Lions of Africa

In 2008 I was invited by the Stavanger Kommune, the European Cultural City for 2008. I visited them and I was recommended by them for all the Norwegan organisers, directors and producers to work with us.

I, the director of Lions of Africa, am going to move to and base in Norway officially and bring my culture to Norwegian audiences in festivals and schools. The manager involved selling the show in Norway is mister Martin. If you want to book the show he is the person involved that can be contacted.

Special for the events in 2009 in Norway
As the director of the Lions of Africa, I am going to give dance and percussion workshops in schools and other locations. And in doing so I am asking organisations, or anybody, to help Senegalese hospitals in several villages. There they need help to buy medicins, beds (and any other acommedations). Some children have no parents and are homeless or handicaped. There are, for exemple houses for blind children who live in a big room without electricity and to little food. The government of Senegal is doing everything it can to solve this problem but it is not enough. So we are asking the whole world to help us with this. We need any help. The Lions of Africa have decided, from the work and the money they get, that 50 % of their salary is going to these people. And the merchendise we are selling, that money will go directly to these hospitals. The money will be given to them personally by members of our group.

In the period October and November in 2009, the President and the Minister of Culture of Senegal will travel to Norway to draw attention to this matter. There will be a special 
program with performances of Norwegian and Senegalese artists. The President of Senegal has brought democracy to Senegal in 9 years. People can speak freely. He also 
helped to develop culture, youngsters have more of a future. He also makes Senegalese people proud in the whole world. Senegal has a much better reputation and the President has made it attractive to invest in Senegal. The president has also strived to unite Africa. In the past, the Lions of Africa have helped him during his campaing to win the elections in 2000.

Lions of Africa in Norway during the Fordefestivalen 3-6 july 2008
For this festival we had been invited by the Hilde Bjorkum. She was not only our client or customer but she was more like an angel. Someone who is there to help you and solve all your problems and of all of our group members.

We were facing a visum problem with a group of 22 artists and then she took control with the embassy and the emigration, UDI in Oslo.

She took a lot of time to help us.  And because our tour would start in Norway we had to be in time or might  lose the whole tour. So, when we went into the festval we had lost some instruments in the airport in Portugal. The first thing we did in this festival is to give a workshop with 200 people. When we arrived at our first show we were very excited because during the soundtcheck the place was already getting full with folks.

We were not so satisfied with our performance because we had lost some instruments and they did not arrive in time. During the show the public was in a good mood. From the stage we could see how the audience was really reacting. Some folks would even jump on the stage or we would even pull them from the floor up on the stage.And Hilde was invited on stage because we wanted to make sure the audience would know how much she had done for us. She was dancing so happy with a big smile. She did not expect all the credits she got in front of the audience. But we felt we had to because she did something for us that was not at all a part of her job. She crossed her line for us. That is why we felt we needed to thank her that way.

There were journalists at the beginning and at the end of the show. We had a lot of people who came to our dressroom and shake our hands and telll us wat a great show it was. And also that they were planning to come to our next show.

We met a lot of media who came out of other countries; like a Polish journalist, a Portugese journalist and also France 24, a broadcast channel. They decided to do a 
documentary on the group, on a location in the mountains of Forde. They also made a great effort by putting in extra budget to realise the shoot with us. 
At the end of the day we got offered a dinner for the whole group.

We also got a lot of contact with professionals of other nationalities; producers of different countries came up to us interested in working with us. We were very happy about the people and how they treated us. They were very respectful and educated people. The food was very good, the accomedation was good, lot of freedom and a great the guide, a very polite and helpful female guide. They also helped us to get extra money to get back to Amsterdam with the bus that turned out to be over our budget.

I really appreciate the way we have been treated. I wish we could have done more for them. But the main thing is that they were happy with the performance. And Hilde was sure that with al the extra time and energy she had invested, the result was positive.

We also thank the UDI. They have supported and helped us in this matter. I did thank them many times on the media. Since we left the festival every country we went to on our tour: it was great. It was as if were blessed, Forde had given us power and luck. After that we went to Holland. And the same things happened. We got a lot of positive reactions from the audience.

The rest of the tour in Europe in 2008
After that we went to Spain. The Spanish people were also great people. They helped us a lot and were very nice. And we were able to give them a great performance. They were great and happy for us. We asked the audience for a minute of silence because young African people cross the ocean, risking their lives to get to Europe, via Spain. The one miniute silence was a big thing for the Spanish audience. For the public this was special because we were the first African performance group who would consider this matter, live with their audience.

We were recommended by the mayor Narón Juan Gato Díaz. We got a lot of gifts from him. We represent Senegal with a good image for all Arfican people who live in Spain. We also thank the organisation for everything they did for us.

After that we traveled to Portugal, Barcelinhos. Many people already heard about us when we had performed in Spain. The two festivals worked together. And when we arrived 
people were already waiting for us. No problems with the customs post and we were led in without any delay. They were very helpful. We met a lot of people, like groups from 
Croatia, Pais Basco and Venezuela.

After that we went back to Holland again, the Kwakoe festival. There, 90 percent of the audience is black people. It was a big shock for them. For many of them it was beyond their imagination that such a culture would exist. They thought they had seen everything already but this, they had not seen yet. The costumes, the make up.... They did not know it but immediately they felt tranced, like there was a connection. Our stage was filled up with people before we had even started. There were people who had seen us in Melkweg in Amserdam in 2002 and Oeroel festival in 2004 in the Netherlands. So people had been talking about us. And then a few years later they wanted to see us again. They had been following us but shows had been cancelled before in Holland. So now that they saw us in Kwakoe they were already waiting for us. The next day we were on the front page of the newspaper. And we have also been on the Dutch/Surinam radio for two weeks. People called to ask questions about the Lions of Africa because it was like a shock for them. And then we left Kwakoe and we went to Belgium in Edegem. We had people come from different towns. Some people even came from France or Luxemburg. But a rival artist from Senegal who wanted to run away with some of our musicians gave us some serious trouble there. It was alomost like a kidnapping. We have this problem because in the past some of the members had left Lions of Africa, they were fired, and so problems like this we sometimes face. We did not have a good time there. But what ever happened the problem was solved.