JR: Lou Mensah’s list of achievements in podcasting is certainly impressive. Creating the podcast Shade in 2019, Lou has received recommendations in The Guardian, Esquire Magazine and Grazia, as well as being the silver award winner in the 2019 British Podcast Awards for Best Arts and Culture podcast. So how would Lou describe her podcast Shade – what’s it about?

LM: “My guests champion the work of artists of colour within the wider cultural landscape. I love talking with artists whose work stimulates the senses but also has the scope to create wider conversations about inclusion. Shade is a space to be inspired by artists and their stories.

I remembered how isolated I felt being a self-taught, female photographer of colour in the 90’s, without access to inspiring conversations about art or my place within it. I also had a disability which meant that I couldn’t socialise with other artists. Back then my sense of community came from reading about other artists’ lives. When I decided to create the podcast I wanted to create an intimate and welcoming space for everyone, from established artists to listeners who
simply enjoy the odd gallery visit.”

JR: Like many podcasters, Lou has taken away some personal highlights from her time producing the show.

LM: “A highlight so far has been Season 4 which was in response to the 2020 BLM uprisings. I felt that we needed a space to process how we felt about the arts and its response to the uprisings, and how our work may change as a result. It was also an opportunity to talk with those working within the media whose job it was to respond to that seminal moment in civil rights history. I talked with the Editor of TIME, journalists from i-D and The Guardian, plus curators, photographers and critics about how the uprisings had impacted their work. I was lucky to have guests on the show who had refused to talk to other press outlets during this time.

One guest was a founding member of BLM UK, who entrusted me with his story. I am proud to have created a space for the conversations that are glaringly missing from mainstream broadcasting platforms. Sometimes podcasting can feel like talking into a void, but the response to the show affirms that the podcast caters for an audience eager to engage with and support
these conversations.”

JR: Despite time restraints, Lou is looking to the future and production for an upcoming season is in process.

LM: “As an independent podcaster I only have time to work on the show a few hours a week, so I am proud that in it’s short life Shade has garnered attention and support from some art heavyweights, including from the South London Gallery and Hauser & Wirth for example, who will continue to support Shade next season. For season 5 I am working with the Sound designer Axel Kacoutié and we are taking the show in a completely new direction. We will launch our collaboration online and at an event in September [2022]. I hope to see some Pod Biblers there!”

Shade is now in its eleventh season, but find out more about Lou’s collaboration with Axel Kacoutié, Interludes, here >>

Listen to SHADE on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps now >>

The post Good Samaritan // SHADE appeared first on POD BIBLE.

The series uses family possessions – objeks and tings – to explore the ways Caribbean culture has flavoured British life. From the Dutch pots (affectionately known as “Dutchies” among Caribbean people) used at family gatherings, to the “grip” suitcases of the Windrush generation travelling from the Caribbean to the UK.

As the trailer says, this podcast will hold significance for people with Caribbean heritage, but “you’re sure to be charmed” by the stories, no matter your background. We caught up with Catherine and Lynda-Louise to find out a bit more…

What was your introduction to podcasting as a listener?

Lynda-Louise Burrell: I kept hearing about Table Manners with Jessie Ware and her mum. Not just because she works with her mum like myself but also as we are working on a Caribbean food project. Their podcast has nothing to do with Caribbean history, heritage or culture but it is joyful, as all life should be.

Catherine Ross: I have only listened to one made by Black people in Britain more concerned about music and how it reflected and impacted on Caribbean life. I just knew that I wanted ours to be a laugh a minute with lapses into patois and being able to tell our stories and truths unfettered. I wanted our podcast to be like having a chat in a room with your mates.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

LLB: To be honest, I’ve taken just as much inspiration from podcasts I don’t like as from podcasts I do. There are many that I enjoy but these don’t tend to be ones covering the type of stories we wanted to share. And then the types of podcasts you tend to hear from my sector – small, not for profit organisations – are often ones where people do everything themselves and as a result, the sound quality often suffers. So we did have to wait to find the right production company to work with us that were as passionate as we are and wanted to work with us to curate a show we could all be proud of, and spoke to different types of Caribbeans.

We wanted to share their stories and views. We wanted people of differing ages, as usually with anything black, you tend to get the same types of stories from the same types of protagonists keeping us all in this metaphorical box – that all black people are the same. We wanted to capture multiple Caribbean stories of differing people to show that we are not a monolithic people.

CR: I love the podcasts of Black American women such as Michelle Obama, Meghan Markle and Oprah. When I listen to them, I come away inspired, confident and ready to step back into the affray of life.

