Saturday night we went out to Club Thiossane, the popular nightclub owned by Youssou N'dour! N'Dour is the most well known Senegalese musician and entertainer-- his music is a mix of jazz, African rthymes, drums, sax, and smooth singing and chanting. Since he's becoming popular internationally (http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/travel/06senegalmusic.html) he only plays at his club once every few month.
When we showed up to Thiossane (Thios for short) at around 1am Sunday morning, we knew N'Dour was coming-- the streets were packed with Senegalese and foreigners waiting in long lines to buy tickets and get into the club. We were so excited to get tickets to his show! Although many of us were exhausted from a long day at Goree (James and Gina may have been half asleep prior to the performance), the music was incredible and the club was full of energy and extraordinary dancing.
The traditional Senegalese dancing is called Mbalax and is like nothing else I've ever seen. Try YouTube to get a better idea: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-0x3o8esUQ&feature=related). Everyone here wants to try to teach us how to do it (probably so they can laugh at us). Senegalese night life is definitely a fun and energetic affair-- it usually involves dancing and takes place between 1 or 2 am until 5 or 6am. Not only is that much later than the typical Penn frat party, but it involves a lot less beer pong and no late night Wawa.
If you want to check out N'Dour he has a pretty cool website: www.youssou.com
Enjoy!
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