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?