Why did you decide that audio was right for sharing these stories?

LLB: I used to work in fashion and I am a natural creative. So working in museums now I try to keep things fresh and current to capture the public’s imagination as most exhibitions are rather dull, staid, and let’s face it, boring. In this day and age with social media, fast paced lives, and only seconds to draw people in before they move onto the next thing, I try to ensure our work as a museum draws people in and captures and holds their attention. We take exhibitions around the UK to different museums, art galleries and art spaces so have to keep our work fresh to engage with different types of people wherever they are. This way we get such a variety of different types of people engaging with our work from young people to those in their late 90s; from Caribbeans to white British, to Americans, and Eastern Europeans, all peoples from different communities.

Podcasts were becoming so popular that I thought – if this is how people are now spending their time, they can binge or dip in and out, listen at their convenience while working-out, driving or walking to work etc. so why not let them get their fix of Caribbean culture this way also! A quick convo filled with fun, laughter and a teachable moment, whether through the guest you can reminisce, reflect and connect or reconnect with your culture or explore a different one, it’s all good. I want through this podcast to connect with more people of Caribbean descent, help them reconnect to their culture while sharing our culture with others.

This will help us connect with more people, new people and different people and as a Creative Director that’s what I want through this creative conversation and am sharing my cultural heritage across the global one convo at a time.

CR: People on the move can access this mode of info sharing. I can listen by dipping in and out, and don’t have to listen to it all in one go! I can listen anywhere, which is just as well, as at times the content is so good I laugh out loud and sound like a mad woman or I take exception to what is being said and have a raging row with a machine!

Heritage and family is a massive part of the show, and you work together a lot. But did you discover anything new about each other from making the show?

LLB: I don’t think I discovered anything new about mum but the show just highlighted things such as:

-A retired English teacher will always be an English teacher! She goes through the scripts with a fine-tooth grammar comb. Yes, this is a loosely scripted convo believe it or not but mum will correct everyone’s English before reading it through

-All the world’s a stage… well certainly mum thinks so! She always reads things out in a presenter’s voice. She even does this with emails, again English teacher mode!

-She knows a lot about a lot

-She is extremely funny!

CR: I realise my daughter is quite clever and can take on anyone!! In fact, I sometimes worry for those who cross her. I suppose that’s the confidence of this generation. As a member of the Windrush Generation I hold things back. She knows so much about so many things she’s just right for a show like this, her life experiences of working in some difficult industries, and 13 years of working abroad has equipped her with not just views but strategies for dealing with most things. When people quote her, or refer to her in publications, I want to shout out to the world, “that’s my girl, that’s my baby, look at her go!”

What have you enjoyed most in making this podcast?

LLB: I have really enjoyed the process of making a podcast. It’s more than just speaking down the mic. However, talking is tough, with things to cope with like alliteration, not sounding like a kid’s TV presenter, or a news broadcaster. When a mic is pointed at you, or maybe just mum, your voice does strange things. It’s really bizarre. Just to let everyone out there know, I sound much better LIVE and direct.

But on a serious note, doing my day job as the Creative Director of The National Caribbean Heritage Museum, Museumand, one of my biggest pleasures is talking to people across the UK on a daily basis. Getting to know them, helping them share their stories to enrich Caribbeans and non-Caribbeans everywhere. So on the podcast, getting to meet more people, sharing info that we can instantly then share through the airwaves is a real honour and privilege and doing it this way through a podcast, more people get to hear this info much quicker than through our exhibitions. It does the same service in a different way.

CR: Meeting so many wonderful people who are generous in sharing their stories and experiences. I love hearing from others and feeling reassured that I am not the only one who has gone through certain experiences. It’s great having gaps filled in my cultural knowledge too.

What do you think listeners will enjoy most?

LLB: I think we have a really good, interesting group of guests with interesting stories to share and through our wonderful hosting skills, and mother-daughter dynamic, our fun Caribbean personality seeps through. Hearing Caribbean stories and quips straight from people of Caribbean descent, and of those you usually hear from non-Caribbeans speaking of Caribbeans.

CR: We as a family love sayings, and Caribbeans as a whole tradition, live on sayings, so we end each episode with one and make the end of a show a fun teachable moment. We also in places lapse into Patios. A language we need to keep alive but I think the listeners will enjoy as our sentences can flow beautifully from Standard English to Caribbean patios. The camaraderie, and fun of learning and laughing as we make discoveries about our culture and ourselves. The podcast will help people make sense of their life experiences, history and heritage.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

Website: museumand.org

Instagram: @museumand

Twitter: @Museumand_

Facebook: @Museumand

Listen to Objeks & Tings on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps >>

The post Objeks & Tings: A mother-daughter celebration of Caribbean heritage appeared first on POD BIBLE.

