listen to africa

In a hostel in Immessouane, we met a Moroccan couple on holiday from Casablanca. The first night we were there, we noticed Nawal cooking up a delicious tajine – the staple Moroccan dish – in the communal kitchen. The second night, we asked if we could record her as she cooked. She said yes and talked Bex through the cooking, then invited us to eat with her. Delicious. If you’d like to try it yourself (with vegetables or meat if eel isn’t your thing), you can read the full recipe (and download the audio to play in your kitchen) on our blog.

More:
The full recipe (blog post) »

Recorded on: 23 May 2009
Location: Immessouane, western Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen to Africa

Podcast: Download (9.5MB)

For 36 hours, we stayed in a bungalow in Safi, northern Morocco. Just outside our door, from dawn to dusk, a group of peacocks called raucously, continuously. Every time we brought out the sound recorder, they shut up. Not a peep. We have hours of recordings of dogs barking in the distance, but this is the only decent sound recording we managed to get of the noisy tykes.

Date and time recorded: 08:30 local time, 16th May 2009
Location: Safi, Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen to Africa

Podcast: Download (160.2KB)

Peafowl chicks cheeping. You should also be able to hear their mother in the background (she sounds a bit like a chicken), and the flapping of a peacock as he hops up onto a wall.

Date and time recorded: 17:00 local time, 15th May 2009
Location: Safi, Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen to Africa

Podcast: Download (127.8KB)

We stumbled across this traditional display of horsemanship as we were pedalling from Rabat to Casablanca in northern Morocco. We weren’t too sure what it was all about until we met a Moroccan and French couple who explained it all to us – and a lot more besides…

More:
Photographs of the event »
Information about Fantasia ».

Recorded on: 10th May 2009
Location: Between Rabat and Casablanca, northern Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen to Africa

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Podcast: Download (5.8MB)

Searching for a campsite at the end of our longest day yet on the bikes, we came across six young musicians practising under an archway on a main road in Kenitra, Morocco. Their name is Nesseem, and they kindly gave us permission to reproduce their arrangement of traditional music here. The instruments include percussion and two nafirs – three metre long copper horns.

Recorded on: 3rd May 2009
Location: Kenitra, Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Nesseem / Listen to Africa

Podcast: Download (3.8MB)

Bike Mic is a small, tough microphone wedged between the handlebars and bar bag with a high tech device (a piece of foam). In this first Bike Mike recording (of many, I suspect), Huw describes our approach to Rabat, while Bex gets us lost.

Recorded on: 4th May 2009
Location: Rabat, Morocco
Copyright: Listen to Africa

Podcast: Download (5.6MB)

Again, recorded in the botanical gardens near Rabat, Morocco as we sat out the heat of the day and made our first wildlife recordings. We didn’t get a positive identification on the bird – anyone know? (Update: we have it on good authority that this is a nightingale – see comments.)

Recorded on: 13:20 local time, 4th May 2009
Location: Botanical gardens, near Rabat, Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen to Africa

Podcast: Download (727.5KB)

Sahara frog in the botanical gardens near Rabat, Morocco

A Sahara frog, recorded in the botanical gardens near Rabat, Morocco. It’s not the world’s best wildlife recording but it is our first, so we thought we’d post it. You’ll be able to tell we’re still getting to grips with our super sensitive shotgun microphone.

Species: Rana saharica riodeoroi
Common name (English): Sahara Frog
Date and time recorded: 13:00 local time, 4th May 2009
Location: Botanical gardens, near Rabat, Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen to Africa

Podcast: Download (281.6KB)

Huw and Bex introduce the Listen to Africa expedition and talk about how it feels to be leaving Europe for Africa, near the beginning of a 24,000 kilometre cycling expedition across the continent:

Recorded: 28th to 30th April 2009
Location: The Mediterranean
Copyright: Listen to Africa

Podcast: Download (6.1MB)