The Sound Kitchen: Iraq's first prime minister in six months

This week on The Sound Kitchen, you’ll hear the answer to the question about Iraq’s new prime minister. There’s “On This Day”, which features a little history lesson about the Marquis de La Fayette and French-American relations, “Ollia’s Happy Moment”, great music, and of course, the new quiz question. Just click on the “Audio” arrow above and enjoy!

Sound Kitchen Podcast RFI

Hello everyone! Welcome back to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, once again published every Saturday. A hearty “thank you!” to all of you who so kindly continued to watch The “Quarantine” Kitchen videos on Facebook during confinement. Now you’ll hear The Sound Kitchen as you have always known it, with the quiz, the winners and all the other ingredients you’re accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week. And once again, thanks for continuing to be a part of The Sound Kitchen !

For the time being, Paris Live, our afternoon news broadcast, is still off-the-air. We will let you know as soon as we can safely bring it back to you. Thank you all for your patience, and for your support of the English service during this difficult time.

RFI’s Planète Radio announced the winners of the 2020 ePOP short video competition and Adita Prithika Subrahmanyan, the president of the RFI Agnichiragu Phoenix Club in Tamilnadu, India is the laureate in the Club RFI category for her video “Farming between factories”. Adita won a week-long series of masterclasses in Paris with RFI and fellow ePOPers, a 1000€ grant to design and run a local ePOP Camp workshop in her community, and five ePOP video shooting kits.

You can watch Adita’s prize-winning video here, and of course, on the RFI English, The Sound Kitchen, the RFI English Clubs, and the RFI Listeners Club Facebook pages. Planète Radio will post the runners up in each category every Friday.

Prithwiraj Purkayastha, the president of the RFI Listeners Club of Jorhat in Assam, India, won fourth place in the Club RFI category for his video “Solution for greener cities”. I’ll be sure and let you know when his video is posted.

Congratulations Adita! Congratulations Prithwiraj! And thanks to all of you who entered the contest.

Send me your music requests! I’ll make programs 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, the three horizontal bars are on the top left. Click and choose “Features”.

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]

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

And don't forget, there is a Facebook page just for you, the RFI English Clubs. It is a closed group, 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 recognized 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 new Facebook page for members of the general RFI Listeners Club. 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!

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 9 May, I asked you a question about Iraq - on 7 May, a new prime minister was confirmed and sworn into office. I asked you to write to me with his name.

The answer is: Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the former head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service. He is backed by the United States and was an acceptable choice to Iran, the other major foreign power competing for influence in Iraq.

Mr al-Kadhimi has a reputation for pragmatism and is Iraq’s first real prime minister since the last one resigned in November, after on-going anti-government protests.

The winners are: Debadrita Paul, for the RFI Students Club in Murshidabad, India, and three members of the RFI Listeners Club: Feona Rahman from Munshiganj, Bangladesh; Zenon Teles for the Christian - Marxist - Leninist -  Maoist Association of Listening DX-ers in Goa, India, and Alan Holder from England’s Isle of Wight.

Last but not least, faithful quiz participant Malik Muhammad Mehtab Khokhar, who is a member of the Sungat Radio Listeners Club in Muzaffargarh, Pakistan. 

Congratulations winners!

Here’s the music you heard on this week’s program: "The Sea" by Brother Ah; "Total Yodel" and "Frances Waltz" by Brady Coleman, performed by Brady and The Melancholy Ramblers; "The Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and "Flower", by Johnny Stimson.

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 27 July to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 1 August 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