Friday, 26 april 2013
We've been given the morning off. Hooray! A chance to catch up on some rest, get some correspondence done, and maybe have a little wander around the peninsula. We take our time, and then head out in the early afternoon to walk to the beach side, which is not far from our hotel. Things are pretty quiet around here - It's "Union Day" a national holiday commemorating the unification of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to for Tanzania back in 1964. Still, we wander along the beach and find a bodega that serves up cold drinks and a tasty dish of smokey tasting fresh-roasted goat's meat! Yum!
A 4 o'clock pickup for the sound check for tonight's performance turns into 5 o'clock, unbeknownst to us, and even with that, we're the first to arrive at the Alliance Française (apart from the sound guys, who thankfully have everything set up). We're psyched to play with Wakwetu again, and also to whip out some of our Franco-American repertoire from The French Connection project.
As 6 o'clock rolls around, and half of the Wakwetu guys still aren't there... and neither is the food we were told would be available, we make arrangements to go find some grub in the neighborhood somewhere. Wakwetu's singer, Demian, is kind enough to accompany us, and we actually find some more tasty roast-meat at a bodega within walking distance of the Alliance. A soda and some rice and protein, and I'm back on track and fully energized to make tonight a great show! It's also nice to have some one on one time with the local artists to get to know them as people a bit.
And just before it's time to start, I'm approached by someone from the audience, who introduces himself "Hi, I'm Steve, remember me?" I break into a shocked grin "Yes! From Cameroon! I sent an email to your wife." He was just as shocked that I remembered that small detail - but I remember vividly chatting with this guy and his business colleagues the day after our star performance at the Institut Français (ironically enough) in Douala almost exactly 1 year ago. Talk about a small world!! That's super cool.
Anyway, soon enough it's time for the party to get started! Wakwetu kicks it off with this bad-ass groove - a sort of a 4 + 2 feel over 6 (for those who know what that means) just whacked out enough to keep you guessing. Jeff and I totally dig it! Then Demian lends his voice to the show, which is always a pleasure, and is joined by two surprise guests, Lufu and Chedi - a couple of local hip hop artists.
They pass the torch to us, and we take the stage for our usual spiel of getting the audience involved from the get-go - and easier sell tonight, than before the VIP crowd from the Ambassador's residence ;-) We stroll through our classic in-the-pocket medium swing repertoire, with a sprinkling of the old French favorites. I've forgone the tap shoes tonight though, which turns out to be a good thing, since there's not actually any hard surface to do it on.
This crowd is clearly ready for some noise though, so we don't delay in inviting up the Wakwetu cats to Take the A Train, and swing into 3/4 time on Autumn Leaves. Once we get Damien on stage with us though, things take a soul-spin as we TOTALLY rock the house on Summertime, and especially on If I Ain't Got You (boy do I wish I had footage of that one! We killed it!!), as well as one of their own joyful compositions "You Make Me Wanna Sing".
We close out with Sweet Home Chicago... and when the audience calls for more, we let Wakwetu strut their stuff with their groovy traditional flute number. All in all, it's been an amazing evening! Audience members keep coming up to us to thank us for bringing a splash of old school jazz and soul to this African landscape, and it seems that once again, we've gotten the job done!
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