Francophone Africa Comes Around: Toofan live in DC Friday

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African Music DC, Lux Lounge, P-Square, Sarkodie, Timaya, Toofan

After Timaya and Sarkodie and P-Square, I’m burned out on performances at night clubs (none of the performances have been particularly great).  However, the Togolese duo Toofan seems to have set up shop in DC (as they were recent celebrity guests at Nectar Lounge in Silver Spring).  For those with more energy in the tank than I, they’ve got a performance being promoted this Friday (November 8) at Lux Lounge.

Afrobeats in DC: White Folks Fearing, Black Folks Segregating

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Africa, Afrobeats, Angelique Kidjo, black people, Cultural exchange, Fulbright, Howard Theatre, Howard University, Lisner Auditorium, Nigerian Music, P-Square, Peace Corps, white people

Google ‘Peace Corps Camel’

Washington DC is full of idealistic former Peace Corps volunteers, Fulbright grantees, and other assorted aid workers and international travelers (often white people) who delight in living vicariously by traveling to various African destinations.  They occasionally sample the local cuisine, but can even more reliably be found ensconced in the local dress or viewing the local animals.  Typically, their stated aim is to live like a local or to at least better understand them by getting to know their culture.  Consequently, having now attended several concerts of major African superstars in the DMV, I find it exceedingly odd that I see none of those people at these shows.

Waiting for P-Square: ‘We Don’t Run Things, Things Run We’

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Afrobeats in DC, DC african music, Love Night Club, P-Square

Being Run by a Line

At 9:30 pm I showed up at Love Night Club in NE DC for P-Square’s (a well known Nigerian duo that has worked with major US artists like Akon and Rick Ross) performance.  The promoter had said to arrive at 8 sharp, my ticket said 10.  So I figured that my arrival time was a safe compromise.

Meet P-Square in DC Tonight

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P-Square, Taste Lounge

The venue is Taste Lounge, a Afro-Caribbean flavored club in NW.  It is quite small, so believe the poster when it says ‘capacity is limited.’ I’ve purchased my tickets for the show tomorrow and will be writing a review (although I still haven’t really figured out the start time).  If anyone wants to say hello (I’ll be alone) I plan on wearing a Senegalese soccer jersey.

For non-African readers who have traveled to west Africa but do not follow the cultural scene, I’ll assure you, if you’ve been anywhere between Senegal and Cameroon, you’ve heard P-Square music.

Upcoming Afrobeats Shows in the DMV: Whither P – Square?

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Afrobeats, Miley Cyrus, Nigerian Music, P-Square, S&S Entertainment, Timaya, Twerk

As we transition to the fall, it had been shaping up to be quite a busy season of Nigerian superstars performing in the DMV.  Yesterday, Signature Style Entertainment, a major DMV promoter of prominent Nigerian musicians who tour in the DMV (see their past events here) posted an Eventbrite link to purchase tickets for a P-Square show on September 13th at a venue tbd (even staid elderly Africanist consultants who rarely leave the international hotel chain in Accra where they spend most of their time should know the duo from songs like ‘Chop my Money‘).

However, the link is already down and the promotional poster for the tour lists no east coast performances.  In fact, the poster shows that they are slated to perform in Dallas on the 14th (although it also has them going from Chicago to Houston in a day).

In any event, if P-Square doesn’t make it out this way, emerging star Timaya is slated to get us to shake our ‘Bum Bum‘ in early October – Miley Cyrus only wishes she could twerk like those video vixens.  Tickets are on sale now, but I think I may wait a bit before buying.