From Aksum to Zimbabwe, Casablanca to Cape Town, learn about the fascinating civilizations and stories of Africa on the first dedicated Pre-Colonial African history podcast.
I'm from Spain and I listen to your podcast since two months now while I drive. And I must say I really like it! Thanks for the amazing work you have done.
I started with Mike Duncan's HIstory of Rome, then his Revolutions podcast, then Robin Piersons History of Byzantium. I was now really looking forward to starting with your History of Afirca, an excellent topic to address and I have been full of anticipation. And it' started out impressively. You seem to do research that is really solid and ambitious, and most of what you convey feels organised, relevant and very interesting. However, after having listened to a large part of the first season, I find myself hesitant to continue, almost entirely due to the way hte podcast deals with the music "score". I love music, almost to an obsessive level, and all sorts of musiv, and it would be very very interesting to have the topic of (ancient?) african music weaved into the overall theme of african history... but the choice of music in your podcast seems more or less uncurated, prehaps even random in choice, and what's more, it often takes over entirely, sometimes so much so that I can't even hear you speak underneath the loud music... Is this a technical/editing mistake or is this just a choice of yours that happens to clash with my personal taste? If is the latter, then please disregard my comment, my own preferences are unimportant, and there is probaly others who apreciate it. On the other hand, If it is something you haven't noticed yourself, eg. that sometimes the music is so loud that one can barely here your voice under it, then it may be owrthwhile to consider my comment, and review that in the editing process. Generally though, my own humble opinion is that it is the content that matters, and music and various sound effects only detract/distract from that.
Either way, cudos for taking up such an ambitious endavour as that of the theme of this podcast, and hat off for the ambition also on the research and the bredth/depth that you try to cover. additionally, I think it is important work to educate on the history of Africa, so I wish you great success, whether the format ends up matching my personal flavour or not.
An excellent review that matches my thoughts exactly. As an African, huge kudos to Andy for treading where none have dared. And the content is enlightening and packed. However, the scoring is quite distracting, and takes away from what is an otherwise excellent podcast
Only the earlier podcasts have significantly more music. Andy was experimenting, and that was an experiment that went wrong (I remember one earlier podcast where he acknowledged as much). There is introductory and closing music in most of the subsequent seasons, so go ahead and listen, and enjoy, and learn from someone who really does significant, serious and scholarly research on these topics.
I have just discovered this podcast about the history of Africa today 02nd January 2023.... and guess what: the last episod that came out is about MADAGASCAR and I am native of this beautiful land.. I am very impressed by the way you described our ancient civilization... keep up the good work. As of today you have one more fan from Madagascar. Briand Rovaniaina
I'm from Spain and I listen to your podcast since two months now while I drive. And I must say I really like it! Thanks for the amazing work you have done.
ReplyDeleteI started with Mike Duncan's HIstory of Rome, then his Revolutions podcast, then Robin Piersons History of Byzantium. I was now really looking forward to starting with your History of Afirca, an excellent topic to address and I have been full of anticipation. And it' started out impressively. You seem to do research that is really solid and ambitious, and most of what you convey feels organised, relevant and very interesting. However, after having listened to a large part of the first season, I find myself hesitant to continue, almost entirely due to the way hte podcast deals with the music "score". I love music, almost to an obsessive level, and all sorts of musiv, and it would be very very interesting to have the topic of (ancient?) african music weaved into the overall theme of african history... but the choice of music in your podcast seems more or less uncurated, prehaps even random in choice, and what's more, it often takes over entirely, sometimes so much so that I can't even hear you speak underneath the loud music... Is this a technical/editing mistake or is this just a choice of yours that happens to clash with my personal taste? If is the latter, then please disregard my comment, my own preferences are unimportant, and there is probaly others who apreciate it. On the other hand, If it is something you haven't noticed yourself, eg. that sometimes the music is so loud that one can barely here your voice under it, then it may be owrthwhile to consider my comment, and review that in the editing process. Generally though, my own humble opinion is that it is the content that matters, and music and various sound effects only detract/distract from that.
ReplyDeleteEither way, cudos for taking up such an ambitious endavour as that of the theme of this podcast, and hat off for the ambition also on the research and the bredth/depth that you try to cover. additionally, I think it is important work to educate on the history of Africa, so I wish you great success, whether the format ends up matching my personal flavour or not.
An excellent review that matches my thoughts exactly. As an African, huge kudos to Andy for treading where none have dared. And the content is enlightening and packed. However, the scoring is quite distracting, and takes away from what is an otherwise excellent podcast
DeleteOnly the earlier podcasts have significantly more music. Andy was experimenting, and that was an experiment that went wrong (I remember one earlier podcast where he acknowledged as much). There is introductory and closing music in most of the subsequent seasons, so go ahead and listen, and enjoy, and learn from someone who really does significant, serious and scholarly research on these topics.
DeleteI have just discovered this podcast about the history of Africa today 02nd January 2023.... and guess what: the last episod that came out is about MADAGASCAR and I am native of this beautiful land.. I am very impressed by the way you described our ancient civilization... keep up the good work. As of today you have one more fan from Madagascar.
ReplyDeleteBriand Rovaniaina