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Episode details

World Service,03 May 2021,44 mins

The daring prison escape of an Argentine footballer

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Available for over a year

In November 1977 two men kidnapped minor league footballer Claudio Tamburrini. He was taken to a detention centre run by the Argentine Air Force where he was tortured and imprisoned. The country had just experienced a military coup and under the new regime many people suspected of left-wing sympathies were abducted and killed. Claudio and one of his cellmates felt they had to escape detention or they would be murdered. Using just bed sheets, leather straps and a metal bolt, they managed to climb out a window and scale the building. Meanwhile the 1978 FIFA World Cup was underway in Argentina. Claudio eventually emerged from hiding to celebrate the tournament, which he believes helped bring down the military junta. Ballaké Sissoko is a master of the kora - a stringed instrument found throughout West Africa. But his career was turned upside down when his instrument was broken during a journey from the US to Paris. With an outpouring of public support Ballaké has been able to have a new kora built, which he played in his new album Djourou. Get in touch: [email protected] Picture: Claudio (top right) and his football team in the 1970s Credit: Supplied Claudio Tamburrini

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