‘AFRICAN PRESENCE’ SPECIAL:  INTRODUCTION TO THE AFROBEATS GENRE BY KATHRIN THOMAS

Keeping the energy alive with another ‘African Presence’ special broadcast, WeltBeat host and selector Jean Trouillet hands over the controls in this one. After inviting Dr. Hauke Dorsch, director of the African Music Archive (AMA) at the University of Mainz, to his studio for episode number #426, we now get a two-hour introduction to the Afrobeats genre delivered to our doorstep, selected and presented by Kathrin Thomas. An undergraduate student of Ethnology at the University of Mainz, Kathrin invites us to explore the flourishing Afrobeats genre, originally rooted in Ghana and Nigeria. The show also includes interviews with a host of admirers and experts of the genre either studying or teaching at the University of Mainz, who share their insights on this global phenomenon.