Tracks From Abroad

Just like last time after episode 30, Tracks From Abroad is pausing our normal programming to spend one episode testing the boundaries of radio show structure and seeing what Jesse can get away with on air. In this show you will find the familiar themes of travel and adventure but this time fit into a story about Jesse and Zoe attempting to bike around Lake Simcoe in July. The show features themat...

Tracks From Abroad has just reached 40 episodes since we started the show last October. So we’re celebrating with a pizza party! Just kidding, but we are going to visit the home of pizza and pasta in Italy. On this celebratory show we have Gabriella for our first student interview. She talks about living in Italy as a teenager and the recent heatwave that’s engulfed the country. Soon we will link...

Tracks From Abroad GUYANA is a hot show coming off our return to Ukraine last week. The show has stellar music with two superb guests! Our UofT student guest is Alyssa who talks about the Caribbean Studies Student Union, costal flooding, and Guyana's Independence celebration. She and I study the same subjects at UofT, and Alyssa was great on air. Next we welcome Danny Adhim of Folk'n Comedy, an op...

For this 38th episode of Tracks From Abroad we return to Ukraine to speak with a whole cast of people. To start the show we have U of T student Alex and Rick Palidwor of Hart House together for a discussion of the band Dakhabrakha, a band whose pronunciation alludes me. Rick brings extensive research of Dakhabrakha to the show and we play corresponding tracks to get to know the band. Alex adds ano...

This week's Tracks From Abroad episode is perfectly timed to coincide with Toronto's Caribbean Festival. We present to you an episode about Saint Vincent and the Grenadines! Previously we've visited Haiti, DR, St. Lucia and Trinidad, and this time the show is just as stellar. Thandi talked with TFA about playing squash, volcanic eruptions, and code switching. Also on the show is Drew Gonzales of K...

Mexico now ranks as the most visited country on Tracks From Abroad, and I have no problem with that. This week Victor, a student at U of T, tells us about his time in Mexico and his travels across the continent. I was so interested to hear about his experience running a candy business with his family, cooking mole, and finally returning to U of T to get himself another degree. There is a lot to le...

Tracks From Abroad Singapore was a great show with some challenging questions and interesting answers. Genevieve gave was our U of T student rep from Singapore, and her playlist was diverse across the board. We talked about Gum chewing, economic development, and the future of the island nation.

Take a trip to Kurdistan this week on Tracks From Abroad, a disputed region spread between the nations of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. To help us better understand this part of the world we welcomed Milad to the show who put together a great playlist of music. He says music is essential to the Kurdish culture, and together we talked about Kurdish dances, their fragile governance, and their langua...

This week on Tracks From Abroad is stacked with good interviews! First U of T student Hagar discusses Israel from her home in Tel Aviv. We talk about the Israeli army, Israel's beaches, and the holy city of Jerusalem. Next two members of the Toronto band Queen Kong join TFA with intern Quinn Carlisle, and Aaron of Jaffa Road ends the show with a bang. You can hear both band's music in the episode,...

This week on Tracks From Abroad we visit the 'cradle of civilization' to hear music from Egypt. Our student interview with Karim covers Egyptian beaches, potato chips, and how best to enjoy the pyramids of Giza. Next week for the start of Toronto's Jazz Fest we'll do a show in Israel featuring local band Jaffa Road. Have any suggestions for the show? Send us a message or email tracksfromabroad@ciu...

Every great series has an origin story. For Tracks From Abroad, it all began when two students sat in an echoey lecture hall and talked about Brazil. And Brazil is back baby! Episode 31--the start of season 4--is here featuring an interview with U of T student Ana. She is the producer for el CafeciTO, the Spanish and Portuguese podcast at U of T, and we talk about Brazilian geography, censorship,...

For 30 episodes we've journeyed across the world, but this week Tracks From Abroad took the chance to visit Jesse's home. He makes this entire show FYI and is writing this paragraph right now. Vermont is a lovely place to live in the USA, and through a few interviews and well-selected music you can travel there too. Just press play. Thank you to Kal Traver, Jackson Greenleaf, Ben Roth of WRVU, and...

Guys, I'm being serious. This Tracks From Abroad show on Trinidad is a really fun listen! This week we welcomed two guests: Shameel of Trinidad and Kyn Rose, a Toronto artist with ties to St. Vincent. We play some of Kyn's songs, and get into a great playlist put together by Shameel! It really made me want to visit Trinidad, and since Shameel just returned from Trinidad, we might have to get him b...

