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The Sound Kitchen

Bernie Siben: A musical performer’s beliefs

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This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the quiz about India’s recent legislative polls. You’ll hear from special guest Bernie Siben for today’s Worldwide Celebration of Music event – and of course, there’s the new quiz question. So click on that little “Listen” arrow above, and join in!

Performer Bernie Siben, drawing by Dolores Witt
Performer Bernie Siben, drawing by Dolores Witt
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Hello everyone!

Welcome to The Sound Kitchen. You can catch the programme on-the-air every Saturday, at 4:52, 6:22, and 7:52 universal time. You’ll hear the winners’ names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you have grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and tune in every Saturday.

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Did you know there is such a thing as official RFI Clubs? Up until now, they have always been French clubs, but now we want to open them up to all our listeners … and open up we have! There are already 12 brand new official RFI Clubs: in Kisii, Kenya, started by Mogire Machuki; in Ain Kechera, Algeria, with Ferhat Bezazel as president, and in Holguin, Cuba, started by Ivan Carralero. There are five RFI clubs in India: in Murshidabad, with Mr Najimuddin as president; in Medinipur, with Dr S S Bhattacharya at the helm; in Hyderabad/Miryalguda, headed up by Mrs P Sreelatha Reddy; in Sainikpuri/Secunderabad, with Hari Madugula as president, and in Maharashtra, created by Sandeep Jawale. There are now three clubs in Bangladesh: in Dhaka, started by Wali Ahad, in Rajshahi, with Salahudin Dolar as president, and the Kaptai RFI Fan Club, headed up Jahangir Alam. And a warm welcome to our newest club, the Kemogemba Club in Tarime, Tanzania, with Ras Franz Manko Ngogo at the helm. Welcome one and all!

What about you? You can either transform your existing radio club into an RFI Club, or create a brand new one. Then, anytime you plan special events – be they humanitarian, cultural, or sports-oriented; if you want to host an environmental program, or a day dedicated to health issues - RFI will help you with ideas and free promotional items for your members. You’ll also be eligible to participate in special RFI Club events, like the upcoming football tournaments. RFI’s Listener Relations Department will sponsor football tournaments for the Clubs in June, when the World Cup Football Tournament is on. RFI is furnishing the team tee shirts, the footballs and trophies, as well as RFI banners. And you’ll hear all about the Club games on The Sound Kitchen!

If you are interested in either changing your radio club into an RFI club, or if you would like to create a brand-new RFI club, the first step is to read the RFI Club Charter:

http://clubsrfi.blogs.rfi.fr/sites/clubsrfi.blogs.rfi.fr/files/The%20RFI_Club%20Charter.pdf

If you are willing to abide by the charter, write to my colleagues in the Listener Relations Department and let them know. They’ll help you with the rest of the process.

Sébastien Bonijol
Chrystelle Nammour
RFI – Relations Auditeurs
80, rue Camille Desmoulins
92130, Issy-les-Moulineaux
France

This leads me to another item of interest: the RFI Listeners Club. Our Listener Relations department has decided that everyone can belong to the RFI Listeners Club, but you will only be issued a membership number, not an identity card. Only members of an official RFI Club will have identity cards. As an RFI Listeners Club member, you will still win a premium prize if you win a Sound Kitchen quiz. So no reason not to join – although having an official RFI Club is far more cool.

If you only want to be a member of the general RFI Listeners Club – that’s great, too! Just send me (or Sébastien and Chrystelle) your full name, your postal mailing address, and if you have one, your e-mail address. You’ll receive an RFI Listeners Club number; include that number every time you enter a quiz, and if you are a winner, you’ll get a premium prize!

Nota bene: The RFI Listeners Club used to be called “Club 9516”. So if you are a member of the “Club 9516”, you are already a member of the RFI Listeners Club. Your “Club 9516” membership number still works – no need to reapply. Just include your membership number on your quiz entries.

The Sound Kitchen Listeners Cookbook has been published! It is a lovely little book and I am quite pleased. Many thanks to everyone who contributed. We are going to use it as a prize for the quiz, so let me know if the cookbook is what you would like for us to send to you if you win a quiz.

Today’s answer is to a question read on 17 May. I asked you about the biggest voting event in the world … one that took six weeks! The winning party in India’s marathon legislative polls had just been announced, and I asked you to send in the polling dates and the name of the victorious party.

The answer is: the Bharatiya Janata Party - or the BJP, which is usually translated as the Indian People’s Party. India’s new prime minister is Narendra Modi.

As for the elections themselves, they were held in nine phases and lasted six weeks, from 7 April through 12 May. India’s Election Commission officials said that voter turnout was a record 66.38 per cent. The country has 814 million eligible voters!

The winners this week are: Alusine Sebora Kargbo from Freetown, Sierra Leone; Shahriar Rahman from Sirajganj, Bangladesh; Mrs Aparna Chatterjee from Murshidabad, India; Mr Asif Raza Sabir from Sheikhupura, Pakistan, and the president of the RFI Listeners Club in West Skikda, Algeria, Mr Bezazel Ferhat ben Rabah.
Congratulations, winners!

This week’s question is about the World Cup. Last night (20 June) “Les Bleus”, France’s team, played against Switzerland. What was the final score? Who won and what was the final score in last night’s World Cup football match between France and Switzerland?

Get your answer in by the end of the summer break (there are some great shows in store for you over the summer!): 8 September. Be sure to tune in on 13 September to see if you are one of the lucky winners! As always, be sure you send your postal address in with your answer … and, if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

To our new mailing address:

Susan Owensby
RFI – The Sound Kitchen
80, rue Camille Desmoulins
92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux
France

or by SMS You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen cell phone !!!!
Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then 33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Remember, it’s not just the quiz which wins you a prize. If your essay goes on the air, you’ll find a package in the mail from the Sound Kitchen. Write in about your community heroes – the people in your community who are quietly working to make the world a better place, in whatever way they can. As listener Pramod Maheshwari said: “Just as small drops of water can fill a pitcher, small drops of kindness can change the world.”

I am still looking for your “This I Believe” essays, too. Tell us about the principles that guide your life … what you have found to be true from your very own personal experience. Or write in with your most memorable moment, and/or your proudest achievement. If your essay is chosen to go on-the-air – read by you – you’ll win an RFI radio or a box set of world music CDs, edited by RFI!

Send in your musical requests, your secret “guilty” pleasure (mine’s chocolate!), your tricks for remembering things, your favourite quotations and proverbs, descriptions of the local festivals you participate in, your weirdest dream, the book you are reading and what you think about it, or just your general all-around thoughts to:

thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Include a phone number, so I can call you. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

All the best,

Susan

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