As Season 2 is in full swing, I asked the two hosts some questions about their move to podcasting and the community they’ve built.

There is a genuine appreciation and respect for podcasting, I even remember in one episode Candice breaking down the process of getting sponsors. What’s one thing that’s surprised you about the podcasting process?

Multiple things, I think the first is how exhausting recording can be. We typically record for three hours and between the giggles and more often than not the tears, I’m ready for bed immediately afterwards.

Having been in the media space for so long I can say that this desire to now have visuals along with audio is a little grating. The reality is everything has a cost attached as we now expect great quality.

Also as a new pod we decided we wanted all our stats in one place because we knew we would need sponsorship to keep this going for how long our Closet Cousins would want to hear from us. But I can’t say that we haven’t felt the pressure to rush the process – we have.

The success of Closet Confessions was a shock all round and now it feels as though people want us to compete with podcasts that have been going for years. We simply aren’t ready yet. Slow and steady wins the race.

On more than one occasion you’ve been adamant to specifically address black women when giving out advice. Was this a choice you both made or are you just telling your lived experiences?

Funnily enough it was never an actual conversation. The reality is we are black women with very public profiles. The way in which we are treated or the standard we are held to is completely different to our white counterparts so it just feels natural for us to say that we are about to address something that is specifically for us. Whilst this is just our lived experiences we know how hard it is for women who look like us to feel like they are part of a sisterhood or community, so that’s why we are so adamant.

As we know you don’t know each other’s confessions until you sit down to record, what is the one that’s shocked you the most?

No comment! The most shocking ones have been sealed for all eternity!

Both of you have built an audience prior to this show, how important was that to building the community you’ve now?

Candice: I think super important. Stand alone our audience know what to expect from us and we’ve both worked hard for years to build communities that support our work and how authentic we are. I’m not saying it’s impossible but I know for sure it would be so much harder to build a podcast community without having worked at building an audience outside of the space beforehand.

Sarel: It was very important to build our audience prior to having Closet Confessions. The reason for that is that both myself and Candice are opinionated women who are unapologetically themselves and had created a community separate from one another of people who understood us, but had only seen us with short-form content. So by the time Closet Confessions started, our audiences were aware of how we speak, aware of the way we joke, aware of the way we think but had only ever been given advice via videos that were only 1-3 minutes long, sometimes maybe a bit longer.

But with Closet Confessions this is a new side to us where we now get to unpack a lot of things just by having a conversation and that’s why the community has come so strong because when you come into the Closet, not only are we there to have a cackle and a Kiki, we’re there to learn and challenge one another. We’re there to uplift, we’re there to edify and sometimes the conversations can be uncomfortable, sometimes they can be funny, sometimes the conversations can be raw. But at least we have a space and a place that is judgement free for these conversations to take place. And that’s why I think our community with Closet Confessions has become such a powerhouse.

What was the first podcast you listened to? Are there any other podcasts you love you think our readers should know about?

Candice: Oh my gosh The Read with Kid Fury and Crislle West – that podcast set my world alight this was way before podcasts were massive. I think they used to be on Soundcloud. It felt like sitting down with friends. Speaking of which, one of my guilty pleasures right now is the HCPod with Cuckie and Poet. Not that I do but it gives smoke weed and chat shit vibes, which is essentially what I look forward to at the end of the week. Also Pop Culture with Chanté Joseph is very educational.

Sarel: I can’t necessarily remember the first podcast I listened to because when I started the world of podcasting and listening to podcasts it was still very foreign to me but I can remember podcasts that have kept me listening. I’m obsessed with the Hey Babe! podcast with Sal Vulcano & Chris Distefano. I’m obsessed with Cancelled with Clare & Jessie Stephens and I am obsessed with ShxtsNGigs with James & Fuhad. The one common factor with all of these podcasts is that they make me laugh and make me think. But I have to say absolutely second the fact that I love Chante Joseph’s Podcast with The Guardian; the right balance of education and funny.

Listen to Closet Confessions on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps >>

The post Coco Sarel and Candice Brathwaite talk community, Closet Confessions and the cost of podcasting appeared first on POD BIBLE.

