Podcasts about west african

Further reading: https://elephantartgallery.com/blogs/meet Desmond Morris with his favorite Congo painting: Peter/Pierre Brassau and some of his paintings: The so-called donkey painting, and I described it wrong in the episode: Pockets at work: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I'm your host, Kate Shaw. Back in the early days of the podcast I did an episode about animal musicians, which for a long time was my favorite episode. Today let's visit a similar topic, animals who are visual artists. Back in the 1950s through the 60s, researchers studying how humans make art studied monkeys and apes who were taught how to use a brush and paints. The studies caught the public's fancy and it became something of a fad to own a piece of art created by an animal—whether it was a monkey or ape, an elephant, or some other animal. One of the earliest big name animal artists was a chimpanzee named Congo. Zoologist Desmond Morris, who was studying creativity in apes and humans, and who was also an artist himself, offered Congo a pencil and paper when he was two years old in 1956. Congo enjoyed drawing and especially liked to draw circles. When Morris eventually gave the chimp paints, Congo was even more enthusiastic. But while he was considered a novelty, he only had one art exhibition while he was alive, a 1957 event arranged by Morris. It wasn't until 2005 that the remaining paintings were exhibited, along with the art of some other apes, and some of them sold for thousands of dollars. A new exhibit appeared in December of 2019 in the Mayor Gallery in London. One interesting thing is that Morris worked with several apes to see how they drew and painted, but only Congo showed enthusiasm and skill for art. Congo died of tuberculosis in 1964 when he was only ten years old. Also in 1964, a French avant-garde artist named Pierre Brassau exhibited four of his paintings at an art show in Sweden. No one knew who Brassau was, but his paintings were critically acclaimed—except for one critic who wrote, “Only an ape could have done this.” Ahem, yes. That is correct. The artist turned out to be a West African chimpanzee named Peter who lived in a zoo in Sweden. The whole thing started with a Swedish journalist who apparently wasn't much of a fan of modern art. The journalist persuaded a zookeeper to give Peter a canvas, paints, and brush. At first Peter just ate the paint, but eventually he started making marks on the canvas. The journalist ultimately chose four of the paintings and submitted them to the exhibition under the name Pierre Brassau. One of the paintings sold for the equivalent of about $750 today. But animal artists making modern art isn't limited to the 1950s and 60s. In 1905 a painting by an unknown artist, J.R. Boronali, went on display in a Parisian salon. It didn't cause any kind of stir, though, because it was nothing special, until 1910 when word got out that the painting had been made by a donkey. According to the story, an art critic tied a paintbrush to the donkey's tail and fed the donkey carrots, which made it wag its tail, which dabbed paint on a canvas. I've seen the painting, though, and it seems clear that a human artist prepped the canvas by slapping a coat of background paint on it that resembles a red sea and blue sky. There are some dabs and blobs of paint over that in yellow and red, presumably from the donkey. In this case, of course, the donkey wasn't trying to paint a picture and didn't even know what was going on behind it, just that it was getting lots of carrots. An avant-garde Russian school of art named itself The Donkey's Tail in 1912 as a result, though, so that's pretty neat. More recently, a capuchin monkey named Pockets has become a big-name artist in the animal world. Pockets was donated to a Canadian animal sanctuary after his owner finally realized that capuchin monkeys are wild animals and don't actually make very good pets. One of the volunteers at the sanctuary gave Pockets the nickname Warhol because of his white hair, which reminded her of the artist Andy Warhol. That gave her the idea to give Pockets some paints and see what he would do with them. It turns out that Pockets really likes to paint. In 2011 the sanctuary held an exhibit of his paintings to help raise money, and since then his paintings have been exhibited in art shows around the world. He's collaborated with a human artist, who basically paints something and then gives the canvas to Pockets to add to it. His art recently appeared on the cover of an album released by a member of Depeche Mode too. Not all animal artists are apes or monkeys, though. Bini the Bunny stars in a lot of videos where he plays basketball, dances, plays the guitar, and does a lot of other things you would not expect a bunny to do. He also paints. Bini, of course, has been trained to make certain movements, including picking up a paintbrush in his mouth and moving it upward with the paint-covered bristles sometimes touching a canvas, but sometimes not. Bini isn't choosing what paint colors to use and doesn't even really look at the canvas while he's working. He's cute, but he's not making art spontaneously the way Pockets and his predecessors do. Elephants also make art, holding a paintbrush with the tip of the trunk. The most famous elephant artist was named Ruby, an Asian elephant who lived at the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona in the United States, although she was born in Thailand in 1973. When her keepers saw her using a stick to draw in the dirt, they gave her painting supplies to see what she would do with them. Ruby enjoyed painting, choosing her colors carefully, and some of her paintings sold for as much as $25,000. Ruby died from complications of a failed pregnancy in 1998, sadly. So many artists die young. Sometimes you'll see videos of elephants painting a picture of an elephant, but these aren't spontaneously created. The elephant has always been taught to make the same brush strokes, and sometimes the training is cruel. An authentic elephant painting looks abstract, with lines and dots that the elephant places in a shape it finds pleasing, not to resemble something specific. This is the same with ape and monkey artists too. If you listened to the episode about animal musicians, you will probably remember the Thai Elephant Orchestra. Well, the same conservation center that hosts the elephant orchestra also has some elephant artists. The Elephant Art Gallery sells paintings made by various of the elephants who live in the sanctuary. They're allowed to choose their own paints and decide if they want to paint at all that day. Elephants who don't show interest in learning to paint don't have to try, and instead get to do different activities. The main difference between human art and art made by non-human animals is that humans naturally create representational art without being taught. Little kids draw wobbly stick people with big smiles and no one has to show them how. Humans can make abstract art, of course, but a skilled abstract artist chooses colors, textures, and patterns carefully to invoke a feeling in the people who look at the finished painting. This is different from a little kid finger-painting who is just having fun making a mess, although of course you can make art with finger paints too. Animals never create representational art spontaneously, and we can't know if their choice of colors, textures, and patterns is intended to invoke a particular feeling because we can't ask them. (I mean, we can ask them but they wouldn't understand the question and we wouldn't get an answer.) But it does seem obvious that animals who enjoy painting and who make deliberate marks on paper or canvas are taking pleasure from the process of creation. And when you come right down to it, that's the most important thing about making art. Finally, you may remember the court case about the monkey selfie from 2014. Nature photographer David Slater was taking pictures in a nature reserve in Indonesia when he stepped away from his camera, which was set up on a tripod. A Celebes crested macaque monkey investigated the camera and ended up taking a number of photos, one of which was a selfie that became almost instantly famous online. Slater tried to claim copyright to get paid for the photograph as it became more and more popular. In August of 2014 the United States Copyright Office decided that the owner of camera equipment can't claim copyright for a photo taken by an animal. Neither can the owner of an animal who takes a photograph or otherwise produces artwork. Only a human can hold copyright, but if the human doesn't actually create the art, they don't get the copyright. Hey, this would be a great day to make a drawing or a painting! Thanks for your support, and thanks for listening!

Doggziller and Jellphonic popped thru the show this ep! We were still buzzing from Friday's Circling Sun show at the Pitt St Methodist Churc, so we had to kick off with their "Bliss Part 2" before spinning a couple for the birthday girl Linda Clifford dropping a couple from her late-70s RSO Records disco nuggets "Don't Give It Up" and "Runaway Love". From there things got properly funky: Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band's steel-pan reading of Mtume's "Juicy Fruit" (the B-side 45 on Big Crown, 2022), Bobby Oroza doing his Finnish-Texan soul thing on "I Got Love," and the Terea deep cut "Pretty Bird." The boogie continuum kept things moving through The Deele, O'Bryan, and a touch of Tatsuro Yamashita's 1977 City Pop gem "Paper Doll," before Evelyn Champagne King's "Shake Down," Dynasty's "Check It Out," and The Time's "Get It Up" pushed the tempo right up. The second half ranged wide without losing the thread. Leenalchi's "Here Comes That Crow" - the Seoul seven-piece's just-dropped Luaka Bop debut, a chopped pansori tale rerouted through bass-heavy psych-funk - sat comfortably alongside Daktaris' raw Afrobeat ("Eltsuhg Ibal Lasiti" from their Soul Explosion LP from the Daptone studio) and a run of West African gold: Zeal Onyia's Nigerian highlife, Ebo Taylor & Pat Thomas' "Yes Indeed" (originally recorded in Togo for the 1981 Abotar LP Super Sounds Namba), and Julian Y Su Combo's Afro-Cuban "Enyere Kumbara." Sharon Jones's "What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes," Trio Mocotó's samba-funk "Chamego De Ine," and (birthday boy) Marcus Miller's "I Could Give You More". Heatwave's "Too Hot To Handle" clocked 50 years this month, so you know we had to give "Ain't No Half Steppin" some airtime. Press the button.

Today we'll introduce you to Betsy Small, and we'll take you on Betsy's moving saga in Sierra Leone, exploring the tribulations and elations of her Peace Corps experience in the West African country, as told in her book, Before Before: A Story of Discovery and Loss in Sierra Leone.

For the first time ever, Cape Verde is heading to the World Cup. The West African island nation – home to fewer than half a million people – will be one of the smallest countries in tournament history. In the capital Praia, preparations are in full swing, with qualification sparking huge excitement and renewed hope among young people. In working-class neighbourhoods, football has long been an escape – and now, a global stage awaits. Sarah Sakho and Simon Martin report. 

