What an amazing night!
Wed 27 May – Rokia Traoré
When I've entered the room where the show would take place, I was shocked to see it was a room full of chairs!
Come on, Casa da Música! This is not Classical Music! Who got that lousy idea of making people sit down? Absolutely ridiculous!
Some people actually want to jump and dance around all throught the concert... instead of sitting down as if nothing is happening in front of them!
For my relief, a lot of other spectators thought the same... and following our hearts, we quickly rebelled against the idea and watched the rest of the show standing up, dancing, jumping, singing and shouting...
Who cares for the norms, anyway?
Of course we were just a minority, since about 80% of the public managed to spend the whole 2 hours comfortably sitting in their places...
However, this small group was responsible for all the fun and the artists clearly enjoyed our little revolution, since they've presented us with an awesome concert!
All it was perfect, from start to finish they've played great songs full of rhythm.
Most of the songs were sung in Bambara, a language full of life, a few in French... and one song,
The Man I Love, a tribute to
Billie Holiday, was sung in English.
Rokia Traoré's latest album is more peaceful and tranquil than earlier albums...
Nevertheless, the live experience has added a lot of fun and rhythm to those songs and the band has also played a lot of songs from previous albums, which turned the show into an incredible work of art!
Rokia Traoré has also taken the opportunity to speak about Africa and the problems that European nations have caused in this vast continent.
I'm glad I've decided to go, even though I was pretty tired...
I got a lot more than what I was expecting!
In the end, after
Rokia Traoré left the stage, under a lot of applause, of course... the band just kept on playing.
Dianké Termessant, the singer who's responsible for the backing vocals, presented us with a very cheerful and funny dancing act, showing us how Africans have a very different dancing style than our European way.
Congratulations to all members of the band and also to the public, particularly to all those who've decided to stand up and dance! This world needs more people like you!