Passport

South Africa, the rainbow nation. A place of dazzling sun, incredible wildlife, rugged coasts, and tabletop mountains, with a people as diverse and creative as the landscape. The country’s art scene too is in rude health, one of the most forward thinking on the continent. But South Africa as a place of space, of technology, of the future? It’s not where your mind immediately goes.

Today, the country’s creatives are not remaining stuck in tradition. Take one look at South Africa’s best young artists, especially those in the vibrant city of Johannesburg, and you’ll notice a theme. They’re all following a code, an aesthetic, known as Afrofuturism. It’s an artistic concept which places people of the African diaspora in the future.

But why are South African musicians, writers, and artists looking forward not back? To space not the earth? How did apartheid cause utopian visions of the future? What links ancient African mythology with Black Panther? This week on Passport, we’re headed to Johannesburg to meet the South African afrofuturists to find out.

For more, including links to the things we talked about, and the places we visited, plus a full transcript, visit: https://www.frequencymachine.com/passport

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Clowns: freaky, funny or downright mystifying?

This week, we tread the boards of the French capital and dive into the city’s age-old love affair with this very distinct form of theatrics.

Paris has been an epicentre for performance artistry since the 1800s, but today the face of clowning and the circus look and feel very different. These days, clowning is cutthroat – demanding, grueling, and for some in the industry, a dying art that few can master. Besides a look at some of Paris’ most competitive clown schools, we also delve into the dark side of clowns and how pop culture has given us more than we bargained for beneath all that grease paint and innocent smiles: coulrophobia – the fear of clowns.

Join Passport producer, Jennifer Carr, for a fantastical journey full of conversations with clowns and artistic directors and a front row seat for an impromptu performance by Russian clown Igor, in our Barcelona studio.

For more, including links to the things we talked about, and the places we visited, plus a full transcript, visit https://www.frequencymachine.com/passport

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Traditions are weird, almost by definition. But where do they come from? In this week’s special Xmas episode of Passport, Neil and Andrés talk to Sergi Del Bas and historian Dani Cortijo about one of the most misunderstood regions of Spain. Catalonia. Or as the locals call it Catalunya. This is Spain, but it is very much not Spain.

And here in Catalunya, there exists what is perhaps one of the strangest Christmas traditions in the entire world. There is no Santa here. Here Xmas involves a log. About two feet long. With a face. Named Caga Tio. The Sh!t Log.

This week, Neil and Dre take you home for the holidays to put on your scatological detective hats and try to figure out how the personality of a culture created one of the most incredible symbols of the festive season in the world; A log, with a face, that you beat with sticks to encourage him to poop gifts.

For more, including pictures of Neil’s very own Caga Tio and others from all over Barcelona, plus links to the places we visited and a full transcript, visit: https://frequencymachine.com/passport. Just click on Episode 34.

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The mission of MisInfoNation is to help us understand whether our ideas about a place are real or just Imagined. But what about a place that was built on imagination? A place that would be the most visited country on earth... if it was a country? This week, we’re finding out with a trip to Disney.

Disney’s films are burned into the memory of nearly every single person alive. It’s world is immense, unavoidable, unmatched and undeniable. But the parks... well the parks are the real country of Disney. Deep Disney. A place where you walk, ride, eat, and meet the locals.

This is no cartoon, this is a place where you will certainly need a map, a plan, a schedule and a guide. And this week, we’ve got a good one. A parks mega fan. A snappy dresser. A foodie and a theme park journalist and the host of her own Disney podcast, Very Amusing: the whip smart, bubbly fountain of Diz wisdom, Carlye Wisel.

On this episode of MisInfoNation, Carlye’s going to help us sort out what the world gets right about Walt Disney World (and Disneyland. And Epcot. And Tokyo Disney.) and what it gets wronger than Goofy leaning against a wall with his head off. What’s it like to live as a Citizen (AKA a cast member) of Disney? Is there such a thing as good food in a theme park? And does Disney really make its own... smells? And of course the most important question of all - we’re going to the happiest place on earth... to find out if it really is.

Plus, if you think food at a theme parks is all bland hotdogs and overpriced sodas, Caryle’s got some Saved Pins to prove you wrong.

For more, including links to the things we talked about, and the places we visited, plus a full transcript, visit https://www.frequencymachine.com/passport

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Passport team is off for Thanksgiving this week, but we’ve got a taste of what’s to come.

This season we’ve taken you to over 30 countries. We’ve met the world’s most famous extra in Belfast, investigated a stolen Van Gogh in Amsterdam, met mafia fighting chefs in Palermo, spent the night in the hotel that inspired The Shining, and set the record straight on Italy, Iran, Iceland and Russia. But we’re not done yet!

Coming up on the show: we search for love on the rails in India, visit Disneyland to see if it really is the happiest place on Earth, go back to the Afrofuturism in South Africa, and try to figure out just why the French love clowns so much. We gaze up at the stars in Australia with the world’s very first astronomers, and do our best to figure out what the deal is with Barcelona’s very... shall we say unique... Christmas tradition - Caga Tió.

So enjoy the holiday if you’re celebrating... and we’ll see you in the next place!

For more, visit https://www.frequencymachine.com/passport

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.