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what's exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above.Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.West African Drum & Dance ConferenceJoshua Gillespie, a Minneapolis drummer and storyteller who performs as Brotha Ase, wants everyone to know about the Fakoly Drum & Dance Conference this weekend, put on by Duniya Drum and Dance. The conference includes classes in West African drumming and dance for beginners as well as experienced performers. Instructors are visiting from Guinea, Mali and Nigeria. Classes run Friday through Sunday at the Barbara Barker Center for Dance on the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Campus. A culminating performance, “Bridges of Rhythm: A Path of Generations,” is open to all this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Duniya Drum & Dance also teaches weekly community classes.Brotha Ase says: It's a great opportunity that you should take advantage of this weekend, if you're looking for something cool to do and getting some cultural healing in your spirit.— Brotha AsePlein Air painters flock to Red WingJoshua Cunningham is a landscape painter in St. Paul who works primarily with Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis. He highly recommends the 20th annual Red Wing Arts Plein Air events taking place this month. Artists are painting within a 25-mile radius of Red Wing, including in the city itself, over the next week. Opportunities to watch artists at work — and for kids to paint for free — include this Saturday from 9-11 at the Red Wing Arts. An exhibition of the work they create runs June 20 – Aug. 16 at the Depot.Joshua says: They have had between 50 and 100 paintings done every year, so you can imagine the body of work that has been created over the last 20 years. Though some of those areas get painted more frequently than others, [each] day only comes once. The light and the air of a given day is what defines all of the colors and the values — and often the mood of the place — so you're never really standing in the same place twice.— Joshua CunninghamFootball meets dance performanceScott Pakudaitis, board chair of Revolution Dance Works, has been a fan of Corpus Dance Works since he saw their fringe show inspired by plant biology in 2022. He's looking forward to their new dance show inspired by sports team culture, “Line of Scrimmage,” at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis June 11-15.He anticipates high energy and some comedy that will appeal to sports and dance fans alike:Scott says: They create very innovative and frenetic dances that touch on a lot of things that everybody can relate to. There will be things like mascots and a marching band and dancing referees, a look behind the locker room, tackles and lots of balls flying in the air from dancers who do not know how to catch footballs.— Scott Pakudaitis

"The future is very much embedded and designed in local realities."Are you interested in the involvement of informal settlements in the future of cities? What do you think about the importance of creative industries for urban futures? How can we create more ownership within our spaces? Interview with Carina Tenewaa Kanbi, a spatial practitioner. We will talk about her vision for the future of cities, the role of the individuals and governance, informal settlements, creative industries, storytelling, and many more. Carina Tenewaa Kanbi is a spatial practitioner, ARUA Fellow and PhD researcher at the African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand. Her doctoral work explores young West African creatives in Accra and Lagos. With master's degrees from Central Saint Martins (MA Cities) and the University of Amsterdam (MSc Migration & Ethnicity), she bridges urbanism, migration, and the arts to foster inclusive, just cities. Co-founder of Aya Editions and Edan, she champions regenerative design, cultural preservation, and creative cosmopolitanism across West Africa.Find out more about Carina through these links:Carina Tenewaa Kanbi at Cities WorkCarina Tenewaa Kanbi at the mobility Governance LabAya Editions websiteAya Academi websiteConnected episodes you might be interested in:No.027 - Interview with Richard Manasseh about city sound scapesNo.415R - Rethinking the contribution of creative economies in AfricaNo.416 - Interview with Raoul Rugamba about Kigali and Africa's creative industriesNo.435R - Governance of urban informal settlements in Africa: A scoping reviewWhat was the most interesting part for you? What questions did arise for you? Let me know on Twitter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@WTF4Cities⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠wtf4cities.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ website where the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shownotes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ are also available.I hope this was an interesting episode for you and thanks for tuning in.Episode generated with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Descript⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ assistance (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠affiliate link⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠).Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lesfm ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay

Five years after her first appearance on the show, Nana-Serwa Mancell returns to share her journey from running a vegan African food business in Dubai to building a sustainability-focused retreat and community space in Ghana. We discuss West African vegan food traditions, overlooked plant protein sources, ethical tourism, sustainable fashion, environmental challenges in Ghana, and why she believes Africa's future is full of innovation, creativity, and hope.

It's a No Tangent Tuesday, which means everything is on topic — including Dave getting lost in Rockefeller Center for the hundredth time. Quinn is back from his antibiotic recovery, Jean just survived catering the Roots Picnic VIP section with a rented reefer truck (and a branch that won), and the California crew is dialing in from LA. Dave opens by explaining why his new miniature Ro-Tap machine — a 1917-standardized particle analysis sieve shaker running at exactly 150 BPM and 85 decibels — cannot, in good conscience, be operated in a Manhattan apartment. A caller brings the real problem of the week: his partner can't eat onions, and chili without onions is a crisis. Dave prescribes asafetida (AKA hing) and hints at fermented West African dawadawa as sulfur-forward workarounds. Quinn, recovering from his own dietary restrictions courtesy of a GERD diagnosis, has been running low-sodium experiments with glutamic acid powder — which leads to a full detour on salt, Tuscan bread, sweating bakers, and why the Civil War soldier's salt ration proves nothing. Bar food rankings break out organically: potato skins, mozzarella bricks, fried cheese curds, and the great belly clam vs. strip debate, with Dave confessing he failed his son by not making him eat belly clams in Connecticut. Quinn rounds things out with a pina colada gelato stabilizer deep-dive and a vanilla oleoresin gelato report, Dave gives out the full Razzmatazzarak recipe from the old Booker and Dax days, and God's mojito is teased for next time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, George Maher-Bonnett (Deputy Editor — European Products Report) is joined by Atishya Nayak (Senior Gasoline Reporter - European Products Report) and Jide Tijani (Naphtha Reporter — European Products Report) to examine how the US driving season and the US–Iran conflict are influencing gasoline and naphtha markets in Europe — from exports and arbitrage shifts to blending economics and supply disruptions. Key themes Price swings: Gasoline–naphtha spread jumped to $270/t in May, a three‑year high European exports to US hit an 11‑month peak as freight costs collapsed Drivers of volatility: US–Iran conflict, summer‑grade transition and rebound in ARA blending Outlook risk: Tighter VGO supply, weak West African pull and narrowing US arb

The thirteen colonies that became the United States were just half of the British colonies that existed in the 18th century. The empire stretched from New England, south to Georgia and Florida and the islands of the West Indies, east to India, Scotland, and Ireland, and south again to British forts on the West coast of Africa. Because of this, the revolution of 1776 wasn’t isolated to the North American eastern seaboard. It was a world-historical crisis that swept up American Indian nations, Caribbean islands, West African forts, Indian cities, Scottish drawing rooms, German principalities, Cuban harbors, Chinese trading houses, and a fledgling colony in Sierra Leone. The result is a Revolution that was on the one hand a political struggle for the 13 colonies, but it was also a genuinely global catastrophe in which Indigenous nations, enslaved Africans, German soldiers, French philosophes, Caribbean planters, Indian merchants, and Spanish generals all fought for their own competing visions of what "freedom" actually meant. Today’s guest is Sarah Pearsall, author of Freedom Round the Globe. We see how the fight for liberty went far outside the borders of the American colonies. When the British Parliament imposed the Stamp Act in 1765, the protests and violent crowd actions that erupted were not confined to Boston or Virginia, they broke out with equal fury in St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, and other Caribbean colonies. But they chose to stay loyal because they feared slave uprisings more than they resented Parliament. The French alliance that saved American independence at Yorktown drove France itself toward bankruptcy and revolution. And there were at least two would-be fourteenth colonies (British Florida and Quebec) courted by Americans but believed their fortunes were better served in other places than the Revolution. The Revolution was not a contained colonial rebellion. It was a world war, and the Treaty of Paris in 1783 settled the claims of dozens of nations, most of whom had nothing to do with the thirteen colonies.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nigerian cuisine is one of the most layered, complex food cultures in the world — and most of us are only scratching the surface. Today I'm sitting down with Ronke Shikirat-Edoho, founder of 9jafoodie, to start changing that.In Part 1, we get into the building blocks of Nigerian food: palm oil and why it has been a cornerstone of West African cooking for generations, the slow-stewed pepper base that shows up across dish after dish, and a deep culture of fermentation that shapes everything from the main carbohydrates to the condiments. We break down jollof rice — what actually makes the Nigerian version distinct from Ghanaian or Senegambian jollof, and why Ronke draws a firm line between traditional jollof and what she calls "internet jollof." We also get into egusi, a melon seed that gets turned into soup while the melon itself goes completely uneaten, and a whole world of leafy greens that have been central to West African cooking for generations but that most people outside the region have never heard of.Part 2 drops in two weeks — Ronke gets into the palm oil controversy, Nigerian street food, and the misinformation about African food she's spent nearly 20 years correcting. Don't miss it.

Tips to build your own Bloody Mary Bar! We talk all things pork with NY Times food writer and chef David Leite. Ever had Iberico aka acorn pork? How about adding maple sugar to elevate your bacon at your next brunch get together. Then, we learn about Gullah Geechee cuisine, a flavorful fusion of West African, Caribbean, and Southern culinary traditions with Chef Carlos Brown from Pandora on the Square in Atlanta. My last bite: 3 ingredient coffee mousse.

