; giving viewers an intimate picture of what it’s like to know someone who goes missing. The premise of the show surrounds three detectives, hand-picked by their Brigadier (played by Vicky Kente) to form a brand-new task force responsible for rapid responses to missing persons cases. The task force is nicknamed “Projek Dina”, after the biblical character, Dinah; who was thought to be the first person in history to be kidnapped.

The team is led by the stoic and strategic Captain Deon Visagie (Tim Theron), who is detail-orientated but struggles in personal relationships. Deon’s greatest challenge comes in the form of one of his team members, the happy-go-lucky Sergeant Lux Dladla (Chumani Pan). Lux has excellent people skills and scores high in emotional intelligence. He and Deon constantly butt heads over the way an investigation should be run, particularly when it comes to following petty rules. The “

Image: imbd.com

dynamic between these two polar opposites will resonate with anyone who has ever had to work with someone they don’t get along with. It demonstrates the reality that we don’t always like our colleagues but, sometimes, personal feelings must be put aside in the interest of the bigger picture. The internal conflict within the team adds an interesting dimension to the drama as personalities clash within their fight to find missing people and solve their cases.

Holding the team together is Warrant Officer Ronel Oosthuizen (Chanelle de Jager), a wife and mother who holds a deep personal connection to cases involving missing children. Ronel is fearless in her pursuit of the truth and can always be counted on to keep the men of the team in line, until their cases have been solved. She delivers an incredible performance; striking the perfect balance of sensitivity and ruthlessness and will not stop an investigation until a resolution is found.

The task force is rounded out by an unofficial informant, the rough-around-the-edges Charlene Botha (Kay Smith), a self-taught hacker who helps the team on the technological front.

Projek Dina showcases some realities of our country; from the underworld of human trafficking, to the daily reality of people who vanish without a trace. The show portrays some adrenalin-fuelled chases, some happy resolutions, and some heart-breaking endings that will leave you reeling.

For its realistic portrayal of missing persons cases, its storylines, and its celebration of good South African talent (from amazing actors, to the spectacular music of Laudo Liebenberg, which ends every episode), Projek Dina is a Five Star Show, and should be on everyone’s watch list. You can find Projek Dina on KykNET and DSTV Catch Up.

HERLEEF!

Chatting to Laudo Liebenberg and Frank Freeman

Dani van der Horst

The iconic alternative Afrikaans album EET KREEF!, has been given a new lease on life through the talents of some of Cape Town’s finest artists. The live production of the Johannes Kerkorrel en Die Gereformeerde Blues Band classic has taken South Africa by storm, winning the 2020 kykNET Fiesta award for “Best Music Production”. The production will be showing at the Atterbury Theatre on 27 March. PDBY had the opportunity to catch up with Laudo Liebenberg and Frank Freeman, the two major driving forces behind the project. In the production, Liebenberg and Freeman perform alongside Sheldon Yoko, Schalk van der Merwe, and Mikhaela Kruger. When asked about what it is that makes EET KREEF! such an iconic album, Freeman stated that “it struck [him] how relevant the content of the album still is today, just in a different context”. He stated that he was amazed by how something that was produced in Afrikaans during the late 1980s could still fit into the modern South African context. Liebenberg suggested that the album still resonates with a lot of people because it deals with themes of division and “cultural loneliness”. These are themes that carry through generations, even after society has moved forward. Liebenberg says that when Freeman approached him to work on this project it “placed the fear of god inside of [him]” as this is a “holy album” and “purists wouldn’t want it to be messed with”. He stated that they had to strike a balance between respecting the original work and making it their own. He felt that they had a duty to make the album appealing to the younger generation as the content is “still so relevant today”. They had “big shoes to fill” but Liebenberg feels that after the first performance he was confident in their abilities. He felt as though they “were doing [the album] justice”.

Freeman stated that their goal was not to simply replicate the album but rather to add their own twist to it. Liebenberg suggested that one of the ways in which they did this was by replacing many of the multi-instrumental aspects with guitar effects. He says that this brought certain elements of “eeriness and chaos” that Kerkorrel could not recreate with his guitar. “I haven’t listened to the album again since we started performing it because I didn’t want to be tainted by the old way” said Liebenberg. For him singing, reading, and playing the music has really shown him just how amazing these songs are. It has shown him how the “simplest songs can actually be the most poignant”.

When asked why students should go and watch the show, Freeman responded by saying that it “gives great insight into the history of alternative Afrikaans music”. He says that it is really great to see that people from “the older generations” were thinking in this way. It is important to see that there were different albums and different angles on Afrikaans during those times. There was an entire branch of Afrikaans people who were conforming to the societal “norm” at that time. He says that it’s so important to “experience something from the past, reinterpret it in the present and to still see the relevance”. Liebenberg added in that “it’s important to see how people got together to put a message out” and how they acted as “a voice in standing up against the norm”. He went on to talk about his experience of becoming socially aware and how when he felt “so ashamed” of what the people before him had gotten up to. He felt so removed from that culture and to know that there were people in the midst of that who were “fighting for equality and for the right for human beings to be unified” was inspiring. Freeman wanted “to do something in Afrikaans that proved that there are a lot of Afrikaans people who don’t necessarily fit into the “stereotype”. There are a lot of Afrikaans people who feel differently, think differently and do not conform to the stereotype. This album was a “testament to that way of thinking, even all the way back in 1989”.

Freeman stated that while it’s hard to ignore a classic song like “Hillbrow”, “which is one of the greatest Afrikaans songs out there”, some of the songs that really stood out to him include “Ou Ou Lied Van Afrika” and “Liefde”. Liebenberg stated that the emotionally driven songs like “Donker Donker Land” and “Tronk” make him feel like he is a part of the audience when they perform them because it shows him that they are “just the vessel for the voice and the message of these songs”. The EET KREEF! album is important for an array of reasons but as Liebenberg suggests, it catalysed an entire musical movement. EET KREEF! is about taking the language back from the oppressor. Afrikaans can be poetic, beautiful and unifying, if you choose to use it in that way.You can purchase tickets for the show on the itickets website.