In Hauser & Wirth London, Axel Kacoutié and Lou Mensah sit in front of a Amy Sherald painting titled “For love, and for country” (2022). The piece is part of an exhibition called The World We Make and it’s Amy’s first solo show in Europe. The piece is also the subject of ‘Interludes: Dream Recurred’, the fourth episode in the new season of the Shade Podcast, which this live podcast experience is launching.

Interludes is a collaboration between multi award-winning sound artist Axel Kacoutié and Shade, where six contemporary artists answer the question: What does healing sound like?

Lou Mensh and Axel Kacoutie. Photo credit: Kid Circus

In previous seasons of the Shade Podcast, host Lou would hold interviews between artists and herself regarding how art has moved through their life. It would result in conversations about what art means personally, but also beyond one person. A particularly harrowing season of Shade was after the Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020 – season four reflected on how the media responded to the uprising.

Speaking to Lou before the show, she told me that though those conversations were timely, she felt that after this response the audience needed a place where they could find some sort of solace. “I just thought next season I want it to be a gift to the audience and for people who are listening, something that can hold them, comfort them and acknowledge the need for everyone just to take a step back – to take some respite and some selfcare. I just wanted to create a small space through this series with Axel that would help people do that.”

This is evident through Axel’s sonic response. At the launch, they play us a snippet of the episode ‘Dream Recurred’ – Amy discusses the piece “For love, and for country”. Her images depict Black Americans in ordinary everyday situations and also reimagines them in historical moments: This piece in particular was a recreation of the photograph VJ Day in Times Square (1945). She fondly mentions friends she cares deeply about and wanting them to be represented, and it is followed by Axel using audio of Amy simply repeating the words “love is love” – the words linger in the air and the audience take them in. After sitting in comfortable silence for some seconds, Axel explains why the use of repetition not only emphasises the statement but reminds us how grounding the listening experience can be.

Credit : Amy Sherald ‘For love, and for country.’ 2022

“I feel like there’s a lot that the body and ear can do and need and I wanted to speak to that intuitive response,” they continue, “to follow how sound and music works to encourage and evoke a stillness,” a stillness that is often difficult to find in podcasting.

Lou talked briefly about how as the Producer she broke the housekeeping rules of podcasting – there is no traditional intro and outro, no break for ads and sponsors. Lou wanted all of that removed, “I wanted it to be an audio but also a physical and an emotional space to rest. For people to just relax. In audio there’s a lot of talk, a lot of chat, there’s a lot of fast energy. There’s a lot of slick audio making but I feel like it misses that capacity to hold people emotionally. I just felt like it was something I would try and do.” I felt like this approach of break in structure from Lou and these moments of quietness and minimalism for Axel worked well together – healing itself is such a nuanced and deeply personal topic; it is never linear therefore giving the listener a moment of reflection and breaking tradition feels just.

For those who have been listening to Shade for a while, you may remember the first glimpse of collaboration between Axel and Lou was the final episode of the 2021 four-part series of conversations exploring anti-racism in the arts, co-curated by Shade and Convergence. They’ve wanted to work together since, both confirming that it had been a year long process to get Interludes made. However, to add a timeline to projects like these is reductive. In some of the Interludes episodes, the sounds Axel used draw inspiration from projects that were made ten years ago, “It’s all part of the healing process that being able to give life to things that you thought would never see the light of day,” Lou adds, “I’ve been working in the arts for nearly 30 years so there is no way that all the things I’ve experienced and been a part of, have not been a part of this series because they have, so it’s a lifelong process of memories and inspirations.”

This project was as much for the creators as it is for the listener.

Listen to Interludes on The Shade Podcast now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps.

The post REVIEW // Shade Podcast LIVE – Interludes appeared first on POD BIBLE.

One of the beautiful gifts of the continued rise of podcasts has been the new voices they presents us with. But one of the less acknowledged joys is the new platform podcasts have provided to voices that had always been there, but had maybe drifted from the regular pundit or opinion piece guest list of the mainstream media.

Benjamin has been waxing poetically since the 80’s so it should come as no surprise that he steals the show on podcast after podcast. Here are just a few of our favourite episodes he’s featured on….

