15 years and 11 months ago, we stepped inside a party boat that was lying in Piushaven in Tilburg. With DJ Lefombo (D.R. Congo) at the helm, we started our journey to entertain you. In those days there was no internet (at least not for the masses) so we had to go door to door with printed flyers hoping that people would come. And as you can imagine, 99.99999% of the people came from Tilburg.
In those days there were no digital cameras! So we could not make pictures or even put these on a non-existent website! There was no Youtube, no Facebook, and no Twitter. In short, there was nothing! So even during heavy snowstorms, we went out to distribute the flyers. After about a half a year, we noticed that a few people outside Tilburg started coming. Word of mouth! People were obviously having fun so they were sharing the news with their friends and families. After 2 years, DJ Lefombo left Africa Night and DJ Femoree (Nigeria) had to, suddenly and extremely unprepared, take over! But the guests had lots of patience with him and in time his confidence and repertoire grew.
Then the boat changed owners and we moved from the water to the land in a jazz club called Paradox. DJ Cadmus (Nigeria) came on board for 2 shows. Because of the lack of musical chemistry with the guests, he had to leave. So DJ Femoree took over again. After a year or so, Africa Night returned to the boat. This was around the time the internet was being rolled out to the people. Africa Night got her first internet presence through TMF (How many people still remember that music video TV station?) The first web site was africanight.tmfweb.nl. It was a free service. (Take a look at how it looked then! http://web.archive.org/web/20010928011531/http://africanight.tmfweb.nl/). Later we registered www.africanight which costs a fortune in those days.
Meanwhile DJ Garo (Kenya) came on board and we had lots of fun! The internet brought Africa Night its first guest from Canada. Some lady who was planning on travelling to Europe had seen Africa Night online and got in touch. And true to her word, she came to the boat! Of course around this time digital cameras were becoming affordable so we stated putting some pics online. With this more and more people than we could ever have reached started noticing. And the big fun continued. The guests kept having fun and we were all happy. We did our first and to date the only New Year party on the boat with DJ Uche (Nigeria).
After about a year DJ Garo left and DJ Bush Doctor (Tanzania) took his place. Every new DJ brings his own flavour. And together, they have over the years been faithful in serving our guest with the best of the musical dish Africa has to offer. So did DJ Le General (Ivory Coast) who stayed for four years starting from the boat till the first two years in the forest of Bosvreugd in Tilburg.
By the time we got to Bosvreugd, the internet was already in full glory. www.africanight.nl was an established presence online. The coming of Hyves and Facebook meant Africa Night was able to reach more people than ever before. And our guests kept dancing. Mothers brought their daughters, daughters brought their mothers. The fathers and sons were not left behind either. Africa Night had a first (and so far only) but very successful barbecue and held 2 equally successful Christmas dinners in the serene environment of the forest café Bosvreugd.
When DJ Le General left DJ Aziz (Senegal) came in to fill his big shoes. And the beat went on. After some years it was time to move on again. The destination was Oase. Whenever we moved from one place to the other, we always lose some of the guests but always in the long run gain twice as many new guests. Africa Night in Oase became the place to be. We have been in Eindhoven, Maastricht, Almere, Nijmegen, Krefeld (Germany), Utrecht and Rotterdam spreading the African music message. We are number one on google thanks to all of you. With Youtube we were able to show the people the ambiance of Africa Night.
In 2013 we moved to the current home of Africa Night, T Kwadraat. And even though the move was hardly planned, Africa Night is currently feeling more and more at home there. A lot of the old guests did not make the move with us. We understand why. But the Africa Night train moves on with more and new people. It is a renewal that is sometimes necessary to keep the show fresh. And you only had to be there during the April 2014 edition to feel the electricity and the liveliness of the new Africa Night.
Mostly a new DJ comes in when the old one leaves but this year we bucked the trend by adding another one, DJ Sam (Kenya) to the line-up. As with others, he is quietly but surely introducing his own style to the guests. And Africa Night recorded her own version of the Pharell hit; Happy. The video will be uploaded later! That and the dance show that was given by 2 of our newest guests tell us Africa Night is still in the heart of many. We are glad you come from all over to show your dancing skills on the floor!
Why are we writing this blog? It is because Africa Night is at the end of an era. We have survived puberty as a 15 year old. From May 2014 Africa Night will be sweet 16! So we just thought to reflect and give you a look back and honour the DJs who have given us the music in all the 15 years and 11 months since Africa Night started. It is also to show our appreciation to all of those who have been a part of the journey so far! To those who can say we’ve been coming to Africa Night since the boat, you are our heroes.
The Sweet 16 Africa Night Party is going to be spectacular! Don’t miss it!
