ANN - Let’s do an encore!!!

As March goes, this was a very nice one for Africa Night Nijmegen. After the severe cold breeze of February that kept many people indoors, it was very satisfying to see people come out in good numbers this time around to enjoy the 5th round of Africa Night Nijmegen. Spring is around the corner and you can feel it everywhere.  There was a spring in our steps last Saturday because, even though it started quietly, the night went as smooth as can be. There was a very curious phenomenon last Saturday. Less people than usual hung around the bar than usual.  That surely meant a quiet night at the bar, which is not always a good thing! The DJ was on top of his game and the audience seemed to really warm up to him.

It was a nice mix of all ages and races. As always you had the odd situations of some people coming to an Africa Night and expecting only South American music to be played!  We can understand the confusion though. Amanne, where ANN is held, is a place where various South American dance lessons and instructions are given. One lady was virtually in shock when she realised the music was not going to be only salsa. She thought it was salsa night and had her salsa dancing shoes on. But all credit to her and her friend, they stayed almost the whole night even though they were the first 2 people to arrive. They remarked that they were pleasantly surprised and we could expect them regularly.

Like we already remarked on our Facebook page, Africa Night Nijmegen is a work in progress. It is progressing bit by bit. Some people expect it to already be at par with its big sister Africa Night Tilburg. But ANT has been on for about 14 years while ANN is just being held for only the 5th time. With the support of the well-wishers, we are sure ANN will become another signature brand in the Africa Night's quest to entertain the people.

Be sure to visit the ANN website nijmegen.africanight.nl for all the dates. Let’s do an encore in April.

AfriCaniValentine Night Tilburg & numbers

Funny thing happened last Saturday at the end of Africa Night Tilburg. Every time an Africa Night finishes and the last of our guests has left, we always sit, have a drink and do a post-mortem of how the night went. ” We” comprise of the Africa Night crew and the crew of the hosting hall. This time around we just had a seemingly successful double themed (Carnival & Valentine) Africa Night Tilburg. We were mildly surprised when the owner of the hall said it was one the least lucrative Africa Nights ever for him. He thought this was due to the lower attendance. Lower attendance? We think like us, he has been spoilt in the last months! Of course the attendance was a bit lower this time. We had the carnival in Brabant to compete with. It is like pitting the Lilliput against the Goliath. That was a battle Africa Night Tilburg was never going to win.

It is funny because when we got home, we were able to compare the figures of this February 2012 with all the previous Februaries. February has traditionally being the worst month in terms of attendance for Africa Night since it began nearly 14 years ago. But with an attendance of just above 250 people, it was the best February by far ever! It is a figure that is 100 more than in 2011 which was also the highest at the time. So if this February is going to be the worst in terms of figures in 2012, we are in for another special year indeed.

Only a couple of people came in their carnival costumes but there were a couple who came in red, the Valentine colour. Maybe it was because of the torrential rain.  However, the show passed on as we planned and towards the end, we added a touch of romance to the night by ditching out red tulips to the partygoers. In all it was another Africa Night to be proud of and the smile on the faces of our guests at the end of the night was proof that we could go home satisfied. The next show is Africa Night Nijmegen on the 3rd of March. We invite you all to come and party with us.

Africa Night Nijmegen and Mother Nature

When an Africa Night has faced the icy weather in the past, there was usually a winner. Africa Night always wins the battle without a shred of a doubt. But then we are talking of the mother of them all Africa Night Tilburg (ANT).  Whatever nature threw at ANT, it shrugged and the crowd always would pull a long tongue and just came and did their thing. But now Africa Night Tilburg has a little sister by the name of Africa Night Nijmegen (ANN) and just in its 4th month of existence, it got into a mammoth battle with Mother Nature. 

Europe is going through a very cold, snowy and icy spell and little ANN got caught up in that battle. Going by history we predicted a knockout for ANN. But in the end, it ended in a draw. That close to 100 people even came at all is a great testimony to the resilience of the Africa Night crowd. We will continue to shout it to all who want to hear; Africa Night has the best set of music lovers ever! Those who braved the slippery and dangerous weather made sure they had fun there. It was a joy to watch people just give their body away to the music.  

