THE BIG AFRICAN PARTY

Before the 90s, African music was a rare content of the Finnish airwaves.  Its early inroad was in the early 90s and it was through the radio program ran by my humble self on the now defunct Finland’s pioneer private commercial radio station, Radio City. The program was titled ‘Sunsplash Africa’, and later ‘Rhythm Power’. Also at the other end was another African program in Finnish run by Patrick Befelt , on another defunct Radio station.

There was a big reception for this new cultural input in the Finnish airwave. I was just less than a year old in the country, and coming directly from an African media background, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria to be precise, I was armed with all it takes to expose Finns to the nitty-gritty of African music and culture.

This era also marked the beginning of a remarkable cultural input by migrants to spice up social life in Finland. An informal cultural activism was born by a bunch migrants and Finns who hung out at the Vanha Kupila restaurant. There was Mazhar, Ram of blessed memory, Patrick, Ezza, to mention but a few. This movement culminated to the setting up of the Punky Reggae party, an entertainment set up that was to rock the city of Helsinki for a very long time.

The City Marathon

Yes the good old City Marathon restaurant and bar at the Pitkasilta. Under the directorship of the guru himself, Mahzar  (Baba) this was to become  the historical birthplace of Finnish reggae, Latino, and African music culture. It made headlines on the Finnish mainstream newspapers and tabloids. No place till date has been able to attract the kind of crowd this club attracted on a weekday, Thursdays to be precise. Every Thursday evening, there was a long queue stretching from the front door of the restaurant up to the beginning of the street. Between four to five Djs taking turn in spinning a variety of music in the Afro, Latino, and Reggae genre, while the crowds of clubbers danced to the beat of music to their delight.

Are We About To Have a Repeat Performance?

T he Big African Party of Saturday 17^th of March brought back the memories of the rocking 90s, that I had to ask myself, is this a come back to the good old times? There was a gradual recession that started taking place from the late 90s. People started disappearing from the scene, and new operators took over the alternative social activities. Since then till date, the magic of the Punky Reggae party days fizzled out.

But on the 17^th of March, the crowd that gathered at the Dubrovnik was reminiscent of the good old 90s. In attendance were a lot of clubbers of that era, mixed up with the younger ones. This was made possible by the hard work of Fidelis Tungaraza, one of the active socialites of the 90s. Fidelis and his crew put together a wonderful evening for everyone. Dj Cliff had a full basket of African music spanning different generations and in a variety of genre.  Music from the African continent, south of Sahara; north of Limpopo.

The turnout showed that there is a gap to be filled in the social lives of people who love this kind of music. It also goes to prove that there is a yearning for a real African music club in Helsinki. From what I witnessed at show, with the Big African Night, I am convinced that the good old 90s is back with us again.