BLOOD ON THE TRACKS
Michaela Coel, Benjamin Zephaniah, Bez, Mike Bubbins // Jan 2019

On Blood On The Tracks, Colin Murray gathers together four music obsessives to debate their favourite tracks. The exceptional blend of guests on this episodes are asked to pick a song that gets people dancing, the best song under two minutes and modern day classic. As you’d expect from a performance poet, Benjamin’s picks captivate throughout. Listen on your podcast app >>

BUNK BED
Benjamin Zephaniah // Apr 2019

Benjamin’s dulcet tones provide perfect bedtime listening to his appearance on Bunk Bed (the BBC Radio 4 show that emulates those wondering bedtime conversations held with a sibling or friend) isa real joy. From tai chi breathing exercises to pillow positioning tips, you’d do well not to drop off before the episode’s conclusion. Listen on your podcast app >>

EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN
What Would We Do if We Didn’t Have A Prime Minister? // Dec 2019

On each episode of Everything Under The Sun, host Molly (the first ever QI elf) is joined by a guest to answer a question sent in by a curious child. The vastness of Benjamin’s career means he has different experiences to draw upon for different kinds of podcast and his time as a children’s book author comes into okay beautifully on this show. [Ed. this seems particularly topical in October 2022…] Listen on your podcast app >>

BLACK BRITANNIA
Benjamin Zephaniah // Aug 2020

Discussions about police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement featured heavily in podcast conversations in 2020, and rightfully so. In this podcast, Benjamin shares his direct experiences of police brutality, the parallels between the US nad UK and how long these issues have been ignored. Listen on your podcast app >>

DISTRACTION PIECES
Benjamin Zephaniah // Nov 2020

Scroobius Pip is as master of getting his guests to relax and open up and when it comes to telling an engaging story, Benjamin Zephaniah doesn’t need to be asked twice. The conversation flows in all kinds of directions, from coping during the pandemic to his issues with the meat industry, and his interactions with Bod Marley to being in Peaky Blinders.  Listen on your podcast app >>

Main photo credit: REX / SHUTTERSTOCK

The post Benjamin Zephaniah’s top podcast appearances appeared first on POD BIBLE.

In Search of Black History with Bonnie Greer
Ep. 1 // Bones Do Not Lie // Dec 2019

Bonnie Greer’s eight-part exploration of stories that have historically been sidelined or outright erased goes right back to the beginning of human history – indeed, even before then. We start 300,000 years ago with the very earliest of human ancestors, and Geer challenges long held presumptions, misapprehension, and straight-up lies with an almost meditative approach. which makes the regular surprises land all the harder. There’s real joy in the way that Greer opens out the human story to include all of us. Listen now on Audible >>

Human Resources
The Tree of Life // May 2021

In this stand-out series from Broccoli Productions, Moya Lothian-McLean contextualises the impact of the transatlantic slave trade on daily life in modern Britain. ‘The Tree of Life’ focuses on one of England’s greatest minds, Sir Isaac Newton, and his links to Britain’s slaving past such as the ‘slave triangle’ that allowed him to collect information for his studies. Enlightening interviews with experts alongside Moya’s engaging presentation style make this episodes, and the rest of the series, well worth checking out. Listen now on your podcast app >>

Code Switch
Black Kiss-tory // Feb 2021

Coode Switch jumps with both feet into the most livewire topics around race and society, and here hosts Shereen Marisol Meraji and Karen Grisby Bates use the Netflix period romance Bridgerton to delve into how Black romances set through history are essential for expanding ideas of Black lives in the past beyond pain and suffering. “Black romance thrives on complexity and nuance, on Black solidarity and achievement, on the triumph of everyday life lived well in spite of the odds, ” as the critic Carole Bell points out. Listen now on your podcast app >>

Pod Save The People
Edward Snowden // May 2017

The thoughtful explorations of social justice, politics and publis policy which DeRay McKesson and regular co-hosts Samuel Sinyangwe, Clint Smith and Brittany Packnett take on each week are always worth dropping in fro if you want t take the temperature of the US on anything that’s worth knowing. But dig into the archives for illuminating interviews with the likes of John Legend, Rev Al Sharpton, and this one with Edward Snowden, which is particularly good on the intersection of race and surveillance. Listen now on your podcast app >>

1619
Episode 1 // The Fight for a True Democracy // Aug 2019

1619 tells the important story of the history of American slavery and the birth of a new nation, with episode one focusing on the very beginning and the first ship to arrive in the English colony of Virginia with more than 20 enslaved Africans. Told with clarity and feeling and accompanied by stirring sound design, narrator Nikole Hannah-Jones lays the foundations for the rest of the series as she begins her examination into the long shadow of that fateful moment. Listen now on your podcast app >>

