Thomas Gesthuizen (Jumanne) grew up in the Netherlands in the 1980s. His interest in music was sparked by the rise of hip hop and electronic music. Samples in hip hop productions also brought him to jazz, soul and funk. During study trips to East Africa in the early ‘90s, he was exposed to African popular music. Around 1996, he was given a monthly residence as DJ Jumanne at a Senegalese-Ivorian party in the Netherlands where he played rumba, zouglou, mbalax and other African dance music off cassettes, CDs, minidiscs and vinyl. In 1997, he started Africanhiphop.com, the first website and online community exclusively dedicated to urban African music. As a producer of monthly radio shows, he is ahead of the curve with new sounds from Africa on Dutch public radio (including VPRO, FunX, Red Light Radio and currently Echobox). In recent years, he has worked as a researcher and curator of rereleases of vintage African, Surinamese and Antillean music for labels like Strut, Soundway, Rush Hour and Vintage Voudou.