Did you know there's a man saving the secret ingredient in Japan's 700-year-old original soy sauce recipe? Or that the world's rarest pasta is made in Italy, and only a few women alive still know the recipe? Or that in India, a family makes a mysterious metal mirror believed to reveal your truest self? These are disappearing secrets, the magical element of culture being precariously preserved by the few for the many. Join us for a live chat with author Eliot Stein, who traveled the globe in search of remarkable people who are preserving some of our most extraordinary cultural rites. From shadowing Scandinavia's last night watchman to meeting a 27th-generation West African griot to tracking down Cuba's last official cigar factory “readers” more than a century after they spearheaded the fight for Cuban independence, Stein uncovers an almost lost world. From Inca bridge masters to those who still speak to bees, CUSTODIANS OF WONDER is a treasure trove of peculiar and heart-warming traditions—and those preserving them from brink of disappearance.Episode was recorded live May 28, 2026.Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://peculiarbookclub.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://subscribepage.io/schillacenews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠VIP Membership: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://payhip.com/PeculiarBookClub⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@PeculiarBookClub/streams⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@peculiarbookclub.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/groups/peculiarbooksclub⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@thepeculiarbookclub⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

For centuries, the world has been sold a myth that Southern cornbread was born out of European hospitality and plantation romance.In reality, the true architects were enslaved Black women. They used the culinary engineering of West African fufu to transform a cheap ration of raw cornmeal into a survival fuel that outsmarted the South.Sources:High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America by Jessica B. Harris,Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time by Adrian Miller"The African Roots of Southern Cooking" by Toni Tipton-MartinAudio Onemichistory.comFollow me on Instagram: @onemic_historyFollow me on Substack: https://onemicblackhistorypodcast.substack.com/Follow me on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@onemic_historyPlease support our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=25697914Buy me a Coffee https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Countryboi2m

“The thirteen colonies that became the United States were not even half of the British colonies that existed in the eighteenth century. We need to think about why some colonies rebelled and others did not.” — Sarah Pearsall Earlier today, the historian Dominic Erdozain came on the show to argue that American patriotism has the same exceptionalist Puritan roots as British imperialism. But not all historians of the American revolution would agree. Take, for example, Sarah Pearsall, author of Freedom Round the Globe, who turns 1776 inside out to present the American rebellion as a kind of world revolution. 1776 as 1917. American patriotism as an explosion of borderless humanity. Pearsall argues that 1776 was as globally significant in its revolutionary promise as 1789, 1848 or 1917. She reminds us that there were at least 26, possibly as many as 32 British colonies in existence in 1775 — in the Caribbean, in Canada, in East and West Florida. And the radical ideas that drove the Declaration of Independence — security, happiness, respect — were being asserted simultaneously all over the world. So in Edinburgh debating clubs, Caribbean sugar plantations and West African castles, the American revolution was welcomed as a global revolution. Universal rather than exceptional. The Tea Party as the Storming of the Winter Palace. Five Takeaways •       32 British Colonies, Not 13: The Forgotten Empire: People talk about the thirteen colonies as if they were all the British colonies in North America. They weren't. There were at least 26, possibly as many as 32, depending on how you count groups of islands. British colonies in the Caribbean. In Canada. In East and West Florida. Each had its own relationship to the British Empire, its own internal tensions, its own calculations about the costs and benefits of rebellion. The question Pearsall asks — why did some rebel and others not? — is the question that opens up the global story. •       The Caribbean Undermines the Slavery Thesis: There is a popular argument that the American Revolution was primarily fought to preserve slavery — that the colonists feared British abolition and revolted to protect the institution. Pearsall's counter: if this were the main driver, the Caribbean colonies would have been the first to join. They were far more dependent on slavery than the mainland colonies. They did not join. The relationship between slavery and the revolution is genuinely complicated — not simple in either direction. The Caribbean story is the evidence that demands a more nuanced account. •       From St Kitts to Kolkata: The Declaration's Global Keywords: Pearsall's organising device: she takes thirteen key words from the Declaration of Independence and finds the spark of each in a far-flung location. Security in the Six Nations cornfields of upstate New York, where it meant something very different to the Haudenosaunee than to the Philadelphia delegates. Happiness in the debating clubs of Edinburgh, where women were demanding it alongside men for the first time. Respect in the streets of Kolkata. This device lets her write about the globe without losing the Declaration as her anchor. •       Americans Were Already Thinking Globally in 1776: One of Pearsall's more surprising findings: Americans in 1776 were far more aware of global events than we tend to assume. They were reading about events in India. The Boston Tea Party is unintelligible without knowing that tea was an Asian commodity and that the East India Company was simultaneously extracting profit from Asia and from the American colonies. Colonists compared themselves explicitly to Indians under the Company's thumb. They saw the connections. The isolation of American history as a subject of study is a modern academic choice, not an eighteenth-century reality. •       Read the Declaration, Not the Constitution: Pearsall's July 4 Prescription: Andrew asks Pearsall what she'll be doing on July 4 and suggests people should read the Constitution. Pearsall gently corrects him: the Declaration of Independence. Two very different documents from very different moments. The Declaration, published on July 4, 1776, is short, bold, and reaches toward universal ideals. The Constitution, ratified in 1788, is a compromise document about how to govern. On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, Pearsall's prescription: read the Declaration. The IndyCar races and the UFC match at the White House can wait. About the Guest Sarah Pearsall is a prize-winning historian at Johns Hopkins University and the author of Freedom Round the Globe: A World History of the American Revolution (Knopf/Penguin Random House, May 2026). She previously taught at the University of Cambridge, where she was a colleague of Christopher Clark. She grew up in the United States and lives in Baltimore, Maryland. References: •       Freedom Round the Globe: A World History of the American Revolution by Sarah M. S. Pearsall (Knopf/Penguin Random House, May 2026). •       Christopher Clark, Revolutionary Spring: Europe Aflame and the Fight for a New World, 1848–1849 — referenced in the conversation; Pearsall's former Cambridge colleague and friend. •       Episode 2924: Dominic Erdozain on To Love a Country — the morning's companion episode, directly referenced. •       Episode 2922: Alexandra Natapoff on America Unfinished — the week's America 250 series. About Keen On America Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States — hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,900 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting. WebsiteSubstackYouTubeApple PodcastsSpotify Chapters: (00:31) - Introduction: Erdozain this morning, Pearsall this afternoon (01:57) - A meta vantage point: turning the revolution inside out

Discover how donations are transforming West African communities by providing access to clean water. From saving lives to empowering women and girls, we explore the profound ripple effects of addressing the region's water crisis.Learn more at: https://www.synergyheals.org/donate SYNERGY HEALS City: Bellingham Address: 114 West Magnolia Street #400-135 Website: https://www.synergyheals.org

Defying Barriers is the memoir of a man told by his own government to vanish — and who turned the threat into a business empire spanning two countries. In this interview with Irakli, businessman and author Sam Montši recounts how a 1987 order to "disappear" from military-ruled Lesotho drove him into apartheid South Africa, where he joined the mighty South African Breweries. There, he says, "I was the first Black general manager in the SAB Group at the time. And white people, sadly, were not used to having a Black person overseeing them. So some of them behaved in an unfortunate fashion, and I had to get rid of one of them." Montši explains the operating instinct behind a portfolio that broke barriers from fishing to shipbuilding — "a business needs to move, and move fast" — and reflects candidly on succession, recalling how his son Arif joined him: "Dad, I'm coming to work with you. I'm not coming to work for you. I'm not going to carry your briefcase." He reveres Nelson Mandela as a nation builder — "we were lucky to have him when we had him" — but delivers a stinging critique of Black Economic Empowerment, charging that it "has pitted the Black man against the white person, rather than getting them to work together," and that requiring white firms to take on Black partners is "in a sense, suggesting that Black people cannot create these things themselves." Montši also shares the leadership philosophy that carried him from a Soweto childhood to West African boardrooms: "for you to shine, you must make the people that work directly under you shine." He outlines in detail the journey of crossing boundaries others said could not be crossed — and what it means to now hand the family business to the next generation.

BBC Global Disinformation reporter Jacqui Wakefield has spent a year examining the rise of two of the most influential manosphere figures. In Kenya, she met Andrew Kibe who has millions of followers online and offline. We hear how these individuals have built massive online audiences and the lucrative business behind it all. And a look at how the political fallout between Senegal's former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and President Bassirou Diomaye Faye means for the West African country. Presenter: Nkechi Ogbonna Producers: Bella Twine, Keikantse Shumba, Blessing Aderogba and Helen Oyibo Senior Producer: Charles Gitonga Technical Producer: Jonathan Mwangi Editors: Priya Sippy and Maryam Abdalla

What an amazing real and honest episode!Charli sits down with Marvellous Michael Anson, author of FIRSTBORN OF THE SUN, the epic Fantasy debut deep in West African lore and culture that will have you on the edge of your seat.Marve explains about some of the pressures of book deals but also the input she has had for her book and how she has maintained autonomy for herself throughout the process.Charli and Marve discuss the current industry climate and how she has navigated that space with a corporate mindset that has opened many doors for her.Make sure to follow @justmarvewrites for updates on the paperback release of FBOTS as well as its sequel HEIR OF THE SHADOW! This episode exclusively reveals its release date so check that at!Like, share, subscribe and sign up to Marve and Charli's newsletters for updated information!www.charliauthor.comwww.justmarve.org

Morgan grew up in a small town in Kansas. No blueprint for this. No obvious path to musical theater. She found her way to NYU, studied West African music under Valerie Naranjo — which rewired the way she hears everything — and started building relationships one sub at a time.Now she's 600 shows into the national tour of A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical. And the way she talks about this industry is the kind of honest I don't always get on this podcast.We got into some really cool things:— What she does at the kit during the show that nobody expects, and why it actually works — The subbing etiquette mistakes that quietly end reputations before they start — A blacklist situation she handled with more integrity than most veterans twice her age — What ego, patience, and sitting with uncertainty actually look like when you're learning from the people ahead of youCheck out her site: https://www.morganparkernyc.comThis Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.This is why I started Broadway Drumming 101. Not to give people a checklist. But to share access with people who figured it out — and let you hear how they actually talk about it.The video is embedded above. Audio is available on every podcast platform.If this is your first episode…welcome! Stick around.Clayton Craddock is the drummer for Cats: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. He is also the founder of Broadway Drumming 101 and the author of Broadway Bound and Beyond: A Musician's Guide to Building a Theater Career.His Broadway credits include Memphis, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Ain't Too Proud, and Cats: The Jellicle Ball, with additional credits spanning tick, tick…BOOM!, The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical, and subbing on Rent, Motown, Evita, Avenue Q, and the Hadestown tour.Clayton has appeared on The View, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, and the Tony Awards. He has performed with artists ranging from Chuck Berry and Ben E. King to Kristin Chenoweth and Norm Lewis.www.claytoncraddock.com Get full access to Broadway Drumming 101 at broadwaydrumming101.substack.com/subscribe

