So there we go again! Africa Night Utrecht has started. Judging by our past experience, we can be quietly satisfied with how it went. It is not like there was a sell-out crowd at Café Morgen where it was held. It is more like the goodwill we felt from those who came and had fun. The fact that people came early and stayed till the end made us happy indeed.
Of course being the first time, there were bound to be teething problems; the music installation could have produced better sounds, we could have provided the picture of the outside of the venue to people so that they would have known that the magnificent looking Green building is actually where Café Morgen is situated. Many came to the building and not seeing a regular café, just thought they were at the wrong place and just turned back. These are teething problems which we will get over in the next few months.
We are really happy that the people who came seemed to have fun. To be honest with you, there were more people there than we expected. This is because of our experience in Nijmegen in the past. We know Africa Night Tilburg is the place where everyone wants to be. So if we go out of our comfort zone and go to other cities, it has always being with a kind of trepidation. Africa Night Almere was a complete disaster for example while Africa Night Nijmegen did not just work out. Africa Night Maastricht and Africa Night Rotterdam (the first time around) were showing signs of growing to be big in terms of attendances. We however had the bad luck that those venues had to close because of the mismanagements of their respective owners.
So we are as curious as all of you to see what Africa Night Utrecht has in stock for us after this kick-off edition in October. Left to us, we are prepared to do what it takes to make Utrecht great. We know whenever Africa Night Productions organise any event, people are going to judge it by the success of Africa Night Tilburg. But pause and think. Africa Night Tilburg has been going on for 15+ years. In the beginning it was not always like it is today. It grew because people stuck with us and gave us the benefit of the doubt. So if everyone would wait until the Mondays to see on the pictures if people went to the parties, we might have to wait ages before our first sell-out edition in Utrecht.
Talking about the pictures, like we explained many times before, those pictures serve to give people an impression of how a show went. It encourages people to come and see for themselves. Before the introduction of the pictures several years ago, the general view amongst many who had never been at our show before was either that it was only for Africans or for old people looking for young people. Or that it was some kind of place where people were still naked doing the rain dance. You might think the last example is too ridiculous to be true, but believe us we’ve been asked that question several times.
What our pictures intend to convey is a positive image of Africa, Africans and to show that our shows are open to everyone not only for Africans. That is why ours is called Africa Night and never African Night. That is why all nationalities feel free to step inside our doors. That is the same reason why those other shows organised by other groups only attract people of the same colour. Which is why if you are not of that colour or from that particular country, you always would feel out of place at those parties. Africa Night is an open church. Everyone is free to worship there. The other side to the coin is that a lot of our guests like to relieve their Africa Night experience again. They therefore happily would pose for pictures and have no objections to us taking pictures. For every person who is ambivalent about his/her pictures being taken, there are 50 who don’t mind at all!
We understand that some people might object to having their pictures taken during our shows. The best thing to do is to let us know during the show. Many have done this and are continuing to do it. Once you indicate to us that you don’t want your pictures taken, we will never put those pictures online. That is why we always remove the pictures on our website after a month. We at Africa Night Productions are really very welcoming of your ideas and tips. We respect your privacy.
We are looking forward to welcoming you again next month to Africa Night Utrecht. We hope those who could not make it this time will be there to make it a party to remember. The date is Saturday 2 November 2013. The venue is Café Morgen, Grebbergerlaan 5a, Utrecht. See you all then.
