The beats of Africa Night!

Look at some of the stuff they threw at Africa Night Tilburg last weekend; the Ramadan, the vacation period, a live show from Flavour (Mr. Ashewo himself) in Holland, the Kwakoe festival, the Tilburgse kermis. This edition of Africa Night Tilburg could easily have been a disaster. But we knew we did not have to worry at all. We know we’ve got the most wonderfully loyal partygoers ever! They never let us down. If our customers could defy the worst winter storm like that of December 2010 and come to our show, they will survive the minor irritations like a live show from one of Africa’s biggest contemporary stars; Flavour Nabania or the Kwakoe festival or the vacation period or even the annual fanfare in Tilburg, which is the biggest of its kind in the Benelux.

Beforehand the thing we worried the most about was the Ramadan. A significant number of our guests are practising Muslims. If they did not come, their friends and spouses will also not show up. This in conjunction with the minor irritations above could lead to a major issue. However last year even though it was the same, we still had a great Africa Night Tilburg. Fast forward to July 2012; almost all of our Muslim friends stayed away this time too. However, the regeneration that has kept Africa Night constantly fresh and refreshed made sure we had at least 100 new (first timers) guests who came to refresh and take the places of the absentees.

What is really delightful about this regeneration is the fact that very young people are at the heart of this phenomenon. There are several 18 to 22 year olds who have discovered Africa Night in the past year. We are very happy about this. It shows African music is really cutting across barriers and ages. When we started 14 years ago, we could not have dared to dream about this. We are glad to be doing our tiny bit in spreading African music and culture to a new very young generation.

Keep telling your friends to tell their friend to bring their friends to Africa Night. We don’t do politics, we don’t do religion. We just do music and you our guests provide us with the rhythm. You are the (heart)beats that make our show sound great. We salute you.

An appeal; you should really try out Africa Night Nijmegen. It is smaller and cosier but it is the same dedicated crew. Let’s make it grow. The next show in Nijmegen is on Saturday 04-08-2012. See you there or in Tilburg on Saturday 18-08-2012.