Morgan is the drummer on the national tour of A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical. Six hundred shows in. Almost quit drumming in high school. Grew up in a small town in Kansas with no real map for any of this. Found her way to NYU, subbed MJ and Yiddish Fiddler simultaneously, and landed a tour that's run nearly two years.Her path is not the one anybody draws up. And the way she talks about trust, subbing, ego, and what actually gets you hired — it's the kind of honesty you don't hear enough of.We also get into:* What she does at the kit during the show that nobody expects — and why it actually works* How studying West African music under Valerie Naranjo at NYU rewired the way she hears everything* The blacklist situation she handled with more integrity than most veterans twice her age* The subbing etiquette mistakes that quietly kill a reputation before it even starts* What she learned about ego, patience, and being comfortable with uncertainty from the people ahead of herEpisode #105 is out now. The video version drops this Friday on YouTube.If this is your first time here — Broadway Drumming 101 is the podcast and resource built for drummers and musicians who want to work in musical theater. New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one.Subscribe to Broadway Drumming 101 on Substack →And if the podcast has helped you — even just one episode — leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. It takes two minutes and it's the best way to help other drummers find this. It means more than you know.Clayton Craddock is the drummer for Cats: The Jellicle Ball on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. He is also the founder of Broadway Drumming 101 and the author of Broadway Bound and Beyond: A Musician's Guide to Building a Theater Career.His Broadway credits include Memphis, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Ain't Too Proud, and Cats: The Jellicle Ball, with additional credits spanning tick, tick…BOOM!, The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical, and subbing on Rent, Motown, Evita, Avenue Q, and the Hadestown tour.Clayton has appeared on The View, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, and the Tony Awards. He has performed with artists ranging from Chuck Berry and Ben E. King to Kristin Chenoweth and Norm Lewis.www.claytoncraddock.com Get full access to Broadway Drumming 101 at broadwaydrumming101.substack.com/subscribe

THIS WEEK's BIRDS: new music from Lena Bloch, Andrew McKelvey, Dave Adewumi , & more; vintage West African  music from Bah Sadio, Cameyenne Sofa, Kassé Mady Diabaté; from Benin: Gnonnas Pedro w. His Dadjes Band; vintage song from Iraqi vocalist Sita (aka Seta Hagopian); ; oud player, singer, composer Natik Awayez; recent Iraqi pop from Sozan; raga on santur played by Pt. Bhajan Sopori; salsa from Celia Cruz w. Johnny Pacheco; Joe Arroyo from Colombia; Aniceto Molina from Colombia; Billie Harris (LA post-bop from Billie Harris; plus.... so much, much, much more... Catch the BIRDS live on Friday nights, 9:00pm-MIDNIGHT (EST), in Central New York on WRFI, 88.1 FM Ithaca/ 88.5 FM Odessa;. and WORLDWIDE online via our MUSIC PLAYER at WRFI.ORG. 24/7 via PODBEAN: https://conferenceofthebirds.podbean.com via iTUNES: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conference-of-the-birds-podcast/id478688580 Also available at podomatic, Internet Archive, podtail, iheart Radio, and elsewhere. Always FREE of charge to listen to the radio program and free also to stream, download, and subscribe to the podcast online: PLAYLIST at SPINITRON: https://spinitron.com/WRFI/pl/22330233/Conference-of-the-Birds and via the Conference of the Birds page at www.WRFI.ORG https://www.wrfi.org/wrfiprograms/conferenceofthebirds/  Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/conferenceofthebirds/?ref=bookmarks Find WRFI on Radio Garden: http://radio.garden/visit/ithaca-ny/aqh8OGBR NEW MAILING ADDRESS:  Stephen Cope  @ Conference of the Birds, POBOX 428, Tivoli, NY, 12583, USA. 

In this episode of MFM Speaks Out, host Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (aka SoSaLa) speaks with internationally acclaimed trumpeter, composer, filmmaker, and educator Volker Goetze about his lifelong journey through jazz, West African griot traditions, flamenco, and socially conscious artmaking. Volker reflects on discovering jazz in Cologne through artists like Miles Davis, Sun Ra, and Don Cherry, and how music became a spiritual and emotional refuge after the loss of his father at a young age. The conversation explores his deep connection to Senegalese and Mandé music, the cultural significance of the griot tradition, and his long-running collaborations with kora masters Ablaye Cissoko and Ali Boulo Santo Cissoko. The episode also dives into the creation of Volker's current project, Flamencora — a boundary-pushing trio blending flamenco guitar, kora, and trumpet jazz improvisation. Volker discusses the rhythmic and cultural complexities of flamenco, the influence of maqam and African polyrhythms on his trumpet playing, and the challenge of building authentic cross-cultural collaborations. Upcoming Performances May 28, 2026: FlamenKora at The Drome, NYC (same venue as duo's NYC premiere with Ablaye Cissokho) 4 May 30, 2026: FlamenKora at Tempo Arts Performance Base, Kingston (renovated church with adjustable reverb for electronic music/sound installations) 4 May 2026: 20-minute performance at Emily Harvey Foundation with Johanna Roa's poem for Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (17th-century Mexican nun-intellectual); features flamenco singer Christian performing traditional siguiriya melody with Roa's text Beyond music, Volker shares insights into his documentary filmmaking, including his acclaimed film Griot and socially engaged projects focused on homelessness and displacement. The conversation closes with a candid discussion about the realities of surviving as an independent musician in New York, the changing economics of the music industry, streaming, grants, cultural funding, AI, copyright concerns, and the importance of artistic community through organizations like Musicians for Musicians. Topics Discussed Volker Goetze's early introduction to jazz in Cologne The emotional and spiritual power of improvisation Discovering West African music and the griot tradition Opening for Youssou N'Dour in Senegal The role of the griot as historian, storyteller, and cultural guardian The deep musical connections between jazz and West African traditions Falling in love with flamenco and learning its rhythmic language The creation and evolution of Flamenkora Collaborating with kora masters Ablaye Cissoko and Ali Boulo Santo Cissoko Working with legendary percussionist Mino Cinelu The influence of maqam, Indian rhythmic systems, and polyrhythms Volker's documentary films Griot and Displaced Lessons from mentors, including Markus Stockhausen and Enrique Vargas The realities of sustaining an international music career Music grants, touring economics, and the collapse of CD revenue AI, copyright, and the future of musicians' rights The importance of artistic community and Musicians for Musicians Upcoming performances in New York Artists & Influences Mentioned Miles Davis Billie Holiday Don Cherry Sun Ra Paco de Lucía Toumani Diabaté Ali Farka Touré Salif Keita Randy Weston Arturo O'Farrill Joe Lovano Subjects Covered Jazz improvisation Flamenco rhythm and harmony Kora traditions African diaspora and musical lineage Cultural exchange in music Documentary filmmaking Music activism Artist sustainability Grants and independent funding AI and copyright concerns Community building among musicians Featured Music Bétiyata Sadier Toumaranke CreditsProducer and host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLaPublisher: Musicians For Musicians (MFM), Inc.Technical support: Adam Reifsteck (MFM Board)https://musiciansformusicians.org

Last month President Trump signed an executive order designed to fast track both research and access to psychedelic drugs as treatments for mental health illnesses. The most prominent in the order was ibogaine, a drug derived from the root bark of a West African shrub, that has shown some promise in relieving the long term effects of traumatic brain injury. Madeleine Finlay talks to journalist Mattha Busby about podcaster Joe Rogan's role in the story, what else is behind the President's interest in psychedelic research, and what the order will change in practice for scientists and researchers. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

My guest for this episode is pianist, accordionist and composer Ben Rosenblum whose latest project is a musical kaleidoscopic blend of Dominican merengue, West African and Caribbean rhythms, Irish folk music, neo-soul, J-pop and hard bop and other traditions. The beautiful musical form Ben and his group of top rate, globally influenced ensemble of musicians called the Nebula Project,  has created is called “The Longest Way Round”, out now on One Trick Dog Records.  Another significant influence of note for this album is the extensive globetrotting for Rosenblum, who spends about half of his time on the road touring both with his own ensembles, and with Rickie Lee Jones, Catherine Russell and Indian singer Kiran Ahluwalia.  Here is my conversation with Ben Rosenblum about his wild and exhilarating ride across musical boundaries to create “The Longest Way Round.” 

