Where Music Tells the Story of the World
Now available at www.afropop.org/hipdeep
Afropop Worldwide has released the Beta version of its media-rich new website to the public, a bold step towards expanding the non-profit organization’s mission of connecting Americans and the global on-line community to Africa and the world through new digital and social media. The website is dedicated to the humanities-themed series, Hip Deep that is part of the Afropop Worldwide weekly radio series hosted by Georges Collinet and distributed by Public Radio International to over 110 stations in the U.S.
In 2004, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Afropop Worldwide inaugurated a unique series of one-hour radio programs that use music to reveal deep truths about Africa and its worldwide diaspora. Created in collaboration with ground-breaking scholars, Hip Deep programs explore history, faith, literature, politics, ethnic identity and social evolution. From “The Musical Legacy of Al-Andalus” to the “Liberation of the Drum in Cuba,” to the rise of the Zulu nation in southern Africa, Hip Deep places music center stage in crucial historical narratives, many of which have been routinely overlooked in popular American media.
The Hip Deep idea worked from the start. The NEH has now funded the series five times over the course of five highly competitive grant rounds. This week, Afropop Worldwide unveils a state-of-the-art website that pulls together nearly 60 hours of Hip Deep programming, along with detailed text features, interviews, discographies, vivid photography, and much more. Users can listen to any program in the series, while browsing to related programs and materials, and engage with Hip Deep fans around the world in commentary and dialogue. The interface is clean, intuitive, responsive and visually rich. It provides discussion space for each available element. Users can easily share what interests them via links to a full complement of social media, including Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. In short, no other website, radio or television program today offers such an extensive and accessible resource on the music and history of Africa and its diaspora.
Afropop Worldwide Executive Producer Sean Barlow says “Feedback from our listeners about Hip Deep programs has always been enthusiastic. Now that all the programs are available in one attractive, user-friendly environment, we are poised to bring this engaging, humanities-rich content to new audiences and communities. Anyone who experiences Hip Deep will soon discover that it is hip to be deep.”
“We’ve always been entertainers,” says veteran Afropop producer Banning Eyre. “But Hip Deep lets us use that experiential hook-singing, dancing, letting go–to take people to a place of discovery. All these programs are really part of one interconnected narrative-how the dissemination of African diaspora culture has shaped the world we live in every day. You can’t help but be surprised, and often blown away, by the revelations of Hip Deep.”
Thomas C. Phelps, Director of the Division of Public Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities, says “Afropop Worldwide has made significant strides with NEH support in recent years in contextualizing and interpreting the importance of the music cultures of Africa and the African diasposra for American audiences. The new website has improved content and database management, user search capabilities and interactivity, and a wealth of material developed for nearly sixty shows with earlier NEH support. We, too, believe this richer website will attract wider, more diverse audiences.”
Celebrated as a driver of innovation in public media, Public Radio International was founded in 1983 to diversify and expand the content available on public platforms, enabling U.S. listeners to “hear a different voice™” and to connect with one another and the larger world. PRI identifies critical but unmet content needs and partnering with producers, stations, digital networks and funders to develop multi-platform resources to meet those needs. PRI supports the creation and distribution of content that would otherwise be unavailable and that brings new voices, global journalism and cultural perspectives to the American public. PRI content is available on pri.org and via podcasts, and is broadcast on 832 public radio stations. More than 13 million people access PRI content each week through these sources.
Melinda Ward, PRI’s Senior VP for Content and Development Strategy, says “Afropop Worldwide has earned a strong reputation for entertaining and engaging our listeners with the dynamic world of African and diaspora music. We are delighted that the new Hip Deep web site takes that tradition in exciting new directions as listeners can now easily find related Hip Deep programs and read illuminating interviews and features that deepen their appreciation. We are proud that Afropop Worldwide’s Hip Deep series is part of PRI’s portfolio of programs that invite listeners to hear different voices with content that provides unique perspectives on our interdependent world.”
Hip Deep programs draw on the work of over 75 leading scholars, some from the world’s most prestigious universities, and others who have spent their lives immersed in the music scenes we cover. Programs are crafted by seven Afropop producers, including Afropop’s most experienced creative team and the originators of Hip Deep, Sean Barlow, Banning Eyre and Ned Sublette. Productions reflect the experience and expertise of Afropop’s proven engineering team, led by Michael Jones, web Project Director Matt Payne, and of course, Afropop’s beloved host Georges Collinet, whose voice interweaves all Hip Deep narratives. Launched in 1988, Afropop Worldwide was the first nationally syndicated media showcase for contemporary African music and has aired continuously since then. In addition to the U.S., the show airs in Europe and on U.N. peace keeping stations in Africa.
Christopher Dunn, Associate Professor of Brazilian Literary and Cultural Studies at Tulane University and Hip Deep scholar says, “I will use this resource, both as a fan of the show and as an educator. You have provided incredibly rich, up-to-date source material that will no doubt be useful for general audience enthusiasts as well as specialized researchers of musical traditions of Africa and the African Diaspora.”
The Hip Deep site was developed in collaboration with New York based Larson Associates, which has built multi-media web applications for Carnegie Hall, Nonesuch Records, and the City of San Francisco among other clients. “We’re enormously proud to be associated with this project,” says Larson Associates Principal Larry Larson. “The site has gelled into a truly rich showpiece, finally revealing the true depth of content that Afropop provides to web users around the world.”
Afropop Worldwide is an acclaimed nationally syndicated public radio program hosted by Georges Collinet, afropop.org web site, weekly e-Newsletter, archive of 25 years of research materials, web-based video series, Afropop Hall of Fame honoring ceremony–all dedicated to promoting recognition and enjoyment of the contemporary musical cultures of Africa and the African Diaspora.
The National Endowment for the Humanities’ Division of Public Programs provides opportunities for millions of Americans to engage in lifelong learning through the exploration of significant humanities works, ideas, and events. By encouraging applicants to envision new ways of bridging the gap between the academy and the public, the division has been able to fund a range of projects that reach widely throughout the country and that engage diverse audiences. Through a variety of formats-interpretation at historic sites, community projects, television and radio productions, museum exhibitions, websites and digital media, and other innovative programs-the division’s projects offer people new perspectives on familiar topics and deepen public understanding of the humanities.
