THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
It was the evening of Sunday, 1 September in one of Berlin’s most prestigious event locations. The hall of Columbia Theater was filled to capacity with happy people – Africans, Germans and others, who had gathered to see the Afrobeat’s legend 2Baba Idibia (aka 2Face Idibia) perform live.
What marked the concert, dubbed 2FACE #20YearsAKing of Afrobeats Live, apart from shows of that nature was that it was like a huge party, where everybody came to have fund and indeed danced almost ceaselessly from the beginning to the end of the show.
The supporting performances, which went on for several hours, were of such a high quality that at a point rumours started circulating that 2Baba would not perform as the pre-headline artists put up a show that nearly made the crowd forget that they had gathered to see the Nigerian superstar.
It’s beautiful music all through, powered by DJ Bongo Bongo and danced to enthusiastically by the crowd that you would begin to wonder what 2Baba, 43, could still do better! Precisely this feeling led to whispers making the rounds that perhaps 2Baba would not show up hence Kings and Friends Promotion had taken the trouble to assemble such a quality collection of supporting artists including live band performers.
Then suddenly 2Baba appeared on the stage when it seemed everybody was getting tired of dancing and he immediately reenergized the crowd. The crooner was welcomed by the crowd with a loud applause and they responded to his calls from the stage with such enthusiastic sing-along choruses.
And the party went on and on until the early hours of Monday.
The 2Baba Berlin show proved that with a good African artist you can fill a prestigious German event location like the Columbia Theater even when the minimum gate fee is 30 euros. Two, that an African organizer can stage a successful high standard show; Kings and Friends Promotion beat all expectations on Sunday in Berlin and the success of the event proved that the outfit, under the leadership of Azeez Jossy Sunmola, has joined the league of leading show masters in Germany.
See photos of the concert here
Other promoters in the African community have their work cut out for them – to match what Kings and Friends Promotion delivered on Sunday in Berlin. A huge challenge indeed!
Femi Awoniyi
READ ALSO 2Baba Idibia kicks off Europe tour to celebrate 20 years in show business
