Outlook Mixtape: Happy Birthday?

Available for over a year

Debra Biagini grew up in New York but moved to Italy over 30 years ago. For her 60th birthday, a friend gave her a DNA test so that she could find out more about her ancestry. The results had life-changing consequences. It transpired her beloved dad wasn't her biological father. Outlook's Dany Mitzman went to meet her in 2019. Abdel Nasser Ould Ethmane is from Mauritania, a country in north-west Africa where slavery has existed for centuries. As a child he thought it was normal for a noble Berber family like his to own enslaved people, but as he grew older he began to question the practice and ended up as one of the leading campaigners for abolition. He co-founded an organisation which fights for the rights of enslaved people in Mauritania. In 2018, he told Matthew Bannister his story. In the early 1970s, when Sibylle Baier was in her early 20s, she went on a road trip with a friend from her home in Stuttgart, Germany through the Alps. The adventure lifted Sibylle out of a depression and inspired her to write and record an album of songs titled Colour Green. Only friends and family heard the music and for years the tapes gathered dust in the attic. But decades later, after she and her family had moved to the United States, her son Robby Baier surprised her at her 60th birthday party by handing out copies of the album to all the guests. Sibylle was taken aback – she had completely forgotten about the recordings and didn't love the surprise. But when Colour Green ended up in the hands of a record label boss, the music began to take on a life of its own and was hailed as a lost acoustic masterpiece. Jo Fidgen spoke to Sibylle and Robby in 2026. Presenter: India Rakusen Producer: Andrea Rangecroft Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707 (Photo: A transparent 60-minute cassette tape with a white label bearing the words: The Outlook Mixtape. Credit: Getty Images)