Spotify hosts podcast conversations in Johannesburg
[Johannesburg] 12 December 2023 – Fueling the passion for podcasts in South Africa requires a supportive community where enthusiasts can share episodes, connect with creators, and discover new shows through curated playlists. This necessitated the event by Spotify to host podcast conversations in Johannesburg, South Africa recently.
The Spotify Podcast Conversations event was anchored by MantsoePout of Moments with Mantsoe alongside Lesedi Mogoatlhe, host and editor of the award-winning podcast, Radio Workshop. The event which gathered new and seasoned podcast listeners created a space for the exchange of ideas over local and international podcast content. On the discussion menu at the event were the full season of “The Retrievals”, “What Now? with Trevor Noah’s episode two with Kerry Washington”, “So This is Love’s episode ten on Waithera & J.P.” and “Outspoken Owls’s episode two on dating”. The guests included media, influencers and panelists, Katie Mohamed, Lynn Forbes and renowned Kenyan podcaster Julia Gaitho.
The Retrievals podcast, a New York Times and Serial production currently streaming on Spotify, is a five-part narrative series that investigates the shocking events that unfolded at a fertility clinic at Yale University. At the core of the podcast is a story about the dismissal of women’s pain and the overall treatment of women and their bodies within the health system itself. Guests shared that while the information around fertility is readily available, the podcast manages to shed light on some of the difficulties women face during fertility procedures.
“Podcast creators rely on a community of listeners to engage with their content in order to thrive. The Spotify Podcast Conversations was initiated with this specific community in mind and a desire to bring it together in one room in order to reflect meaningfully about the content,” says Ncebakazi Manzi, Spotify’s Sub Saharan Africa Podcast Manager.
The discussion continued, zooming in on What Now? with Trevor Noah’s episode 2 with Kerry Washington. On the episode, Trevor and Kerry unpack the shocking family secret Kerry shares in her newly published memoir, Thicker than Water. The passionate discussion around this episode was eye opening with guests asking each other crucial questions around celebrity-led podcasts and the authenticity of content for this kind of podcasts. Another thread of the discussion around the podcast was Trevor Noah’s ability to demonstrate genuine empathy for his guests thus giving his guests a safe space to be vulnerable.
The same sentiments were echoed for Julia Gaitho when the discussion shifted to focus on “So This is Love’s episode ten” on Waithera & J.P. “So This Is Love” is a podcast about love, the loss of love, heartbreak and the meeting of self. Using a pseudonym in the episode, Waithera narrates a story of friendship, deeply interwoven with a tale of love and romance that spins over a fifteen-year period with a man she fondly refers to as J.P. Waithera’s narration calls out how elation is quickly replaced by anguish as the relationship evolves between them.
Guests pointed out the journey which Julia Gaitho travels with Waithera painting a picture so relatable, yet evoking emotions and past experiences one would rather forget. Its relatability, and resonance with a variety of audiences might be one of the reasons why So This Is Love is the top most streamed podcast in Kenya.
Katie Mohamed and Lynn Forbes’s podcast “Outspoken Owls’s episode two” on dating closed the discussion for the evening. The host’s candid conversations stood out for most of the guests while others pointed out the episode’s immaculate production. Outspoken Owls reframes the narrative of what it means to be a middle-aged woman covering topics such as aging, menopause and sex.
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Photo credit: Spotify
Caption: Spotify hosts podcast conversations in Johannesburg