Of course as with every Africa Night, some people still drove 2 or 3 hours just to come and be part of the fun. We had people from as far as Hoorn, Groningen, Venlo, Utrecht, Rotterdam and even a whole contingent from Germany. We like to thank you all. You are the reasons we do this. When the going gets tough, the Africa Night crowd just gets going.

Let’s meet again next month to have more fun. Bring all your friends too. Together we can bring down the house during the next edition of Africa Night Nijmegen. See you all on the 3rd of March 2012!

Africa Night and the Dutch Polonaise!

So that was Africa Night in January 2012 then. After the good start in Nijmegen 2 weeks earlier, Africa Night Tilburg got off to an even more impressive start. If you were there last Saturday, you wouldn’t have suspected that January is always the worst month in terms of attendance. If the numbers from this edition are a sign of things to come this year, then we are in for the most exciting Africa Night year ever. It was a full house. As if 2011 was not exciting enough! This was going to be the year when we were going to introduce some new and exciting additions to the Africa Night experience anyway. So you have to watch this space!

Back to last Saturday, it was fun from the beginning to the end. Why? For one, this was another dancers’ edition. We knew it was going to be a special evening when the first 2 guys (!) came in and just went straight to the dance floor. They had no care in the world that they were the first and only persons on the big floor. They just did their thing. And as with all other dancers’ editions, these guys set the tone for the night. Everyone who came in after them just hung his or her jacket and went to the dance floor! By the way, the Nwanake song from Wyre & J.B Maina has now officially been adopted by the Africa Night crowd. Every time that song comes on, people just take it as a cue to do the Dutch Polonaise dance (hands-on –shoulders and in an ever growing circle or train). The Polonaise train during this edition of Africa Night Tilburg is the longest it has ever been. We suspect the next one in February (during Africa Night Tilburg) will be even longer.

And talking of dancing, if there was any doubt that music and dance are universal, just take a look at the short video of the lady dancing to coupe decale. If you are ever one of those who always look down and say white people cannot dance to African music, you will have to revise your thoughts now.

For us as organisers of these shows, we just get invigorated every time when we see hordes of happy people. Many of them keep coming back and bringing new people with them.  “Somebody had told somebody who told me that Africa Night is the place to be, so I had to come and find out for myself”! That (and through the internet) is how our crowd always gets their information. And once they are there, we try not to disappoint them.

Let us meet again in 2 weeks, this time during the Africa Night Nijmegen in February and renew our musical vows to each other. Did we say our crowd rock?

The Africa Night 2012 party season begins.

There we go again! The first Africa Night of the Gregorian year 2012 has just come and gone. In a way it was a strange one. Not in the least because it was the first time ever that Africa Night Tilburg would not take the honour of being the first Africa Night of the year. This year the honour fell to the current youngest member of the Africa Night City family, Nijmegen. It was strange because we’ve never had an Africa Night so early in January before. But going from the experience of the years gone by, we knew that any January edition of Africa Night was going to be a “slow” one. This is because of the very expensive December month in The Netherlands (The "Sinterklaas", the Xmas and the New Year celebrations). 

For a new city like Nijmegen, this meant we would have been happy with just a third of the average crowd we had during the first 2 editions. In the end, and despite the very long wait before the party really got swinging, we had more than two thirds of the crowd partying at this edition. And what a joy it was to see one of the great Africa Night Tilburg phenomenon play out in Nijmegen. More than half of those who came this time around were new people who heard of it through friends and/or found it through the internet on our www.africanight.nl website. This means that we are always welcoming new people to ANN which keeps it fresh and exciting.

Just like its big sister Tilburg, Africa Night Nijmegen is already producing some highlights that make each edition stand out from the other. This time around we had groups of Liberians and Angolans dominating the dance floor. And with Angolans that meant some Kudoro dance moves!  See the short video here for some after party moves by the guys. But for us the two best dancers of the night were two ladies from Arnhem who just blew us away with their very natural dance moves.

Whatever happens, Africa Night Nijmegen is here to stay and that means more fun in 2012. See you every first Saturday of the month in Nijmegen!