This is a Vintage episode from 2007.Why This Episode MattersBefore celebrity chefs became mainstream brands, chefs like Morou Ouattara and Gavin Kaysen were navigating what television exposure actually meant for serious working chefs.Morou Ouattara discusses bringing West African flavors into contemporary American cuisine years before global pantry ingredients became common.Gavin Kaysen reflects on competing as a young chef on The Next Iron Chef and how it shaped his career.The conversation becomes an unexpectedly thoughtful discussion about  chef identity, and the reality behind “celebrity chef” culture.The BanterMark Pascal and Francis Schott open the show discussing the absurdity and honesty of chef awards and Anthony Bourdain's irreverent influence on food culture. They explore the economics of Michelin-starred restaurants and why greatness may not be worth it.The ConversationsChef Morou Ouattara joins The Restaurant Guys to discuss appearing on The Next Iron Chef while already running a respected restaurant. He explains why competing against accomplished chefs felt entirely different from traditional reality television, and why staying true to his culinary identity mattered more than trying to satisfy judges. Morou also shares how his restaurant, Farrah Olivia, blended American cuisine with West African spices and flavors that television competition formats often couldn't properly showcase.Later, Gavin Kaysen discusses competing as one of the youngest chefs on the show, the camaraderie among contestants, and the strange reality of being edited for national television. The conversation expands into restaurant culture, chef professionalism, and Kaysen's then-upcoming move to New York to lead Café Boulud.Timestamps00:00 — The Golden Clog Awards, Anthony Bourdain, and Michelin-star economics06:45 — Morou Ouattara joins; competing on The Next Iron Chef10:00 — Reality Cooking Shows vs. Kitchen Life11:45 — Incorporating West African spices at Farrah Olivia15:45 — Gavin Kaysen joins; Camaraderie behind the scenes of The Next Iron Chef24:00 — Reality TV editing and food television culture27:00 — San Diego's evolving restaurant scene30:30 — Gavin Kaysen's move to Café Boulud in New YorkBioMorou Ouattara is an Ivory Coast-born chef known for blending West African flavors with contemporary American cuisine at Farrah Olivia in Alexandria, Virginia. He previously led the kitchens at Red Sage and Signatures by Karam.Gavin Kaysen was named one of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs and later became one of America's most acclaimed chefs and restaurateurs. At the time of this interview, he was preparing to take over as executive chef of Café Boulud.InfoMorou Ouattara https://chefmorou.com/Gavin Kayson https://gavinkaysen.com/Café Boulud https://www.cafeboulud.com/Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regularhttps://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/Magyar Bankhttps://www.magbank.com/Stage Left Wine Shophttps://www.stageleftwineshop.com/Our PlacesStage Left Steakhttps://www.stageleft.com/Catherine Lombardi Restauranthttps://www.catherinelombardi.com/Stage Left Wineshophttps://www.stageleftwineshop.com/Reach Out to The Guys!TheGuys@restaurantguyspodcast.com

Two people in a serious condition who were evacuated from a cruise ship with a confirmed outbreak of deadly hantavirus have arrived in the Netherlands for treatment. A third passenger in a stable condition was on board an evacuation flight that has been delayed, but the flight was delayed. The MV Hondius is now sailing towards Spain's Canary Islands after being anchored for three days near Cape Verde, an archipelago nation off the West African coast. Separately, Dutch media reported on Thursday that a KLM flight attendant had been admitted to hospital in Amsterdam with hantavirus symptoms. Three people who were aboard the ship have died since it set sail from Argentina a month ago. In its latest update, the World Health Organization (WHO) said eight cases of hantavirus - three confirmed and five suspected - have so far been identified in people who were on the ship. KAN's Mark Weiss spoke with immunologist Professor Cyrille Cohen. (Photo: Reuters)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The UN is warning that there's an "unprecedented" crisis in the Persian Gulf with 20,000 sailors trapped there since the beginning of the Iran war in March. Also, eight people are now suspected to have been infected by hantavirus, a rare but severe disease onboard a cruise ship currently moored off the West African island nation of Cape Verde. And, US military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Pacific Ocean are intensifying, but the public is short on details about the operation. Plus, Scottish fans have come up with a creative way to bypass public transportation gridlock and save some cash during the World Cup by hiring a fleet of school buses. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A Dutch cruise ship at the center of a deadly Hantavirus outbreak has left the West African island of Cape Verde, bound for the Canary Islands. A new bishop will soon take over the Catholic Diocese of Honolulu. The Rainbow Warriors volleyball team receives a send-off as they leave for the NCAA semifinals in California.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The success of coffee globally is based on what coffee represents...community. A beverage that facilitates rootedness, growth, and fruiting of relationships through shared conversation over a cup in our shops or your home. But today, we are an industry. And our concerns tend to be exclusively around just the business of specialty coffee. Where is the heart?  Today I am honored and excited to present an interview with someone who is actively and tenaciously pursuing the heart of coffee in her community by honoring coffees root and growing the fruit of what it can bring to people. We are talking with Head Roaster, Co-founder, and Chief of Staff for Cxffee Black, Renata Henderson! Renata Henderson is Memphis, Tennessee's first Black female roaster and the co-founder and Chief of Staff of Cxffeeblack, the community-oriented, education-based coffee company she built alongside her husband Bartholomew Jones. Founded in 2019 on a mission to return coffee to its African roots and build an equitable Black future, Cxffeeblack made history by creating the first entirely all-Black coffee supply chain from Ethiopia to Memphis — with direct-trade relationships extending to producers like Stephen and Margaret Kuria of Liwani Estate in Nakuru, Kenya. She serves as Head Roaster, Creative Director, and HR lead, Renata brings her deep background in curriculum, instruction, and education into every dimension of Cxffeeblack, from its Specialist-in-Training internship program to the Barista Exchange Program. Her connection to coffee is deeply ancestral — rooted in Ethiopian women's 2,000-year roasting tradition and a family legacy that includes her grandfather marching alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike, canteen of coffee in hand. Under Renata and Bartholomew's leadership, Cxffeeblack has earned the 2023 Sprudgie Award for Best Film in Coffee, the 2024 Sprudgie Award for Global Notable Roaster of the Year, and the inaugural 2024 Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity Innovator of the Year award. Built with support from more than 500 community investors, Cxffeeblack's new flagship café and global roasting headquarters opened in December 2025 at 3386 Bowen Avenue in Memphis's Mitchell Heights neighborhood — celebrated with an East African coffee ceremony, live music, and a community brunch — and is now equipped with a new roaster tripling the company's capacity as it expands into Memphis grocery stores and new café partnerships across the city. Cxffeeblack has been featured in Vice, NPR, The Hill, and Black Enterprise, and has collaborated with Miir, Oatley, La Marzocco, NBA player JaeShawn Tate, and West African coffee entrepreneurs at the Black Star Line Festival. For Renata, coffee has always been more than a beverage — it is, as she says "an open air church to experience God and His goodness." We discuss: Her Grandfather's coffee and community justice that inspired her Connecting with Coffee's Origin through Cxffeeblack How Cxffeeblack Is Redefining Coffee with Heart and Justice Living Among the People They Serve in Memphis The hard part and the joyful part of coffee work from the heart Navigating Authenticity and Business Guidelines Celebrating Individuality in Coffee Spaces Personal Growth and Community Impact Links: https://www.instagram.com/cxffeeblack/ https://cxffeeblack.com/   KEYS TO THE SHOP ALSO OFFERS 1:1 CONSULTING AND COACHING! If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email  chris@keystothshop.com of book a free call now:  https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min    Related episodes:  542: Founder Friday! w/ Nori and Tin Burmudez of Corridor Flow, Lomita, CA 488: Founder Friday! Honoring Coffee's Root w/ Bartholomew Jones of Cxffee Black! 230 : Making room for Community in your Shop 279 : Founder Friday! w/ Daniel Brown and Nephthaly Leonidas of Gilly Brew Bar 451: Business Growth, Integrity, and Coffee Farmer Equity w/ Martin Mayorga of Mayorga Coffee 530: Founder Friday w/ Aisha Bullard and Modou (MAD) Diongue of Original Drip in Dakar, Senegal 352: Music, Culture, and Coffee w/ Hip Hop Artist, Propaganda 139 : Founder Friday w/ Kusanya Cafe co-founder, Phil Sipka

For Episode 173, Chris and Alex introduce the films of Michel Ocelot with this close look at the filmmaker's successful animated adventure film - loosely based on a West African folktale - Kirikou and the Sorceress (Michel Ocelot, 1998). The discussion into the film's articulation of magical realism, power, and struggle features special guest Lewis C. Seifert, who is Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Brown University. Lewis' research interests encompass early Modern France, gender and sexuality studies, folk narratives, and the environmental humanities, and he is the author of Fairy Tales, Sexuality, and Gender in France, 1690-1715: Nostalgic Utopias (Cambridge University Press, 1996) and Manning the Margins: Masculinity and Writing in Seventeenth-Century France (University of Michigan Press, 2009). Listen as the trio reflect on hyperrealism, Ocelot's expressive and experimental pictorial styles, and the structural influence of fables upon the narrative; registers of innocence and intelligence in the depiction of Kirikou; tensions between the individual and the disassociation of community, alongside the function of empathy and superstition within the status of magic; and the possible risks of reading Kirikou and the Sorceress through a predominantly orientalist and essentialist lens. **This episode was produced and edited by Menelik Thaim-Lee* **Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo** **As featured on Feedspot's 25 Best London Education Podcasts** **As featured on MillionPodcast's Best 10 UK Animation Podcasts and Best 60 Movie Podcasts in the UK**

In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard is joined by Crisis Group's deputy Sahel director Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim to discuss a major wave of coordinated attacks by the al-Qaeda affiliated Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and Tuareg rebels across Mali. They examine how the offensive unfolded, including the killing of Mali's defence minister and the fall of the strategic northern city of Kidal. They discuss the nature of the renewed cooperation between JNIM and Tuareg separatists, JNIM's goals and evolving tactics, and what the attacks mean for the junta's hold on power and Russia's role as Bamako's security partner. They also look at how, on one side, the Burkina Faso and Niger military authorities and, on the other, coastal West African states are responding amid strained relations between the Sahel's military-led governments and ECOWAS and consider where the crisis may be headed.Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.For more, check out our report “Understanding JNIM's Expansion Beyond” the and our Mali page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Investors are flocking to African residency and citizenship programs before they increase in price. In this video, you'll learn about the 8 active African residency by investment programs available today,. The case for looking here at all: pricing at a third of the global floor, ECOWAS settlement rights across 15 West African states, and some programs that could eventually unlock Schengen access.Read the full story with more details here.