Here’s a first! Tracks From Abroad got to hear some Turkish sounds this week thanks to Batuhan. In my interview with Batuhan we talked about Turkish politics, instruments, and folk battle rapping. Also, TFA has been recording some shows with guests in studio, so if you want to come be a part of the process send me a message. The show goes on, and we’re nearly at episode 30!

Mexico deserved a second go-round, so Tracks From Abroad returned with the help of two guests. Rebeca and Ana came on the show with a great playlist of Mexican music. At first we talked about the state of Nuevo Leon where they are both from, but soon we were going on about Mexican food, holidays and racism. It was a fun show to make, and I hope to visit Mexico soon to check it out for myself.

Tracks From Abroad's biggest interview happened this week with renowned Nigerien band Mdou Moctar. This is episode 27 on Niger. First on the show TFA welcomed Djaouar, a U of T student who grew up in Niger. Djaouar is one of the nicest people I've met in Toronto, and with another CIUT host, Victor Kovaleski of The Third Face, all three of us went to see Mdou Moctar when they came to Toronto. Djaou...

Tracks From Abroad is hitting its stride this week with an episode on China featuring Vicky Huang. Her playlist is wonderfully experimental with some Chinese classics thrown in as well. In our interview we talk about collectivism ideology, earthquakes, and Buddhism with the help of the TFA intern, Quinn Carlisle. Also on the show are tracks by Paul Chin and YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN. These groups f...

It's a small world, as my parents say, and in 25 weeks Tracks From Abroad has circled back to France. This week UofT student Louise comes on as a guest with her producer Theodore, and together they talk about Louise's music project Oliana. We talk about French rappers, crediting music producers, and which Parisian monument is best. You will hear a range of French music, and several tracks thrown i...

After much interviewing and editing, TFA's 24th episode has come together as we return to Nigeria for more music. Somachi Agbapu is this week's student guest who describes immigrating to Canada, eating Nigerian jollof rice, and playing basketball at U of T. Somachi is the captain of the Varsity Blues basketball team, and in the future TFA hopes to talk with more international athletes at UofT. The...

In collaboration with the University of Toronto Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures, Tracks From Abroad visited Germany this week with two guest interviews. The first was UofT student Hana Wernick, and the second is professor Stefan Soldovieri. Hana talked about Berlin Wall music, immigration, and German beer; while Stefan talked about Germany's green cities and natural gas. Hana also p...

As I sit in my room, Iran feels like a far away place, but this week with the help of Milad we got the inside scoop through the lyrics of Persian Rap. Rappers in Iran are often critical of politicians which makes them subject to harassment, imprisonment, and torture just for their words. It is a high price to pay, and some must leave their homeland for good to avoid persecution. Milad and I talk a...

Is has been over one month since Russia invaded Ukrainian, and this week Tracks From Abroad welcomes two Ukrainian U of T students to the show. Alex and Michael talk about Ukrainian rap, about Ukrainian boxing, and about solidarity amongst Eastern European Nations. TFA is also happy to showcase two songs by Michael who raps under the stage name XMMX.   Despite our planet's wars and the calamity th...

Long ago for Tracks From Abroad episode 3 we visited India for the first time, and today for the grand finale of TFA Season 2 we retraced our steps with the help of Deepayan, a PhD student at the University of Toronto. This is one of the most ambitious radio episodes I've ever made because it features multiple video interviews taken over several weeks with many songs in between. Interestingly, it...

It was a long flight to the other side of the world this week to reach Malaysia for episode 19 of Tracks From Abroad. Our guest, Zoe, is a material science student and Varsity rower at the University of Toronto. We talk about street food, monkey bites, and the time Zoe played on Malaysia’s national hockey team. This is a show you won’t want to miss. Next week my flight is slightly shorter, and we’...

It’s a big world out there, so to save time, Tracks From Abroad visited two countries this week. Our guest, Henrik, grew up in sunny Nicaragua before moving to “desolate” Norway where he enjoyed skiing and eating waffles. Armed with 4 passports and lots of inside knowledge about the flaws of his countries’ legal systems, Henrik brought music from both countries to the show. Also on the show is Vic...