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«Viva FRELIMO! The Story of
the National Liberation Struggle
in Mozambique, the Story of a Victory
and of the Men and Women
Who Made it Possible»
«Viva FRELIMO!» was a nine-part radio series written and produced by the Mozambican journalist Iain Christie for the External [English-language] Service of Radio Moçambique in the early 1980s. The series was narrated by Iain Christie himself (episodes 1-3) and by Colin Darch (episodes 4-9). The original recordings were made in studio conditions, but these files in MP3 format have been digitized by MHN from cassette copies made at the time; our thanks to Frances Christie for encouragning this initiative.
Christie re-established English-language broadcasting at Radio Mozambique in Maputo after independence. The mainly music station LM Radio had been closed down in 1975, but in March 1976, when Mozambique closed the border with Rhodesia, Christie started broadcasting daily news and comment in English, soon using Zimbabwean newsreaders. The “Voice of Zimbabwe”, as the programs came to be called, proved popular, but ended after Zimbabwean independence in 1980. Christie was then asked to start again, and established the "External Service of Radio Mozambique", aimed primarily at neighboring countries, especially South Africa. The service grew from pre-recorded news programs read by amateur volunteers to a fully-fledged service offering live news and commentary as well as music programs, interviews, book reviews and readings from current literature.
◊ Part One: The Birth of FRELIMO.
Narrated by Iain Christie. Click to listen to or download the program. Duration: 11 minutes, 57 seconds.
◊ Part Two: The Flames of War.
Narrated by Iain Christie. Click to listen to or download the program. Duration: 9 minutes, 37 seconds.
◊ Part Three: Bullets Begin to Flower.
Narrated by Iain Christie. Click to listen to or download the program. Duration: 14 minutes, 12 seconds.
◊ Part Four: The Reactionaries' Bid for Power.
Narrated by Colin Darch. Click to listen to or download the program. Duration: 13 minutes, 40 seconds.
Above: The Radio Mozambique buildings in the Rua da Rádio in Maputo, Mozambique.
◊ Part Five: The Life and Death of Eduardo Mondlane.
Narrated by Colin Darch. Click to listen to or download the program. Duration: 10 minutes, 3 seconds.
◊ Part Six: The Struggle Continues.
Narrated by Colin Darch. Click to listen to or download the program. Duration: 14 minutes, 25 seconds.
◊ Part Seven: The Zimbabwe Connection.
Narrated by Colin Darch. Click to listen to or download the program. Duration: 14 minutes, 6 seconds.
Above: Samora Machel (left) and Iain Christie, then a print journalist based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, during a visit by Christie to the liberated zones of Cabo Delgado province in the early 1970s.
◊ Part Eight: The Road to Lusaka.
Narrated by Colin Darch. Click to listen to or download the program. Duration: 15 minutes, 38 seconds. Note that the quality of recording for this episode is poor, owing to cassette deterioration.
◊ Part Nine: The Flag of Freedom.
Narrated by Colin Darch. Click to listen to or download the program. Duration: 12 minutes, 19 seconds.