Abuses to Nigeria's human rights charter for ‘freedom of religion or belief' are still prevalent today. This is particularly alarming for Christians located in the country's northern states and Middle Belt region who are at serious risk of threats, violent attacks, abductions, as well as assaults on their members of clergy and places of worship. Governance concerns at the state level, such as delayed security responses and the consequential culture of impunity that's breeding among various armed militant groups (including insurgents and bandits), are compounding this dire situation and further undermining the religious freedoms of targeted Nigerians. While the situation encompasses a wide range of complexities, which is impacting both Nigerian Christians and Muslims in certain areas of the country, it has been proven that the majority of the perpetrators' attacks are primarily based on the religious affiliations of their targeted victims. Rev. Yunusa Nmadu, CEO of Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria and partner of Voice of the Martyrs Canada (VOM Canada), recently spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa* about the intense violence and persecution presently facing followers of Jesus in Nigeria. As Rev. Yunusa sheds light on what is truly happening, he also brings clarity to the misinformation provided by the political leaders of this troubled West African nation. *The special presentation in Ottawa was presented by VOM Canada, Open Doors Canada and Cardus. Length 57 minutes Episode Notes To watch the presentation with Rev Nmadu https://vomcanada.com/cttf-videos/video/cttf-ng-2026-04-29.htm Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria www.cswng.org.ng The Voice of the Martyrs Canada www.vomcanada.org Open Doors Canada www.opendoorscanada.org Cardus www.cardus.ca Cardus Abuses to Nigeria's human rights charter for ‘freedom of religion or belief' are still prevalent today. This is particularly alarming for Christians located in the country's northern states and Middle Belt region who are at serious risk of threats, violent attacks, abductions, as well as assaults on their members of clergy and places of worship. Governance concerns at the state level, such as delayed security responses and the consequential culture of impunity that's breeding among various armed militant groups (including insurgents and bandits), are compounding this dire situation and further undermining the religious freedoms of targeted Nigerians. While the situation encompasses a wide range of complexities, which is impacting both Nigerian Christians and Muslims in certain areas of the country, it has been proven that the majority of the perpetrators' attacks are primarily based on the religious affiliations of their targeted victims. Rev. Yunusa Nmadu, CEO of Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria and partner of Voice of the Martyrs Canada (VOM Canada), recently spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa* about the intense violence and persecution presently facing followers of Jesus in Nigeria. As Rev. Yunusa sheds light on what is truly happening, he also brings clarity to the misinformation provided by the political leaders of this troubled West African nation. *The special presentation in Ottawa was presented by VOM Canada, Open Doors Canada and Cardus. Length 57 minutes Episode Notes To watch the presentation with Rev Nmadu https://vomcanada.com/cttf-videos/video/cttf-ng-2026-04-29.htm Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria www.cswng.org.ng The Voice of the Martyrs Canada www.vomcanada.org Open Doors Canada www.opendoorscanada.org Cardus www.cardus.ca

Toumani Diabaté, the most celebrated kora player of his time, passed away in July, 2024, just days before his 59thbirthday. Afropop Worldwide was blessed to call Toumani a friend for over 30 years and to interview him some 15 times, often at his home in Bamako, Mali. In this episode we celebrate a life of massive virtuosity, creativity and innovation. Toumani overcame daunting obstacles and extended the global reach of this venerable West African harp as no one else has ever done. We hear the voice and music of Toumani at many points in his storied career, along with commentary from his longtime producer and friend, Lucy Durán. Produced by Banning Eyre. APWW #879

Following a recent tour around Aotearoa and Australia playing support for Nick Cave, Lyttelton's Aldous Harding returns with her fifth album, Train On The Island on May 8. Hear two advance singles, followed by new music from Swedish pop icon Robyn and some bracing West African voodoo funk from "the Devil's Prime Minister", Antoine Dougbé.

15. HEADLINE: Al-Qaeda's Massive Military Offensive in Mali GUEST: Caleb Weiss and Bill RoggioSUMMARY: Caleb Weiss and Bill Roggio report on an unprecedented offensive by JNIM, al-Qaeda's West Africanbranch, which has blockaded Mali's capital and seized key military bases. The Malian state and Russian forces are in retreat, leaving behind significant equipment. This operation signals a major failure in intelligence and coordination.1919

On this episode, we'll travel all the way to the West African country of Liberia and learn about their popular Christmas figure, Old Man Bayka. We'll also countdown the top five songs from the Jackson 5 Christmas Album, put sone holiday cheer into your phone, learn some disturbing news about SantaCon, and we'll finally name the Scrooge segment that has no name. Download here! 00:00 – 02:08 Intro 02:08 – 05:50 We Need A Little Christmas Now 05:50 – 13:23 5 Golden Things – Jackson 5 Christmas Songs 13:23 – 17:11 All I Want For Christmas is News 17:11 – 21:48 Old Man Bayka (Christmas in Liberia) 21:48 – 23:55 The Segment With No Name…yet 23:55 – 26:23 Wrap Up 26:23 – 29:39 Outtakes “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” United States Marine Band “Jingle Bells” Performed by Kristen Nowicki (The embedded player for the episode is bellow the poll and the links) var pd_tags = new Array;pd_tags["16920490-src"]="poll-oembed-simple"; Totally Rad Christmas! Bonus: Andy Williams and the NBC Kids Easter in Rome (w/ Mike and Tim) https://totallyradchristmas.com/1776801600000 Christmas Sounds To Add to Your iPhone https://cantwaitforchristmaspod.com/2026/04/24/christmas-sounds-to-add-to-your-iphone Instructional Videos to Add Christmas Sounds to Your iPhone YouTube TikTok Tim Babb’s Kingdom Comedy: A Very EO Christmas https://youtu.be/hGUP7aqHDgk?si=QoyHaMQ8Hryqpyp1 Festive Foreign Film Fans https://www.buzzsprout.com/2181104/

This week, the battle for House control shifts to Florida as Governor DeSantis calls a special session to counter a recent Virginia constitutional amendment that could give Democrats four additional seats. While Democrats eye ten potential seat gains across Virginia and Utah, Republicans are pushing for rapid redistricting changes to protect their own advantages held in states like Texas and Ohio. FOX News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream joins the Rundown to explain why this "one-upping" strategy is leaving both parties frustrated, and the courts scrambling to define what a "compact" district actually looks like. The legal and therapeutic status of ibogaine, a Schedule 1 controlled substance, is facing a historic shift as new federal actions aim to fast-track research into psychedelics for treating veteran trauma. Veteran and No Fallen Heroes Foundation founder Whiz Buckley joins to discuss his experience using the West African compound to heal from alcoholism & PTSD, the significance of the recent presidential executive order, and his efforts to provide radical healing alternatives to the pharmaceutical approach of the VA.  PLUS, commentary by Jimmy Failla, host of FOX News Saturday Night and FOX News Radio's FOX Across America. PHOTO CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, the battle for House control shifts to Florida as Governor DeSantis calls a special session to counter a recent Virginia constitutional amendment that could give Democrats four additional seats. While Democrats eye ten potential seat gains across Virginia and Utah, Republicans are pushing for rapid redistricting changes to protect their own advantages held in states like Texas and Ohio. FOX News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream joins the Rundown to explain why this "one-upping" strategy is leaving both parties frustrated, and the courts scrambling to define what a "compact" district actually looks like. The legal and therapeutic status of ibogaine, a Schedule 1 controlled substance, is facing a historic shift as new federal actions aim to fast-track research into psychedelics for treating veteran trauma. Veteran and No Fallen Heroes Foundation founder Whiz Buckley joins to discuss his experience using the West African compound to heal from alcoholism & PTSD, the significance of the recent presidential executive order, and his efforts to provide radical healing alternatives to the pharmaceutical approach of the VA.  PLUS, commentary by Jimmy Failla, host of FOX News Saturday Night and FOX News Radio's FOX Across America. PHOTO CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Summit County Councilmember Megan McKenna recaps Wednesday's meeting including early plans for the 910 Cattle Ranch recreation management plan, Woodward Park City General Manager Gar Trayner discusses the impacts of this winter's low snowfall and warm temperatures, and Joshua Popple, executive director of the Village Bicycle Project talks about Saturday's annual bike collection event to support West Africans.

Ike's Cafe & Grill is a premier West African restaurant concept in Atlanta, described by founder Mike as a "Global Table" where traditional heritage meets modern dining. Originally founded as a neighborhood grocery by Ike Kwarteng, the brand evolved through the culinary expertise of Ama Serwah and the vision of their children. The transition from a local market to a full-service hospitality brand represents a bridge between the African diaspora and the mainstream American culinary scene. The menu at Ike's Cafe & Grill provides a comprehensive all-day dining experience, featuring breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This strategic expansion was designed to highlight the versatility of Ghanaian and Nigerian flavors, ranging from morning coffee programs using high-quality African beans to savory evening entrees. For first-time guests, the essential "must-try" dishes include Smoky Jollof Rice, Spicy Beef Suya, and Egusi Soup. Mike's personal favorite, the Lamb Suya or Waakye, reflects the authentic street food culture of West Africa. The brand identity of Ike's is centered on "Cultured Comfort," an atmosphere that combines vibrant aesthetics with soulful hospitality. This unique vibe has fueled the brand's rapid expansion across Georgia, moving from ghost kitchens in Marietta to a 3,200-square-foot flagship dining room. The growth strategy focuses on scalability and community engagement, proving that high-end West African food has massive market appeal. Looking toward the future, Ike's Cafe & Grill is reaching new milestones with the grand opening of its full-service Marietta location on May 8, 2026, and a highly anticipated Edgewood flagship featuring a rooftop bar. The brand has also achieved international growth by opening a location in Kumasi, Ghana, effectively connecting the Atlanta food scene back to its roots. For those looking to experience the best African food in Atlanta, stay connected via their official website at https://www.ikescafe.com or follow @IkesCafeAndGrill on social media to track their latest openings in Norcross, Marietta, and Edgewood. - Ready to ignite the spark that levels up your entire life? Meet Ash Brown—the American powerhouse, motivational architect, and ultimate hype-woman dedicated to your personal and professional evolution. Ash is far more than a voice in the personal development space; she is a trusted ally who delivers a masterclass in real-talk wisdom and infectious energy. Whether you are navigating a crossroads or ready to scale your grandest ambitions, Ash fuels your journey with a high-octane blend of heart and hustle.