Louder Than a Riot
The Conspiracy Against Hip-Hop // Oct 2020

A decade ago, in April 2012, an explosive, anonymous email started to land in inboxes. It was titled ‘The Secret Meeting That Changed Rap Music and Destroyed a Generation’, and it laid our the accusation that in the late 1990s industry insiders and representatives from the prison system conspired to make music that promoted and glamourised criminal activities. The idea, the email said, was to pack the prision system for decades to comes. But was it real? Louder Than a Riot investigates… Listen now on your podcast app >>

Witness Black History
The killing of Amadou Diallo // Dec 2019

Powerful stories told by the people that witnessed them, or have direct links to those who were there, Witness Black History is a BBC World Service show that was created to accompany their popular Witness History series. In this episode we meet Kadiatou Diallo, the mother of Amadou Diallo who waws shot 41 times by the NYPD in 1999,leading to mass protests across New York. Kadiatou tells both Amadou’s and her own stories, with a focus on celebrating the way her son lived, rather than how he died. Listen now on your podcast app >>

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Want more Black history classics? Check out our Spotify playlist of Black history podcasts looking at the unrecounted nuances of black history, and powerful stories that have been forgotten.

Head to our Shop to pick up a copy of Pod Bible magazine for more recommendations, interviews and reviews.

The post 7 Classic podcast episodes for Black History Month appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Acast: With gal-dem being such a successful online publication, what was the allure to start a podcast?

gal-dem: gal-dem publishes both online and in print, and when we first started we were known for our events as well – for us, being accessible in as many ways as possible is so important, not just for creating content and community spaces that can be accessed by a wide range of people, but also for selecting the most appropriate medium for stories. Both Growing up with gal-dem and Reclaimed & Rewritten can deal with difficult but important themes. Audio is such an intimate medium that it allows for the sort of storytelling we need, that is engaging and detailed and informative, but also delivers on emotive impact and connection.

What do you find your listeners enjoy about being able to reach you through this medium?

Podcasting allows for a humanising style of content that is not always achievable in other mediums. You get a feel for the host, who they are, their sense of humour and what makes them tick. While we only have two podcasts out at the moment, our audience can get a feel for who we are as a publication through our amazing hosts and the ways that they interact with guests and sources. It’s also a type of engaging you can do wherever – you don’t need to be sat at a screen, or dedicate time away for print. With podcasting the conversation comes with you, whether you’re commuting, working, or resting.

Do you think there needs to be more women in the podcasting space?

Yes, but representation and inclusion in the space needs to be expanded beyond making more room for just cis-gendered women. We need to create space recognising incredible voices from a wide range of marginalised voices, be they disabled, queer, trans, POC, working class, migrants… Quite often we can look at one specific audience and try to tick boxes, but that approach is reductive and means further marginalisation can occur. What would be more fruitful is considering what barriers to access and audience exist across a wide range of intersecting identities, and start to consider as an industry, how can we begin dismantling them ourselves to improve the space overall. The more voices that are heard, the more stories that are told, the better this is for all podcasters.

What is one of the most important stories that have been told on Growing up with gal-dem?

Hard to pick! The first season of Reclaimed & Rewritten covered state sanctioned antiblack violence both in the US and in the UK and draws parallels between the ways in which policing specifically targets and affects Black communities on both sides of the Atlantic. It was a hugely important series and remains an incredibly important topic. Every season of Growing up with gal-dem brings the most beautiful vulnerability from both our guests and our hosts, but I think one of my favourite episodes has to be from the latest season when Nie and Natty met with and spoke to Paapa Essiedu. It was warm, funny, sweet, and open, and you really got a feel for how much shared empathy there was in the conversation. Give it a listen!!

What do you love about making a podcast?

The ability to have conversations, unfiltered, and publish them for audiences to listen in on in a way that isn’t always possible via print or digital mediums. With a podcast, you have an audience who are plugged in and actively listening. For 20-30 minutes you can sit in with incredible hosts, speakers, interviewees, guests, and just be part of their world, sit in on a conversation, and feel connected. Knowing that is how the episodes are received and enjoyed makes the production process so rich and exciting. We’ve also got an incredible team around us. We work really closely with our producers Ai Ai Studios, and have formed the sort of creative relationship you often dream of – they just get what we’re trying to achieve, and drive us to do bigger and better each season.

How do you think podcasting can change to highlight more voices?

Like we’ve said above – it’s not a one-step solution. Highlighting the barriers to entry for both listeners and creators is the first step, and then having buy-in across the industry (from the publishers to the indies to the hosts to the tech platforms) to address these barriers, dismantle them, and create continually expanding and inclusive spaces that welcome and learn from new voices and new perspectives.

