Congo's Samba Mapangala and the Soukous Stars animated a high-spirited Afropop Dance Party at the legendary New York nighclub SOB's on Friday, Novemver 10th. The event was to honor of Afropop Worldwide's 35th anniversary and SOB's 40th. Samba brought a full-on soukous big band of ten U.S. based African musicians and dancers including Jaja Bashengezi on lead guitar, Ngouma Lokito on bass, Nkumu Katalay on congas and Freddy Nyembwe and Chekedar es Salam on backing vocals. Samba sang some of his mega hits like "Malako Disco" (decidedly not disco) and he honored the masters of the first generation of Congolese music in the 1960s and 70s and 80s by singing treasures by Luambo Makiadi Franco, Tabu Ley Rochereau and others. The crowd was swooning! On either side of Samba's set, dj henri delivered supercharged sets of Afrobeats, soukous, rumba, soca and more. BZB International's Juanita Britton, Tabilulu Productions' Lubangi Muniania, Afropop Worldwide's Sean Barlow, and SOB's Avery Landau all spoke passionately from the stage in praise of Samba Mapangala, Afropop Worldwide and SOB's. Big thanks to all of you!
By the way, if you were present at Friday's party, please send your best photos and video to banning@afropop and ceyvion@afropop.org. This was a night we want to remember in every way we can!
On the screen at SOB's was a vast collection of curated images of Afropop's 35 years in the field throughout Africa and the Americas, most of them shot by Afropop Worldwide's co-Executive Producer Banning Eyre. The slideshow included images of artists Afropop Worldwide recorded at SOBs back in the day, including Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens from South Africa, Papa Wemba and Loketo from Congo, Thomas Mapfumo from Zimbabwe, David Rudder from Trinidad, Joao Bosco from Brazil, Oumou Sangare from Mali, Marce and Tumpak from Martinique and Oscar de Leon from Venezuela. These fantastic recordings of world-class artists at the peak of their careers continue to stand the test of time and some are being encored for the Afropop community of radio listeners and global online audience on afropop.org.
A breakthrough inclusion at our soukous-focused event Friday was an exhibition of eye-popping contemporary Congolese paintings presented by Elizabeth Jaffee of D.C.'s Gallery Article 15, the only gallery in U.S. featuring contemporary Congolese art. The 15 or so paintings were admired by all.
Donning his co-Executive Producer's hat, Sean Barlow thanked people for coming out to honor us and to enjoy Samba Mapangala and his music crew. Sean reminded everyone that this event was a "benefit" for our 501(c)3 non-profit organization and that 100% of proceeds from ticket sales went directly to our modestly funded non-profit. Juanita Britton pulled out her cell phone on stage and asked everyone in the room to go to afropop.org, click on Donate and pledge any amount they felt comfortable giving. Thanks to everyone who gave extra beyond buying tickets to our event. And thanks to the readers of this article for doing the same.
Even if you were not with us in person on Friday, every soukous lover, Afropop lover and believer in our ongoing effort to substantially grow international recognition and enjoyment for African and diaspora music and stories is invited to pitch in. You can make a one-time donation or, better still, become a monthly sustainer!
The night went into high gear when Lubangi Muniania introduced Samba Mapangala, recounting his globe-trotting journey from Kinshasa in then Zaire (Congo) to Nairobi to London to the U.S. where he now lives. The performance was electrifying from the first note to the last, with three-guitar interplay and gorgeous three-part male vocal high harmonies. No less a Congo music aficionado than dj henri said afterward, "Aside from Zaiko Langa Langa five years ago, I have not seen a soukous band as hot as this since the mid-90s. Bravissimi!"
But this event was more than a trip down Memory Lane. Afropop aims to double our budget in 2-3 years and to significantly grow our multi-cultural, multi-generational, global online audience ten-fold in the coming year--primarily through our twice-monthly Planet Afropop podcast co-hosted by Banning Eyre, Georges Collinet and Mukwae Wabei Siyolwe and our socials, newly empowered by the addition of our new Director of New Media, Ceyvion Biggs. You can email any of us on the Afropop Worldwide staff at info@afropop.org. You can also use the formula--first name@afropop.org.
Committed Afropop fans can get more deeply involved by joining our Board of Directors or our Board of Advisors or becoming an Afropop Ambassador, helping support future Afropop events and reach out to African and diaspora stakeholders, influencers, taste makers and fans who, despite our 35 years in the trenches, still don't know us.
A few quick points to end with. We are in the process of organizing Afropop reporting desks to engage local music journalists in Africa and the diaspora to file feature stories, photo essays, artist interviews, city portraits, opinion pieces, and video playlists. Our first target is Brazil where we are setting up a reporting desk based in Sao Paulo under the editorial direction of producer/broadcaster/Afropop contributor Beco Dranoff to cover events there as well as in Rio, Salvador de Bahia, Recife, Belem (Amazon) and Bel Horizonte. We envision other reporting desks in Lagos, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Dar es Salaam, Dakar, Cairo, Paris, London, Chicago, L.A. If you want to get involved, or if you have contacts in these cities who might be simpatico with the Afropop mission and have resources to help make our reporting desks a reality, you know where to find us: info@afropop.org.
And finally, we are very excited to be rolling out the inaugural edition of Camp Afropop, a three-day, immersive experience, May 28-31 at the Full Moon Resort in the beautiful Catskills hills near Woodstock, N.Y.. We have curated a rich experience featuring concerts, workshops, master classes, late-night jams, dance parties, song circles, campfires and, very cool, hang time with the artists that we know will delight everyone. Our artists for Camp Afropop 2024 include Natu Camara from Guinea, Afro-Cuban Grammy nominated conguero Pedrito Martinez, an encore Afropop Dance Party with Samba Mapangala and Soukous Stars, virtuoso kora player Yacouba Sissoko from Mali, bass monster Bakithi Kumalo of Graceland fame from South Africa, and multi-instrumentalist and singer Jake Blount evoking styles from overlooked African American traditions.
Our partners at Full Moon Resort and Music Masters' Collective are Best-in-Class for producing multi-day music camp experiences in the U.S. and we are thrilled to be partnering with them for Camp Afropop. In addition to the music and camaraderie, attendees will enjoy superb cuisine, comfortable accommodations, and let's not forget yoga and massage. Participants in Afropop events and Afropop Tours to Africa become friends for life. We have room for about 100 campers so don't let this opportunity pass you by. Go to www.campafropop.com for more info and prices and to register. If you have questions, email us at info@afropop.org or follow leads on Music Masters Collective web site for contacts: (tel) 845-254-8009.
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Thanks again to everyone who made our 35th-anniversary events in D.C. and NYC such joys to participate in! Special thanks to our promotional partners:
- Africa-America Institute
- africa.com
- Gallery Article 15
- Timothy Bork
- SOB's
- dj henri
- Nkumu Katalay
- Jaja Bashengezi
- Putumayo World Music
- World Music Institute
- Music Masters Collective at Full Moon Resort, Big Indian, NY
- Tabilulu Productions
- Afromondo
- Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance
- New York African Film Festival
- Constituency for Africa
- GlobalDiaspora films
We invite you to stay in touch and please spread the word about connecting with Afropop (radio shows, afropop.org, weekly e-Newsletter including our picks of the best in "Upcoming Events NYC," and Planet Afropop podcast and more to your music-loving and dance-loving, Africa and diaspora engaged, public media fans, and internationally engaged folks engaged with critical global issues that define our collective futures--the empowerment of women in the global creative industries, climate change, wise governance and more.
From everyone at Team Afropop, Viva la musica!
