Results of a listening project on Rádio Angola Internacional (March 2022)
The state radio on the Internet
Although Rádio Nacional de Angola is still expanding the FM network, the current big topic of the state broadcaster is the mobile and fixed internet. The following channels have been available online for some time: Canal A, Radio 5, Ngola Yetu, RNA International and Rádio Luanda. Since 7 February 2022, Rádio Nacional de Angola has been streaming many other channels down to local stations. The streaming now includes:
https://rna.ao/rna.ao/radio-genre/radios-nacionais/ Nationwide programmes
https://rna.ao/rna.ao/radio-genre/radios-provinciais/ Regional programmes
https://rna.ao/rna.ao/radio-genre/radios-municipais/ Municipal programmes
Broadcast schedule and languages of the international channel
On 5 October 2021, the Minister for Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communications, Manuel Homem, was delighted to open a 24-hour online channel for foreign countries. (https://rna.ao/rna.ao/rna-internacional) The basic structure of the broadcast day is as follows:
11.00-14.00+ rep. 11.00-02.00 h UTC English (R-N-A International)
14.00-17.00+ rep. 02.00-05.00 h Lingala (R-N-A Internacional)
17.00-20.00+ rep. 05.00-08.00 h French (Radio Internationale d'Angola)
20.00-23.00+ rep. 08.00-11.00 h Portuguese (R-N-A Internacional)
There are deviations that are clearly related to the weekend or the availability of the moderators.
Radio Angola's international programming comes in four languages: English, French, Lingala and Portuguese. As the intonation shows, the presenter of the English-language programme certainly once lived in an English-speaking country. Despite this, his English was not easy to understand by the author of this summary. The situation is different with the pronunciation in French and Portuguese. The German Wikipedia notes on Portuguese: It is “spoken at home by 85% of the urban population and 49% of the rural population. All in all, of all African countries, Angola has probably adopted the language of the former colonial power the most.” Although Angola is not a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, the Francophone interviewees in the Mois de la Francophonie (March) were pleased that French is very much used in Angola. Lingala is a lingua franca that has been growing since the 19th century and is now spreading far beyond the area in which it originated to be spoken in more and more regions of the Congo and northern Angola. In this respect, the transfers from other Bantu languages as well as the French and Portuguese elements, which are easier for Europeans to identify, are not a contamination of a language, but part of its success story.
The following observations refer first to the French-language programmes, which for the author were the most accessible due to the broadcast time and language, then to Portuguese and English and finally to Lingala, although here too I listened for hours. All programmes are as if live. However, there are indications that some parts, maybe even the entire three hours, are created on the computer.
Programming
The programmes contain short and long-form news and segments on sports, culture, tourism and business topics. A DJ companion moderates as if live, announces various programmes for the day and also presents some like the short and main news himself. Nevertheless, there are also very long thematic programmes. The most extreme example was heard on 14 March in Lingala: over an hour of football scores and standings from all sorts of countries, set to the same driving music pumping up over and over again.
Local music (Portuguese-speaking/African/Afro-Cuban) is played almost throughout. Songs about the country of Angola were also often included. Unlike on Brazilian shortwave stations, no adaptations of North American popular music were noted. Looking at the music style, a lot went in the direction of VoA-1 The Hits, but that remained within tolerable limits. When heard over many days, the choice of music seems limited. However, it may also be the case that whole tracks of music come from the computer already put together. For example, on 17 March, the French programme included a long musical series in honour of female artists, which, according to the announcement, was put together for International Women's Day. Various music tracks appeared as DJ mixes.
The news
There is no central newsroom. The news is apparently obtained from the Angola Press Agency (https://www.angop.ao) and read out in varying degrees of detail by the moderators. This was most notable in a report heard in English and French on 17 March about rising oil prices, which are believed to help Angola decrease her foreign debts. The state press agency publishes in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish, but not all reports in all languages could be found online. On 19 March it was interesting to note that a relatively detailed report on Putin's demands in the Ukraine war in the English service used the BBC report "Putin lays out his demands in Turkish phone call" (https://www.bbc .com/news/world-europe-60785754 18 March 2022).
The news is only partly up-to-date. If you listen continually for several days, they turn out to be a mix of reports from several days. On 18 March, for example, an item on the state visit of Angolan President João Lourenço (13-16 March) to Cape Verde had already been used several times in the French programme. The item on oil prices was also a repeat. The item about a train derailment in the Congo referred to an serious accident on 12 March without specifying the day or date. It followed the Angop report, only mentioning the brutum factum without saying anything about an investigation into the causes.
Foreign policy reports during the observation period primarily concerned the Portuguese-speaking area and the region or bilateral relations. The war in Ukraine initially only played a role when items concerned the repatriation of stranded African students and the withdrawal of the Ukrainian contingent from the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO in Congo (Kinshasa). Perhaps one also has to listen to nuances: On 2 March, Angola abstained from resolution ES-11/1 of the UN General Assembly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, the English programme spoke of “war” and the French of “offensive Russe” (17 March). In fact, the French moderator greeted the Ukrainians on several occasions (19 March: “qui sont sous les missiles des Russes”). When it came to news about interstate relations, it was noticeable that not only mutual cooperation was invoked. Apparently politicians are thinking about the "revitalization" of various regional cooperation groups.
"aha moments"
Occasionally there were opportunities to discover "the racism in you". It all started with a cultural contribution about an ethnic group in northern Angola: An interview partner in the French programme got very upset about the young people: "Notre culture (Bakongo) n'est plus respectée par les jeunes d'aujourd'hui." (16/17 March) Today's youth no longer respect our Bakongo culture. For example, they would no longer know which dance to dance to which event. "They dance like white people." That reminded the reporter of local television programmes about the 1960s in Germany, when “good German citizens” got upset about "Negermusik". However, it got closer on 17 March with a report about 13 naturalizations in the French programme taken word by word from https://www.angop.ao/fr/noticias/politica/concedida-nacionalidade-angolana-a-13-cidadaos (15 March). Three Portuguese were also mentioned there. Upon first hearing, I immediately wondered why anyone would give up one’s EU passport for Angolan citizenship. However, internet research showed that unlike Germany Portugal allows the double pass. (No answer found for Angola.) In fact, naturalization becomes plausible if one has lived in Angola for a long time, is the only foreigner in the family, or develops significant economic activities in the country.
(Dr. Hansjoerg Biener via WOR io group)
