Grab the show on Apple Podcasts, or head to the show's official homepage.
Why 'Stories From The Eastern West'?
Stories From The Eastern West has one objective: to tell people around the globe about Central and Eastern Europe – a fascinating region, with a rich and diverse history – not a monolith, which speaks one language and shares one culture. It is so much more...
‘Unlike most podcasts about geographical regions, SFTEW concentrates on building a rich auditory experience rather than providing straight-forward interviews or monologues,’ says Adam Żuławski, head of the project. ‘That means it has the power to draw the most casual listeners into its world. For people with no prior knowledge or even the most distant Eastern European ancestors, we hope it’ll be the most entertaining way for them to discover the region and their roots.'
Built upon a careful selection of knowledgeable guests, creative sound design and high-fidelity audio, the show will certainly grab your attention, probably make you laugh, but most importantly make you understand this part of the world better – and see how it relates to you.
'Some of the stories might seem familiar to regular readers of Culture.pl,' adds Żuławski, 'but they've never heard them being told quite like this before!'
What stories do we tell?
The criteria for story selection were very strict.
‘Every story had to be universally interesting for all listeners, irrespective of whether they can even point to Europe on a map,’ explains Wojciech Oleksiak, lead producer. ‘Moreover, they had to be universally important, meaning that the message each episode conveys is much bigger than the story itself.’
The first season of Stories From The Eastern West includes:
- How the Rolling Stones’ played a concert on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain in the middle of the Cold War. How was that even possible? Why did the communist regime allow it to happen?
- The story of a bear that fought in the WWII as a regular soldier and was even promoted to the rank of sergeant for his merits. Did he manage to cross the border between people and animals?
- The origins of the David Bowie’s ‘Warszawa’. Why did he name his iconic song after Poland’s capital? Did he even ever visit the city?
Where to find Stories From The Eastern West?
Stories From The Eastern West is available on Apple Podcasts.
It will soon be available to every other podcast app, such as Stitcher, Player.fm, Spreaker, Overcast etc.
You’ll also find the show on SFTEW.com as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
A new audio chapter at Culture.pl
SFTEW is the first audio production from Culture.pl, the flagship digital brand of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. It is planned as the first in a network of shows under the Culture.pl brand.
'SFTEW is the start of a new chapter for Culture.pl. Over the next few years, we're planning to branch out further into the audio world, and widen our reach towards new audiences globally, strengthening the international position of Polish culture,' says John Beauchamp, Culture.pl's editor-in-chief.
Stories From The Eastern West. Telling the untold. Bringing it closer to home.
Source: Culture.pl press release, own materials, 31 Aug 2017