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an effort to create awareness of the situation of Africans living in
Germany through dialogues and promotion of African culture, an event was
organized in Dortmund, the geographical Ruhr Basin area of Germany.
AFRITOPIC attended the event that included lectures, discussions and a
gala evening with fashion show. |
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| On the right side of the entrance, at Dietrich-Keuning-Haus
in Dortmund, Germany,
two representatives, a woman and a man, from Western Union stood with information pamphlets about the company’s
money transfer business. On the left were three friendly African ladies
standing behind a table, selling and checking the event’s entry
tickets. After a short briefing about the advantages of sending money
through Western Union and a pass through stamp on the hand, the guests
entered a nicely decorated hall with a front stage. The atmosphere in
the hall gave a feeling of what the evening is expected to be – An
African Gala Evening. The
gala evening event was the second part of a day’s event that took
place on the 13 November 2004 in Dortmund, organized by the Cameroonian
Community in the area. Mr. V. Djeumo, a graduate of journalism,
spearheaded the organization of the grand event. The Cameroonian has
been very active in organizing events to promote African culture in
German for many years. The first half of the event consisted of lectures
and discussions with topics ranging from the image of Africa in the
German media to how Africans would like to be presented in the
media. Speakers included academics, politicians, government
officials and members from non-government organizations (NGOs). Approximately 80 people attended the very informative
lectures.
Slowly,
the chairs and tables
were occupied. At about 8 pm German time, the hall was nearly filled
with people from different cultural origins albeit mostly Africans. The
background music kept the guests in a festive mood while engaging in
conversations and making new contacts. Africans, Germans and others from
as far as the USA and Brazil, were present to experience and enjoy an
African evening together. They did not have to wait long. The moderator,
Alex Chongwa, a young Cameroonian graduate of communication and
event management, did his duty. He came up the stage, welcomed the
guests and introduced the organizers, sponsors and the very important
people (VIP), which included member of the German Bundestag, Marco Bülow, the provincial government authorized
representative for integration issues, Dr Lefringhausen, as well as |
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| Alex
Chongwa - The moderator |
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the
Journalist, Hans-Josef Dreckmann, who was a former correspondent in
Africa for the German media ARD.
The professionalism of Alex Tchoungoué in his
function as the moderator is commendable. He spoke lucidly in three
languages namely French, English and German. He gave useful information |
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| Dr
Lefringhausen (far
left)
and other VIPs |
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concerning the aim of the event, which is to bring African culture
nearer to the communities in Germany, thereby providing an opportunity
for people from other culture to learn and hopefully have a better
perception about Africa. He continued by explaining the program of the evening and finally
declaring the event open with the announcement of the first African
music group to perform. |
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| Ali
Keita featuring Djatou
Touré |
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| The evening was declared open and the party began. The first musician of the evening, Seva-Chat, an agile African lady from Congo, provided a warm up with Afro-plastic and soulful ballads. Dancing and
singing with expressive feelings, she presented a good show and the
guests showed their satisfaction with rounds of applause. Meanwhile, in
a secluded area of the hall, varieties of African foods were being
organized on long tables where guests could serve themselves for dinner.
Soon, a short break was announced and guests were invited to enjoy
exotic African cuisine. |
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| Everyone could eat
excellently prepared food consisting of fish, meat, beans, rice,
plantains, yams, various vegetables and fried specialities or gourmet.
The organization of the self-service dinner was very good. There was
neither chaos nor shortage of cutlery. The
dinner was |
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really enjoyable, as confirmed in quick interviews conducted
by AFRITOPIC with some of the guests. The enjoyment continued with
another African music artist based in Berlin, Djatou Touré. The lady in colourful African attire rendered original self composed
African High-Life and Reggae as well as cover versions of popular Mariam Makeba tunes. This time, some of the guests could not resist
their urge to dance any longer. They started dancing and soon the
dancing floor was filled. The party is on and everybody was having a lot
of fun. Africa is rich in culture. The diversity in the music art alone
is enormous. This diversity is show cased in the different styles of
music presented by each group/artist implementing unique African music
instruments. One of the highlights of the music program was the
performance by the musician from Ivory Coast, Ali Keita, who is arguably
one of the best African xylophonists (Balaphonist) in the world. In his show, which featured
the singer Djatou Touré, Ali demonstrated his expertise and creativity
as a music artist. The hall was turned into little Africa, with no
national, cultural, gender or age barrier. It was time to come together
and experience the warmth of Africa.
Africa
has been relatively successful in exporting African music and the impact
of African music on musicians worldwide is undeniable. However, Africa
has more creative talents to offer in other business sectors such as the
fashion industry. In this sector, a renowned dancer and designer is
gaining professional recognition as a fashion mogul. His name is Imane
Ayissi. The Cameroon-born gentleman resides in Paris, where he has
presented his designs in many fashion shows. At the African Gala
Evening, the excitement on the guests’ faces was vivid when the
moderator announced the fashion show presentation by Imane Ayissi. Beautiful
models did the catwalk displaying fantabulous designs made of satin,
silk, pure cotton and stretch materials. The hall vibrated with several
rounds of applause that accompanied the fantastically choreographed show
with background African rhythm. The show was simply superb. At the end
of the show, the moderator introduced and thanked Imane and his team for
accepting the invitation to the event. He expressed his appreciation of
the guests' attendance and praised all participants for making the event a
swell one. He then
declared the open-end continuation of the party with a DJ. The party
thus continued with people dancing and feeling Africa to the very best.
Afritopic
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| Comments
from guests at the event |
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| Julia Maute |
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| I am a German interested in the African culture. I was
informed about the event by a friend and decided to attend. It is a nice
event with very interesting program. I am enjoying the music. It induces
an African atmosphere. I am of the opinion that events like this one
could help in changing one-sided and biased image many people have about
Africa. continue> |
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| Photo
impressions> |
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| comments
contd. |
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| Magret Lingo |
| I am a German married to a Cameroonian. We have a
language translation business and provide translation services to
diverse industries and individuals. I was at the last event because the
organizer informed me about it. I could see improvement in this year’s
event. It is better organized. But the organizers should try and make
the event more popular in the German community. This could be achieved
by distributing well-designed information brochures that would attract
German interest.
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| Mao-Mimi Fischer-Eniang |
| I sell tickets at the entrance and provide guests with
necessary information concerning the event. I am happy to take part and
help in organizing in
the event. It is important for Africans to organize events that present
African culture and inform the people about our beautiful continent. We
should try and correct the negative image about Africa that the media
project.
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| Erli Santos-Brück |
| I am
from Brazil. I am married to a German and been living in Germany for
over 20 years. I have a grown-up daughter, who is very interested in
Fashion and would have loved to be here. Unfortunately, she has another
important appointment and could not make it to the event. The event is
well organized and the food is very good. I hope more African events of
this quality would be organized in the future. Afritopic |
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