Africa Night 2011 (in words, sights & sounds)

2011 will go down as the best Africa Night year so far. We had try-outs in Maastricht and Almere which did not really work out. We also welcomed Nijmegen as a permanent member of the Africa Night family. Africa Night Tilburg, where it all started, grew even more. So much so that in 2011, if there were less than 250 people in Tilburg, we thought it was an average evening! We know of several Africa-themed shows in The Netherlands that would kill for 250 guests!

We are always grateful for the people who come to our shows. We do it with lots of love and we get tons of love back. Africa Night Nijmegen was the surprise packet of the year. With a short time to prepare but with great help from many of our well-wishers, ANN just took Nijmegen by storm. It is as if we have been there forever.  Our heartfelt appreciation to all who helped with the flyers, the mouth-to-mouth advertisement and assisted in finding a good location for Africa Night Nijmegen.

In 2011 Africa Night got some very stiff competitions from several angles and corners. We generally succeeded in holding our own. We have learnt that staying true to our values is always appreciated by our ever growing patrons. We never copy others and when the others do try and copy our concept, we just accept the compliments. Africa Night celebrated 13 years of existence in 2011. It was a great party. So also the December shows in Tilburg and Almere where guests got some cute presents in form of a CD and/or a DVD. Nijmegen will be next in January! It is our way of saying thank you for making Africa Night the biggest of its kind in The Netherlands.  

The year 2012 promises to even be better and full of more pleasant surprises. Watch out for the Africa Night Specials coming to various cities around you and the first Africa Night Music Festival amongst the new initiatives that will bring Africa closer to the lovers. We are happy to be at the forefront of this new and exciting dawn of African entertainment in The Netherlands and beyond.

 If you have any questions or suggestions about any of the points here check our website www.africanight.nl  or add us on Facebook www.facebook.com/africanight , like us on www.facebook.com/africanight1998  and ask your questions during a chat with us. We also have a twitter account where you can follow us; twitter.com/africanight. Our YouTube channels are at www.youtube.com/africanight1998 and www.youtube.com/africanightevents. In other words, we are just a mouse click away!

We leave you now with some sights & sounds of 2011. We bow in awe of all who made this the greatest Africa Night year ever. We are so ready for 2012!

 

Nijmegen is full of love for Africa Night

Nijmegen is full of love. This much we know now after just the 2nd edition of Africa Night Nijmegen. Africa Night is already being warmly embraced like a long lost and newly returned prodigal daughter.  Unlike Tilburg where we created the Africa themed party from scratch, Nijmegen had a long tradition of Africa themed party. But somewhere along the line many of these shows have long stopped or are just in a kind of self-induced coma.  However that is never a guarantee that Africa Night would be welcomed with open arms in Nijmegen. That is why we have been so overwhelmed by the reception so far.

When you consider that last Saturday was a traditional family night in Holland. Everybody was supposed to stay home with family and exchange gifts, feast and just chill. Against this backdrop, this edition of Africa Night Nijmegen was a big success. Although many of those who came the first time in November stayed at home (with family), number wise, more people came this time than the first time! And what fun they all had! Highlight of course was the way our South African guests reacted when the music of DJ Cleo (Sky is the limit) was played. We can still hear the scream of joy in our ears as they danced to good old Kwaito!

What was also nice is the symbiotic relationship Tilburg and Nijmegen have with each other.  Tilburg - Nijmegen is about an hour’s drive. The lovers of Africa Night in both cities have always found the distance not a big problem on their way to experiencing the Africa Night fun. It is an old tradition that many people from Nijmegen always come to Africa Night Tilburg. Now Tilburg seems to be returning the favour big time! So many familiar Tilburg faces at last Saturday’s show it felt like a reunion. Which makes us wonder; why do Tilburg and Almere not have the same kind of magnetic attraction to/for each other. It is so rare to see people from Tilburg gracing Africa Night Almere even though the trip takes just 20 minutes longer than to Nijmegen. Just a thought.

Once again, thank you Nijmegen for the warm embrace! Let’s meet again on the 7th of January 2012 to do an encore! And if you cannot wait that long, there is always Africa Night Tilburg (17-12-2011) and Africa Night Almere (24-12-2011) in between.