AFROBEAT SUNDAYS EVENT REVIEW
Fluke the first time round or so I thought. With the growing interest in the African Music industry with popular genres of Afrobeats and Hiplife, it was only a matter of time before the young, trendy London clubs started introducing such music into their playlist. The pioneer of this new Afrobeats/Hiplife movement seems to be Choice FM's DJ Abrantee who launched an Afrobeat radio show back in April 2011 and has somehow managed to get the whole country talking about afrobeats afrobeats afrobeats even trending on twitter so I thought it was only right to check out what all the fuss was about at his launch of Afrobeats Sundays at Club Merah as a non believer.
DJ Abrantee, who is also the name behind the Official Ghana independents day event for the past 10 years, The Hiplife Festival and also the host of the UK's 1st ever Afrobeats Festival featuring African boy band Psquare in August approached this ambitious Afrobeats night with such confidence that he put his name, reputation infact you could stay his stations reputation at risk if it flopped.
I personally couldn't see how you can hold a dedicated Afrobeats night in one of Europe's most exclusive clubs, Merah in Wells Street renown for it's a-list members who spend £7k on the special Ace of Spades to £32,000 on a bottle of Crystal. His solo mission to try and convert hard hip hop and rnb heads like me into afrobeat lovers was an interesting challenge worth taking up so I went to the launch and the follow up last night.
The launch was on Sunday 3rd July 2011; ladies were free before 11pm while us fellas had to part with our £20 entry fee. It was difficult how they could make any money with over 300 girls already qued outside before the doors even opened. I wasn't complaining being surrounded by these scantily cladded ladies who where either out to impress each other, the security or the DJ's as there were no other men insight.
It was clear that there was a them an us situation happening as a number of tinted cars dropped off celebs who just walked in whilst press and party goers were breaking our necks to see who was who. I kept hearing “Kas Fi mi le and Mr Incredible is that him o” Unfamiliar with the Afrobeats scene I couldn't tell your 2face to your 4face or psquare but the crowd seem to be excited with each person that walked in.
The DJ line up including DJ Abrantee, DJ Alordia, D.N.A and DJ Bibi was the only thing I was sure of as I am familiar with all four who have proved themselves on the desks to rock a crowd but skeptical about dancing to music I don't understand. Finally in the club by 11pm after queuing for over an hour, it felt like an hen night as still the 95% female attendance was overwhelming but am sure a few phone calls from the men there to their friends changed that and had other men running down to the club. First on the deck was Bibi who went in with a bit of RnB, hip-hop then finally D.N.A hit us with the afrobeats and everything seemed to change. Its almost like the music has a life of its own as I found my shoulders, arms and legs moving along to each drum beat in the songs. The club ignited as every single person was dancing with such energy. Comedian Eddie Kadi was breaking out on the dance floor while Nigerian born 1st lady of Afrobeats May7ven was shouted out and made way to show us some moves on the dance floor with her single playing. Hits by Dbanj, 2face, psquare, Wizkid, Iceprince, Atunmpa, Tiffany, R2bees, 5Five plus more proved popular and was played back to back while we all danced till 3am in the morning and people were still queuing outside. A successful night maybe as a result of the advertisement campaign on choice fm or perhaps word of mouth or the aggressive promotional campaign on various social networking site or just a plane fluke: whatever it was the turn out was impressive and an overall success which I personally believed was a one-off. I spotted competing event organiser Mike L, who runs the Runway nightspot in Tottenham Court Road, inside the club checking out the competition on the night instead of worrying about his own club.
The expectation for the follow up event were low but I had to check it out for a 2ndtime; with his same approach and his super team, DJ Abrantee opened the doors at Merah again last night 10pm to again awaiting anxious crowd eager to get inside the venue. This time the numbers were even greater, with the venue packed to full capacity by 1am and over 300 people still queuing and waiting outside the venue in hopes of getting in. Due to over crowding the club managers and security had to turn hundreds of people away.
Inside the packed venue full of VIPs' including footballer Carlton Cole, Blue Peter presenter Andy Akinwolere, Manny Norte, Universal records A&R's, BBC Personnel and popular brand managers and colleagues of mine all rocking to Afrobeats. The event then went up a notch when DJ Abrantee grabbed the microphone to introduced one of Nigeria's rising star artist Jaywon; as his song “Gbon gbon” played in the background; unaware of who he was the buzz and excited from the crowd was infectious and I found myself also hyped about his appearance and attendance the club. Jaywon approached the microphone and sang a few lines of his hit single as he addressed the pleased crowd. Then followed up was UK's Lagos boy Dotstar singer of “Stick up” and “Expensive” who also took the crowd by surprise. You would have thought a venue of this caliber with the cheapest bottle of bubbly at £285 would have been a turn off for the partygoers who drank themselves silly but even the event owners commented that it is one of their best nights and could not believe the turnout. By 3am the dance floor and venue was still jammed with partygoers refusing to go home. It has been a long time since we have seen a party where absolutely everyone dancing and sweating buckets, a surprised unexpected PA by an African star, celeb guests and footballers mingling and most importantly this great music taking the dance floor world by storm with a great line up of DJ's. A packed out, Trouble free event and you wouldn't believe it was a Sunday night. and people showed up early for a change Either all attendees are pulling a sickie off work on Monday morning or it was an event worth suffering at work for. which ever way party goers were prepared to sacrifice their time, hard cash and a possible headache to boogie down to the sounds of Afrobeats until 3am in the morning.
My review: 4.5 star event worth waiting for every 2 weeks. Thumbs up to the prince of UK Afrobeats DJ Abrantee and his team. They delivered exactly what was on the menu Afrobeat Sunday with Afrobeat artists, music and Afrobeat DJ's. The only downside for me are the costs of the drinks, they need to add a few affordable Champaign bottles for people like us with a normal income. £285 for a bottle is taking the biscuit. The toilets were too dark you can just about see yourself or find your zipper. The plus side is there were more fine women in that club that than on every single Luke video put together but then again I am old school.