[ad_1]
Billed as the first podcast event to bring together Africans from across the continent and around the world, the Africa Podcast Festival kicks off Friday in Kenya. The rally will connect thousands of people to the podcast world and show them how to get acquainted with popular media, organizers say.
This year’s theme is: “We are proud to be here!” which sums up the energy and interest of podcasts from the African continent.
The Africa Podcast Festival, which kicks off on February 12, World Podcast Day, is an effort to get more people to listen to and create podcasts for African audiences, says Melissa Mbugwa, one of the festival’s co-directors.
“This is when people need to connect and organize to take the industry to the next level,” she said. “Over the next few years, we expect to see more organization around the podcasting and podcasting community on the continent.”
African voices that create access to their communities through podcasting are also a way for communities to connect in their own local language. Mbugwa says a number of new podcasts are appearing to attract new listeners on the continent and even in the diaspora.
“The languages that are widely spoken on the continent are Swahili, Arabic, Amharic, Yoruba, Zulu … We are starting to see a number of them appear – this is an expectation that we have. “The future of the podcasting industry is that we will have many languages, without being inhibited by the language barrier,” Mbugwa says.
These podcasts are attracting new listeners on the continent and even in the diaspora.
The challenges of the African podcast
Creating a podcast for an African audience is not without challenges, says Josephine Karianjahi, co-director of the Africa Podcast Festival.
Many people listen to podcasts on their Android cell phones, which means that some, which are only available on the Apple platform, are inaccessible.
“There is also a huge challenge in the cost of data to be able to access the net and be able to download episodes whenever you need them,” says Karianjahi, noting that the data can be very prohibitive in different African countries.
“Sometimes there isn’t an equal amount of electricity in your area, so you may have podcasts that you want to produce, but they may not have a regular schedule or be able to record by the time. you want to save – these things can be quite frustrating. ”
African Podcast Festival Events
The all-inclusive event will feature lectures from This is Africa podcast staff on setting up their Africa Queer Radio project, which trains LGBTI + activists and groups to use podcasting skills for advocacy work.
A panel on Voices Hearing in Africa will include Kenyan speakers Stoneface Bombaa and April Zhu from Kenya’s Until Everyone is Free podcast, and Gushin Mc Gush & Kenyan Mwangi from Dandora Hiphop City podcast.
For those who wish to learn how to record for a podcast, two workshops are given on tips and tricks for recording. A community event hosted by Angolan podcaster Vicente Paxtomás will also talk about who listens to podcasts in Luanda.
Laura-Angela Bagnetto, host of RFI’s weekly African news podcast, Africa Calling, will also be giving a talk at the festival on how the podcast aims to include African voices from all regions of the continent.
To watch the festival, subscribe to the Africa Podfest YouTube channel. If you would like to participate and ask any of the panelists questions, sign up for the podcast festival – it’s free.
[ad_2]
Source link