How the Gullah Geechee connect to nature and respect our environment is often overlooked. The fact is that our West African roots and the skills that our ancestors used to live off of the land and sea were not only time proven, but they were passed down through the generations as a matter of survival. Returning to natural remedies and living off the land was always how it was done and it's exactly what we were meant to do.

Check out host Bidemi Ologunde's new show: The Work Ethic Podcast, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.Email: bidemiologunde@gmail.comIn this episode, host Bidemi Ologunde sits down with entrepreneur Latifa Seini to explore the journey behind Lembrih, a platform rooted in African creativity, ethical commerce, and community impact. Drawing from her West African background and founder experience, Latifa reflects on what inspired her to build beyond traditional marketplaces, how she uses social media and digital tools to grow visibility and trust, and what it means to create a business with both cultural and economic purpose. How do you turn heritage into innovation? What does it take to build technology that truly serves artisans and small brands? And how can founders balance ambition, identity, and impact while building for the future?Sponsors and partners:Promeed: 100% mulberry silk pillowcases and bedding that feel incredibly soft, stay breathable, and are naturally gentle on hair and skin.SurviveX: professional-grade FSA/HSA eligible first aid and preparedness kits designed in Virginia, USA and produced in an FDA-registered facility.Alison US CA: Alison is the world's largest free online learning and skills-training platform, helping more than 50 million learners in 193+ countries build career-ready skills with 6,000+ free courses, certificates, and diplomas.eSign (iOS only): eSign is a clean, privacy-first document-signing app that works entirely on your device, letting you sign PDFs, DOCX files, images, and scans, edit and assemble pages, and export crisp 300 DPI PDFs in seconds, without accounts, cloud uploads, or compromising sensitive documents.Support the show

Kwadwo Som-Pimpong started making furniture in 2015 because he bought a house with no furniture and decided to build his own. A decade later, he runs Crafted Glory, a small-batch luxury furniture brand blending West African artistry with Scandinavian design, while working 10-hour shifts at Eaton as a fabrication supervisor. In this episode, Chris sits down with Kwadwo to trace the journey from those first end tables built in a garage to a full-scale business. The conversation covers how Kwadwo manages the constraints of four to five hours in the shop each day, including three strategies he has put in place, a clipboard for tracking time and tasks, using Claude to reflect and connect the dots on the 40-minute drive home, and a networking story from New York that turned one photo on Instagram into a series of interior design projects. He also walks through the Echoes of the Forest project, two pieces made from trees uprooted by Hurricane Helene, one already installed in Biltmore Forest Town Hall and one headed for Asheville's historic YMI Cultural Center. In this episode, find out: How Kwadwo got into furniture making in 2015 out of necessity, moving into a house with no furniture and discovering he'd rather build his own, and how that organic beginning grew into Crafted Glory How his dual engineering degree from Carnegie Mellon gives him the mindset and the resilience to keep working through problems that feel unsolvable What he observed visiting Hellman Chang's manufacturing plant in Georgia, component part numbers, scan systems, work cells, and 5S, and how it changed what scaling from craft to production can look like while keeping the handmade element intact How 12 years as a fabrication supervisor at Eaton translated directly into running his own team, applying method sheets and time studies, and building standard operations that let someone else step in and do what he does The three strategies he uses to manage four to five hours of shop time per day alongside a 10-hour shift: a clipboard for time tracking, Claude for end-of-day reflection, and deliberate networking that turned one New York visit into a pipeline of interior design projects The Echoes of the Forest project, how Hurricane Helene uprooted thousands of trees across Asheville and led to two commissions: a mantle from a fallen walnut tree installed in Biltmore Forest Town Hall, and an outdoor bench headed for the historic YMI Cultural Center Enjoying the show? Please leave us a review here. Even one sentence helps. It's feedback from Manufacturing All-Stars like you that keeps us going! Tweetable Quotes: “Now I see where I'm spending my time, I see how long each piece takes me. If I know the time, that translates into my pricing. If I get my pricing right, that moves me closer to being free from working another job.” “I use AI a lot in helping with organization — Claude specifically. At the end of the day, on my 40-minute drive home, I dictate what happened in the studio, my reflections, the challenges I faced. I love how Claude draws connections and builds on your whole story, your whole journey.” “I aspire to have an operation where I still maintain the craft element of what I'm doing, but it is systematized such that I can step away, bring someone in, train them to the documentation, and they can come in and do the same thing that I do.” Links & mentions: Crafted Glory, small batch luxury handmade furniture brand that crafts sustainable hardwood artistic furniture inspired by West African artistry and Scandanavian design Biscuit Head, an incredible biscuit-centric breakfast joint with roots in Asheville, NC Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty. Mentioned in this episode:Mfg Happy Hour's GOLDEN STATE TAKEOVER TourDon't miss Manufacturing Happy Hour on tour this May 2026 as we head across the state of California. We'll be hitting the Bay Area on 5/19, Modesto on 5/20, and Los Angeles on 5/21. Live podcasts and parties in every city. Get your tickets today.Manufacturing Happy Hour on Tour

Diadie Bathily is on a mission to share his culture. Born in Ivory Coast, he's taken his knowledge of traditional West African dance around the world. That love for dance and culture led him to call St. Louis home and thrusted him into the spotlight at the 98th Academy Awards, alongside ballet star Misty Copeland, for a performance of “I Lied to You” from the “Sinners” soundtrack. Bathily shares what the Oscars performance means to him, his mission to share West African cultures and leading his dance company Afriky Lolo for 20 years.

