Africa Night – labour of love

February is the lovers’ month and the guests really showed us big time love during this February edition of Africa Night Tilburg. The tone was really set by a gang of 7 that came really early and just took control of the dance floor. As it happened, everyone who came in after that just joined these happy dancers on the dance floor. It worked like a magnet. People came in, saw the action on the dance floor, quickly threw away their coats or jackets and just joined the action on the dance floor. Before you knew it, the dance floor was full. This was even before midnight!

Sometimes, everything at Africa Night just seems to fall into place. This was what happen during this edition of Africa Night. Whatever the deejays played, the people just danced the night away. And sometimes little things seem to bring great joy and happiness to people. Like when a guy approached the deejay and asked if he could play some Bongo Flava (Tanzanian music). To be honest, the main musical focus at Africa Night is always centred on West Africa. That is because the majority of the African guests seem to be West African. This time around though, there was clearly more East Africans than usual. When the deejay obliged and played some Bongo Flava, the house almost came down! It was cheer magic to have witnessed how the dance floor reacted to Professor Jay’s classic, Hapo Vipi.

February was also the first month without a dear friend of Africa Night. We paid a short tribute to this best of dancers. It was heart-warming to see how the guests reacted to the short tribute. Sabi (our dear departed friend) would have been very proud to know that people who had not earlier heard the news of his passing, felt genuine shock. Those who already knew, were still visibly moved to see a picture of him on the video screen. Of course there could only be one music genre to honour him. Yes, Salsa it was and people joined in the Salsa dance as Africando said a final goodbye while Sabi was dancing on the video screen. It was the way we felt Sabi would have loved it.

We are really very happy to note that Africa Night Tilburg never bores and always seems to reinvent itself every month. We organise these shows with love. We are always happy at the amount of love we receive in return. Love that always keeps giving. We can’t wait until the March edition.