One of the best things about New York is the summer stages. Last Sunday was the opening of the summer season of the PLaza in Central Park.
One of the best things about New York is the summer stages. Last Sunday was the opening of the summer season of the Plaza in Central Park. A cozy stage along the water, surrounded by large green trees between 110 & 5th Avenue in Manhattan. According to tradition, the season was opened with an African band. African music is the cradle of contemporary American music. Blues, Jazz and even Rock 'n Roll all have their origins in African rhythms.
Martino Atangana
The opening band was “African Blue Note”. This band led by Martino Atangana, a Cameroonian, plays not only their own composed rhythms from their own country, but also music from various other African countries. With Juju from Nigeria, Bikutsi and Makossa from Cameroon and Soukous from Ghana, the band makes an exciting tour through Africa. It is really impossible to sit still when hearing the notes. The dansbakroe (dance spirit) in me was nicely awakened after a dormant winter. The audience was very mad. Young and old, from all walks of life. The band could not have been more mad. Every musician originally came from a different country.
Do you know that feeling when you want to dance, but you feel a little embarrassed because no one is dancing and you don't want to be the first and the only one? Then you sit there for the rest of the song, shuffling a little bit in your chair while it BITES you to start dancing. Ouch, I know that feeling all too well. Maybe I invented it. Because I really have a dancing bug. Whether it's Kawina, Salsa, House or even old school Disco, when there's good music I can't be stopped.
For this special occasion there was also a dancer. In beautiful traditional clothing she danced effortlessly along with the various rhythms. The weather was wonderful.
Fortunately, I have discovered that if you just start dancing, the rest will follow. At first, you might get a bit of a disapproving look like, “hmmm, some people just don’t know how to do it.” Other looks say, “baja, she’s got some guts, not me.” But if you let yourself be guided by these kinds of looks and comments, you won’t get anywhere. You’re seriously shortchanging yourself if you resist such a natural urge as dancing. Some people, with respect, are just stuck in a certain colonial way of thinking, that you shouldn’t be exuberant.
When you get up to dance, especially at an open-air concert, you are actually doing exactly what you are supposed to do: Dance! You are not hurting anyone if you can enjoy live music with your heart and soul. It is even a gift. It is actually just like with frizzy hair. Why did I relax my hair? Because I thought that was how it was supposed to be? I think that is why most women still walk around with straightened hair. If I had to take these comments seriously, I would never have gone frizzy.
Harvey from Suriname on drums & Mamadou from Senegal on bass
But fortunately I was not the only one here who was “plagued” by the summer dancing spirits. Already at the first Soukous people started dancing. As stiff and cold as the hips are in the winter, they were turned in all directions, so loose and warm. The ambiance with the music, the stage surrounded by the green of the trees with the brown water in the background, where whole families were sitting relaxed picnicking, could not have been better.
Mimi from Japan on Keys & Mike from New York on Sax 
All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately this day could not last forever. The African Blue Note was scheduled from four to six and everyone was really swinging at the last song. After this climax, some people stood there dazed for a while as if they could not believe it was over. Others stood in line at the water fountain to replenish the burned body fluids. After that it was time to enjoy and chat. If I can believe the dancing spirits, I am going to have a wonderful swinging summer!