Listen to Growing Up with gal-dem on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps.

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Want to join the UK’s BIGGEST podcast network, alongside Dane Baptiste, Jessie Ware and Adam Buxton? Start podcasting with Acast today! Use the code ACAST-POD-BIBLE for three months of their “Influencer” plan free at acast.com/start-podcasting. 

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How did you come up with the concept of the podcast?

Kieran: The concept of the podcast came around quite organically. Even before the mics were turned on for Episode 001, we were already having the types of conversations that are on record now. The idea was to give ourselves a platform and a space to come together and share our perspectives on different experiences we’ve had in our lives. We’re also four individuals who care a lot about community and seeing people flourish. Coming from the UK and relocating to The Netherlands there was an opportunity to bridge the gap between the cultures and so Out of Home was born -giving a little flavour for people in Amsterdam what it was like being a Londoner but on the flip-side also giving Londoners an insight to what life was like living abroad. Through sharing stories of our own but also of people who inspired us.

What are some of your favourite podcast moments so far?

Group: There’s a few moments that stick out in the period that we’ve been a collective but if we were to name a few:

• Pivoting during lockdown to deliver In House Sessions: Covid put a stop to in-person link-ups but instead of letting that hinder our consistency, we were able to use it to our advantage. We understood that people were going to be staying in their houses, and in need of entertainment. It also meant that the people who we wanted to speak with were also going to have more time on their hands, so in this period we interviewed individuals who were crushing it in their field such as Premier League players, Olympians, fashion stylists, and DJs.
• Winning a British Podcast Award- winning in the Bullseye category which honours excellent podcasts for under-represented audiences. This was amazing because we had no idea of what we could achieve when we started this, but to be recognised by experts in our field and to win something by us just getting together and shooting the breeze totally floored us!
• Being flown to Barcelona back in June and playing at the world-famous Camp-Nou stadium for a football tournament. This is the stuff dreams are made of, also our football teams (Man United & Arsenal supporters here) aren’t doing the best to be honest, so to play at FC Barca before some of our beloved club players have was quite a touch!

How has Out Of Home helped you connect with your audience?

Yaf: Quite simply, stories, everyone connects with stories! We see ourselves as a community platform rather than a podcast. We don’t want people to just consume our content, we love to have two-way discussions and listen to other stories and perspectives on things that we talk about. Everything begins with a conversation, so what I find is that the discussions we have on the podcast are starting points to wider interactions with people, whether that’s doing physical events and partying with them, or having a chat in our DM’s, we see our podcast as a gateway to all of these things.

What do you love about making a podcast?

Steven: Love linking up with the mandem, connecting on a weekly basis, and the support we are able to provide each other. Also, we bring the vibes so there’s always laughter, they say laughter is the best medicine and I’ve been in great health. One other thing I love is the people that listen and give their feedback. It’s mad that we have become a staple of people’s lives. Out of Home to the world!

What have you learned from the guests who have appeared on the podcast?

Kwame: That a lot of our guests learn best when figuring it out, making mistakes, or just being inexperienced. I think a lot of times in life we are expected to have these super detailed plans and objectives, which is fine but there’s also a beauty in the process, learning by doing and sometimes learning more whilst losing.

Listen to Out Of Home on ACAST, SPOTIFY and other popular apps. Follow the podcast on Twitter @outofhome_ams

The post Talking podcasts with Out Of Home and Acast appeared first on POD BIBLE.

We hope it helps you find podcasts that narrate the unrecounted nuances of black history, and powerful stories that have been forgotten.

Have we missed off an episode you think is a must-listen? Let us know on Twitter or email us info@podbiblemag.com and we can add it on.

The post Pod Bible’s Black History Month podcast playlist appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Due to the increased public interest in the Black Lives Matter movement, 2020 saw a surge of listens to podcast about Black history, and the way racism has shaped Western society. One of the most-listened to shows was 1619, a five part series from New York Times that explained how the transatlantic slave trade created the systems of power that we live by today.

It was incredibly powerful, but 1619 focused on America. There has been a lack of similarly powerful podcasts like 1619 that focus on Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.

Now, Human Resources is here to do just that. From Britain’s first slave trafficker, to Sir Isaac Newton, and even chocolate, the 10-part series will to contextualise the impact of the transatlantic slave trade on daily life in modern Britain.

We asked host, Moya Lothian McLean, how the podcast came to be and what listeners can expect from the series.

Hi Moya, we’re very excited about this podcast. It’s a massive topic, where does the podcast start?