Are cemeteries really the end of the story… or just the beginning? In this unsettling episode of The Box of Oddities, Kat and Jethro wander into places where the boundary between the living and the dead feels dangerously thin. From Kansas' infamous Stull Cemetery—rumored to conceal a sealed staircase to somewhere no one should go—to Massachusetts' eerie Spider Gate, where paths seem to pull you inward, this episode explores real locations tied to chilling legends of portals, watchers, and something waiting just beyond the veil. Along the way, you'll hear accounts of ghostly figures, missing time, red eyes in the dark, and the unsettling idea that some gates don't just keep things out… they may be holding something in. Is it folklore? Psychology? Or something far stranger? Then, things take a sharp turn into the bizarre history of hair restoration—from cow licks and pigeon poop to ancient Egyptian remedies that will make you question everything you thought you knew about baldness. Plus, Kat shares a fascinating (and slightly terrifying) look at Caribbean Moko Jumbies—towering stilt walkers rooted in West African spiritual traditions, believed to protect communities from unseen forces… whether your nervous system agrees or not. Dark, strange, funny, and just a little unsettling—this episode reminds us that some places aren't just remembered… they remember back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Strait of Hormuz continues to be a chokepoint for oil, our Global Head of Fixed Income Research Andrew Sheets and our Head of Commodity Research Martijn Rats discuss possible outcomes for the interconnected market.Read more insights from Morgan Stanley.----- Transcript -----Andrew Sheets: Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Andrew Sheets, Global Head of Fixed Income Research at Morgan Stanley. Martijn Rats: I'm Martijn Rats, Head of Commodity Research at Morgan Stanley. Andrew Sheets: And today in the program: Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz remain restricted. The implications for global energy markets and what may lie ahead.It's Wednesday, April 1st at 2pm in London. So, Martijn, it's great to sit down with you again. Three weeks ago, we were having this conversation; a conversation that was a little bit alarming about the scale of the disruption of the oil market with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and how that could have ripple effects through the global economy. Three weeks later, oil is still not flowing. What is happening? And what has maybe surprised you? Or been in line with expectations over the last couple of weeks? Martijn Rats: Yeah. Many things have been in line with expectations, in the sense that we're seeing the effects of the closure of the strait the earliest in regions that are physically the closest to the strait. So, we saw the first examples of physical shortages in, say, the west coast of India. Then we saw examples from the east coast of India From there on it's reverberated throughout Asia, where now governments have announced a whole host of. Effectively, energy demand, uh, management measures, uh, work from home, kids staying at home from school, um, cancellation of flights. There are quite many through, through Asia Also in Asia, we're seeing the type of prices that you would expect with this situation. Bunker fuel for shipping, somewhere between $150 to $200 a barrel. Jet fuel over $200 a barrel. Naphta going into Japan; naphta normally trades well below the headline price of Brent. Now $130 a barrel, that's more than double what it was in February. So, those things tell the story of this historic event. What has been surprising on the other end is how slow the reaction has been in many of the oil prices that we track the most. Like… Andrew Sheets: The numbers people will see on the news. You know, it's $100 a barrel maybe as we're talking. Martijn Rats: Yeah. It's strange to see jet fuel cargoes in Rotterdam more than $200 a barrel, but then the front month Brent future only trading at [$]100. That spread is historically wide and very surprising. But look, there are some reasons for it. The crude market had more buffers. There are a few other things. But how slow Brent futures have rallied? That has been somewhat surprising. Andrew Sheets: But you know, from those other prices you mentioned, those prices in Asia, those prices in Rotterdam that are maybe higher than the numbers that people might see on the news or on a financial website. Is it fair to say that in your mind that's sending a signal that this is a market that really is being affected by this? And being affected maybe in a larger way than the headline oil price might suggest? Martijn Rats: Oh, clearly. Look, the oil market is full with small price signals that tell the story of the underlying plumbing of the oil market. So, you can look at price differential. So, physically delivered cargoes versus financially traded futures. West African oil versus North Sea oil. Brazilian oil versus North Sea oil. Oil for immediate physical delivery versus the futures contract that trades a month out. And many of those spreads have rallied to all time highs. That is no exaggeration. And so, in an underlying sense, the stress in the market is clearly there. It is just that in front of Brent futures, which is the world's preferred speculative instrument to express a financial view on oil. Yeah, there the impact has been slower to come. But you're now seeing a lot of Asian refineries bidding for crudes that are further away in the Atlantic basin. So, demand is spreading to further away regions. And that should over time still put upward pressure on Brent. Andrew Sheets: In our first conversation, you know, you had this great walkthrough of both just putting the scale of this disruption in the Strait of Hormuz into the global context. How many barrels we're talking about, how that's a share of the global market. Maybe just might be helpful to revisit those numbers again. And also, some of the mitigation factors. You know, we talked about – well maybe we could release reserves, maybe some pipelines could be rerouted. Based on what you're currently seeing on the ground, what is this disruption looking like? Martijn Rats: Yeah, so to put things in context, global oil consumption is a bit more than 100 million barrels a day. That number lives in a lot of people's heads. But if you look at the market that is critical for price formation, that's really the seaborne market. You can imagine that if, say you're in China, and you have a shortage. But there is a pipeline from Canada into the United States – that pipeline's not really going to help you. What you need is a cargo that can be delivered to a port in Shanghai. So, the seaborne market is where prices are formed. That is roughly a 60 million barrel a day market, of which 20 million barrels a day flows through the Strait of Hormuz. So, for the relative market, the Strait of Hormuz is about a third. It's very, very large. Now, out of that 20 million barrel a day that is, in principle, in scope, there is still a little bit of Iranian oil flowing through. That continues. They let their own cargo through. Then Saudi Arabia has the East-West pipeline. They can divert some oil from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. That's about 4 million barrels a day, incremental on top of the flow that already exist on that pipeline. The UAE has a pipeline that can divert half a million barrel a day. But you are still left with a problem that is in the order of 14-ish million barrels a day. You're going to have some SPR releases to offset that a little bit. But global SPRs can flow maybe 1 to 2 million barrels a day. You're very quickly left with a double digit shortage – and that is historically large… Andrew Sheets: And just to take it to history, I mean, again, if we were placing a 14 million barrel a day disruption in the context of some of these historical oil disruptions that people might have a memory of – what is the relative scale? Martijn Rats: Yeah. This is at the heart of why this is such a difficult period to manage. Like, normally we care about imbalances of 0.5 to 1 million. That gets interesting for oil analysts. At a million, you can expect prices to move. If you have dislocations in supply and amount of, say, 2 to 3 million barrels a day, you have historically epic moves that we talk about for decades, literally. Like in 2008, oil fell from $130 a barrel to [$]30 on the basis of two to three quarters of 2 million barrel a day oversupply. In 2022, around the Ukraine invasion, oil went from 60-70 bucks to something like [$]130 at the peak on the basis of the expectation, but not realized. This was just an expectation that Russia would lose 3 million barrels a day of productive capacity. And so, 2 to 3 million barrels a day normally already gets us to these outsized moves. And so, this event is four, five times larger than that. That means we don't have historical reference for what's currently happening. Andrew Sheets: I guess I'd like to now focus on the future and maybe I'll ask you to summarize two highly complex scenarios in a[n] overly simplified way. But let's say tonight we get an announcement that hostilities have ceased, that the strait is open, that oil can flow again. Or a second scenario where it's another three weeks from now, we're having this conversation again, and the strait is still closed. Could you just kind of help listeners understand what the energy market could look like under each of those scenarios? Martijn Rats: Yeah. So maybe to start off with the latter one. Because from an analytical perspective, that one is perhaps a bit easier. Look, if the Strait stays closed, at some point, consumption needs to decline. Andrew Sheets: Significantly. Martijn Rats: Yeah, significantly. We need demand destruction. Now that's easier said than done. Who gets to consume in those type of environments – are those who are willing to pay the most. And that means that certain consumers need to be priced out of the market. We tried to answer this question in 2022, and the collective answer that we all came up with is that you need prices for Brent – in money of the day – $150 or something thereabouts. That is not an exaggeration. Now, let's all hope we can avoid that scenario because that is… You know, that looks like a spectacular price. But that is not a beneficial scenario for anybody in the economy.The other scenario is more interesting, and it can actually be split in sort of two sub scenarios… Andrew Sheets: And this is the scenario where actually stuff starts flowing tomorrow. Martijn Rats: Exactly, exactly. If it completely flows like it always did – sure, we go back to the situation we had before these events. Brent can fall substantially – 70 bucks. Before these events we thought the oil market would be oversupplied. Who knows? True freedom of navigation may be even lower. But, at the moment, that doesn't quite look like that will be the scenario that's in front of us. What seems to be emerging is an outcome whereby this could deescalate but leave the Iranian regime structurally in control of the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz. And if the Iranian regime continues to manage the flow as they currently do – cargo by cargo. Because there are some cargoes trickling out and there is a process that seems to be established for it. There seems to be a toll that seems to be paid. And if it remains that sort of relatively heavy handed -- This cargo goes, that cargo doesn't. Given that that will then manage 20 percent of global oil supply, that is not the same oil market that we had before. Like all of OPEC spare capacity would be behind this system. Would that spare capacity be available in the case of an emergency? Maybe, maybe not. This is only one of many questions. But if the Iranians stay in control of the strait, we will not return to the oil market that we once knew. Andrew Sheets: And is that fair to say we might need a higher, long-term oil price? A higher risk premium in future oil prices to offset some of that? Martijn Rats: Yes. I would say that that is very likely. First, a lot of the supply would be fundamentally less reliable. Second, we would have de minimis effective spare capacity in the system. Thirdly, if this is the scenario we are left with, that creates an enormous incentive for countries to start expanding their strategic storages. And building strategic inventories is like exerting demand. China has built a lot of strategic storage over the last two years. They are now in a better shape than if they hadn't. In the west, we've historically had strategic storage. But India for example, has none. And so, the rest of Southeast Asia, no strategic storage; a lot of strategic storage buying that will is price supportive. And also, look, the prices that we care about are the price of Brent and WTI, and they are not behind the Strait of Hormuz. They have higher security of delivery. You can totally see how refineries would be willing to pay premium for those crudes relative to others. So, when you add all of that up, it leaves you with a higher risk premium. That people would pay particularly for the crudes that form our perceptions about the oil market, Andrew Sheets: Martijn, one final question I'd love to ask you about is how the U.S. fits into all of this. You know, you do encounter this perception that the U.S. is energy independent. It produces a lot of oil. It's net energy neutral in terms of its imports-exports. You can correct me to the extent that's correct. But to what extent do you think it's true that the U.S. is more isolated energy wise from what's going on? And to what extent do you think that that could be a little bit misleading given a global interconnected market? Martijn Rats: Look, the United States is in a better position than many other countries, that's for sure. China, it's a very large importer of oil Europe, very large importer of oil, uh, and at least the United States has, has a much bigger base of its own production. Um, But the practical reality is also that that is, I would just say, mostly sort of a volume argument, but not a price argument. The United States is a net exporter of oil. But that is a net effect after very large imports and very large exports. It's just that the exports are a little bit bigger than the imports… Andrew Sheets: So, it's a lot of flow in both directions… Martijn Rats: There is an enormous flow in both directions and that connects the United States with the rest of the world. In the end, in the seaborne market, there really is only one oil price and we all pay it, including the United States. But nevertheless, relative to other parts of the world, yeah, better positioned, Andrew Sheets: But still not immune from what's going on. Martijn Rats: No, no. We're all connected. Andrew Sheets: Martin, it's been wonderful talking with you and while I hope to catch up with you again soon, if we're not talking again in three weeks, it maybe is a good sign. Martijn Rats: Might be. Thank you, Andrew. Andrew Sheets: And thank you, as always, for your time. If you find Thoughts on the Market useful, let us know by leaving a review wherever you listen. And also, tell a friend or colleague about us today.

In this episode, Rana sits down with storyteller, speaker, and podcast host, Kadi Cisse, for a powerful conversation about identity, independence, grief, purpose, and becoming who you really are. Kadi shares her journey growing up as a first-generation American raised by West African immigrant parents, and how being the "independent child" shaped the way she approached life, relationships, and success. She opens up about loss, navigating life after losing her father, and how many of us who are seen as "strong" often learn how to survive before we ever learn how to feel. Together, Rana and Kadi talk about the identity crisis that many high-achieving people face when they realize their job title is not their purpose, why unprocessed emotions eventually show up in our lives, and how spirituality, self-awareness, and honesty with yourself are often the real keys to growth. Kadi also shares wisdom from her platform Ask Kadi: The Voice of Reason, where she uses humor, honesty, and real-life experience to help people navigate relationships, self-worth, and personal growth. This episode is about resilience, truth, self-discovery, and the journey of becoming who you were always meant to be. In this episode, we talk about: Growing up first-generation with immigrant parents Being the "independent child" Grief and losing parents Emotional vs logical coping Layoffs and career pivots Job titles vs purpose Identity and self-discovery Spirituality and self-awareness Relationships and self-worth Building the right circle Learning to take up space Becoming who you really are Key takeaway: You can build a successful life, a great career, and still reach a point where you have to ask yourself, "But who am I really, and what am I actually here to do?" FIND KADI ON: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xo.kadi_ Website: www.askkadi.com

Grab a beer and join us tonight as we cover the folklore of Trinidad! We're diving into six figures from one of the most culturally mixed islands in the Caribbean — the Soucouyant, a skin-shedding vampire who flies through the night as a ball of fire; the Douens, faceless spirits of unbaptized children with backwards feet; La Diablesse, a beautiful woman with a cow's hoof hidden under her dress who lures men into the forest; Gang Gang Sara, a woman who flew across the Atlantic from Africa and lost her power; the Duppy Baby, a roadside spirit that grows heavier the longer you hold it; and the silk cotton tree that connects all of them. West African tradition, French Catholic structure, and centuries of survival all compressed into the stories people in Trinidad still tell their kids today. https://www.necrnomipod.com https://www.patreon.com/necronomipod Sponsored by BetterHelp: https://www.betterhelp.com/necro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices