All aboard!

This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the question about France banning certain domestic flights. There’s “On This Day”, listener news, and a voyage to southern Portugal with music chosen by The Sound Kitchen’s producing engineer, musician Erwan Rome. All that, and the new quiz question too! Just click on the “Audio” arrow above and enjoy! 

Sound Kitchen Podcast RFI

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You’ll hear the winners' names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you’ve grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

I am busy cooking up special shows with your musical requests, so get them in! Send your musical requests to [e-mail]  Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the breaking news articles on our site, rfienglish.com, with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts which will leave you hungry for more.

There’s Paris Perspective, Africa Calling, Spotlight on France, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We have a bilingual series - an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. And there is the excellent International Report, too.

As you see, sound is still quite present at the RFI English service!  Keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our excellent staff of journalists.

Send me your music requests! I’ll make programmes of your favourite music when I can’t be in the kitchen to cook up something new for you … write to me at [e-mail]

To listen to our features from your PC, go to our website and click on the three horizontal bars on the top right, choose Listen to RFI / Podcasts, and you’ve got ‘em! You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our features from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers, take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is [e-mail]   If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

RFI Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni ([e-mail]) from our Listener Relations department on all your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me ([e-mail]) when you write to them so that I know what is going on, too. N.B. You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

And don't forget, there is a Facebook page just for you, the RFI English Clubs. Only members of RFI English Clubs can belong to this group page, so when you apply to join, be sure you include the name of your RFI Club and your membership number. Everyone can look at it, but only members of the group can post on it. If you haven’t yet asked to join the group, and you are a member of an independent, officially recognised RFI English Club, go to the Facebook link above and fill out the questionnaire!!!!! (if you do not answer the questions, I click “decline”).

There’s a Facebook page for members of the general RFI Listeners Club, too. Just click on the link and fill out the questionnaire, and you can connect with your fellow Club members around the world. Be sure you include your RFI Listeners Club membership number (most of them begin with an A, followed by a number) in the questionnaire, or I will have to click “Decline”, which I don’t like to do!

Would you like to join the RFI Listeners Club? Just write to me at [e-mail] and tell me you want to join, and I’ll send you a membership number. It’s that easy. When you win a Sound Kitchen quiz as an RFI Listeners Club member, you receive a premium prize.

This week’s quiz:  On 17 April, I asked you a question about a law passed just that week (11 April) which affects a few domestic air flights. This new law forbids air flights which can be made in less than two and one-half hours by train – it’s part of France’s efforts to reduce its carbon emissions by 40 percent, by 2030.

In our article “Climate law: France votes to abolish certain short-haul domestic flights”, the Citizens Climate Convention expressed their disappointment. I asked you to tell me why. What did they want, why was the Convention disappointed?

The answer is: The Citizens Climate Convention wanted a ban on domestic flights which could be made on a train trip of fewer than four hours, instead of just the two and one-half hours voted in by the French Parliament.

The winners are:  Mohammad Likhon, a member of the Nilshagor RFI Fan Club in Nilphamari, Bangladesh, and RFI Listeners Club members Jannatul Ferdoush Lameya from Dhaka, Bangladesh; Zenon Teles, the president of the Christian – Marxist – Leninist - Maoist Association of Listening DX-ers in Goa, India; Shadman Hosen Ayon from Kishoreganj, Bangladesh, and last but certainly not least, faithful listener Ralf Urbanczyk from Eisleben, in Germany.

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s programme: “Ganstè mélé” by André Saint Prix Scholastique, performed by Dédé St Prix and his ensemble;  “Three Coins in a Fountain” by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn, sung by Frank Sinatra with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra; “Leavin” on a Jet Plane” by John Denver, sung by Peter, Paul and Mary; “The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; the “Double” from the Partita in C, BWV 997 by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by lutenist Evangelina Mascardi, and Cante Alentejano, sung by the Women’s Peace and Unity Choral Group of Alcáçovas.

Do you have a musical request? Send it to [e-mail]

This week’s question ... You'll have to listen to the show to participate. You have until 14 June to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 19 June podcast. When you enter, 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:

[e-mail]

or

Susan Owensby

RFI – The Sound Kitchen

80, rue Camille Desmoulins

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

or

By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile 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.

To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here

To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or to form your own official RFI Club, click here