The starting point was actually the easiest part of the whole process. I’m on this journey of education as much as the audience is, so we began in the place I grew up, a county called Herefordshire. It was vital for me and the team to root this project in our most familiar worlds and uncover the hidden histories that bubble under the surface. Herefordshire is a sleepy, beautiful rural county, on the border of Wales. Lots of sheep. It’s the last place you’d think to look for stories about British slavery. Which is why we had to start there.

Was it easy to find the information about these histories?

Yes and no. Hunches often proved right but digging for hard evidence and paper trails can be much harder when investigating the history of British slavery – something we explore during the course of the project. The brunt of the digging was done by our amazing researchers, Arisa Loomba and Dr Alison Bennett who also found the right people to ask about the places and people we wanted to look into. This project would not exist without their work.

Why podcasting? What is it about the medium that works for this project?

I think podcasting is so well suited to exploring histories, especially hidden ones because it allows a depth and level of detail that sometimes there’s not space for in your standard TV documentary or one-off radio broadcast. There’s also a freedom and flexibility in the medium; for example, we decided at a late hour to do a two part-episode on one particular story because what we discovered was so rich and multi-faceted I just felt a fervent urge that we couldn’t limit the story to one episode. Podcasting is so accessible too – we wanted this history to be something people didn’t make excuses not to listen to. You can’t watch a documentary while driving. You can listen to a podcast.

Without giving too much away, was there anything you were particularly surprised by from your research?

Perhaps surprise is the wrong word because I’ve learnt not to be surprised by much when it comes to history. I think probably the scale of just how much of our modern way of life is built from institutions directly created through the slave trade – seeing that picture come into focus in front of my eyes was like a shock of cold water. It’s one thing saying it, it’s another hearing the detail of it.

Were you inspired by any particular podcasts?

When we started this project, we talked about podcasts we enjoyed. I definitely had in mind the atmosphere of 1619 although our format is certainly different. I’m sure the other members of the team had their own inspiration – I think I took mine from the likes of The Dream and Ponzi Supernova, not in form or content but just trying to make this engaging, and the journey to be unpredictable.

Who is your dream listener?

Anyone who wants to know why Britain in 2021 is the way it is.

The first episode of Human Resources is available to listen to right now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts!

The post Moya Lothian-McLean // Human Resources uncovers stories of British slavery appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Allow me to be clear: this is a highly successful, beautifully produced and well-researched podcast that does not need or seek our recommendation. And frankly, it would be lazy and thoughtless of me to simply drop the suggestion you listen to a two year old podcast on the topic of anti-racist activism as though that were enough.

It’s not enough.

The topics that Ms. Eddo-Lodge covers are important and relevant, but they were always important and relevant. The show may seem particularly poignant today, even though it was released in early 2018, but that only serves to highlight how late so many of us are to the table. As the programme once again climbs the podcasting charts, Reni commented via her Twitter account that a large podcasting company she and her team had pitched to once called it “broccoli”.

I have no idea what kind of vegetable this podcast would be (and frankly I love broccoli) but I do know it is a stunning piece of audio. Before we even get the chance to dive into the discussion and context, we are first confronted with incredible production quality and an opening sequence I will not likely forget any time soon. Opening credits and theme music are often overlooked in podcasting, and producer Renay Richardson sets about giving the listener a British history lesson in racism right from the moment you press play.

Over the course of the series, each topic brings us new guests, experts in their fields and participants from moments in anti-racist (and some wholly racist) moments of a nation’s history. Both host and producer offer the listener not only context and shape the takeaway of each discussion, but allow them to breathe – not so that we may relax, but in order to make us uncomfortable. There are moments when the last lines of an interview seem to hang in the air and the hair on the back of my neck stood as I waited for the catharsis of correction or rescission. Neither came – and that is the reality of the discussion of racism.

The concept that anyone ever called About Race “broccoli” is mind-boggling. Discussions of race and activism are not some unappealing item on our plate that we have no choice but to take in if we want to grow big and strong. A quality podcast is one that is created to either inform or entertain, but deftly uses its own medium as a tool to tell the story. About Race offers layers, not only in the language of the speakers, but in removing the visuals – and what we as listeners must confront about ourselves and our own deeply learned racism when Reni casually mentions the race of the person to whom she is speaking.

About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge is not recommended, it is required. You can find out more about the team of Black creators behind the podcast on the show’s website, and you can listen to all nine episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else you get your podcasts.

The post REVIEW // About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge appeared first on POD BIBLE.