(PODCAST)EVENT COVERAGE:NUITS D'AFRIQUE 2008Night Of Blues, Gnaoua & Flamengo

(photos by www.heatherlweimer.com)
Last night was a special night at NUITS D'AFRIQUE 2008. Since the outdoor part of the festival begins today, last night was meant to be sort of a transition. It ended up becoming an all out party.

The evening started at LA NATIONAL with ETRAN FINATAWA. This was their second performance of the festival...they filled in last night for a group with visa troubles. This performance was as hypnotic as the first and I think it solidified these guys as my favorite performers of the fest this year.

SALAAM was next at CLUB BALATTOU. They combine traditional Gnaoua music with jazz and other modern influences. It's been my experience at past NUITS D'AFRIQUE festivals that the groups from Morocco throw the best parties. SALAAM did not break that tradition. The crowd was in high spirits. Tons of dancing and singing and it was a real blast.

The evening finished with the third installment in a series of shows hosted by kora master ZAL IDRASSA SISSOKHO. Tonight was a very interesting mix of the kora with the flemingo dancing of HEDI ARQUILLERE. This was a hot performance and the photos from it turned out great!

Today we move outside for the outdoor festival. I will continue to report back with interviews, performance clips, photos and more...so keep checking back. In the meantime, listen to my report from last night in the podcast above. See photos of the shows if you click the NUITS D'AFRIQUE WIDGET banner below.


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EVENT COVERAGE:NUITS D'AFRIQUE 2008-Etran Finatawa in the audience

(photos by www.heatherlweimer.com)
I love seeing musicians acting like music fans. I already talked about ETRAN FINATAWA and their great performance onstage at the KOLA NOTE on Friday night. Last night, they were in street clothes in the audience at the ANDRE-MARIE TALA concert...dancing, singing and taken tons of pictures. They are obviously music lovers and they obviously know how to have a good time.


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(PODCAST)EVENT COVERAGE:NUITS D'AFRIQUE 2008Etran Finatawa

(photos by www.heatherlweimer.com)
Recently ETRAN FINATAWA has been all the buzz in the world music world. Their make-up and costumes...their trance-like dances...all combined with a hypnotic desert blues sound...it's amazing and it's won over tons of fans over the past several years.

This is THE show that I really wanted to see at this years NUITS D"AFRIQUE 2008. I gotta tell you, their performance last night at KOLA NOTE was all I wanted it to be. It was a wonderful thing to witness. The good news is that due to a visa problem with another scheduled performer, ETRAN FINATAWA is being added for another performance next Wednesday, meaning I'll get to see them again next week.

Listen to my report from the show above or see Heather's great photos below in the NUITS D'AFRIQUE WIDGET.


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