Review: Afrobeats at Somerset House
On arriving to the venue in the pouring rain was no big deal at all, with over just 100 Afrobeat lovers and onlookers at the outdoor event set in the heart of West Central London, Strand. I decided to bring along my good friend Ruth so that we could experience this night together.
Abrantee and his team had flown in artists and performers from all over Africa and even from the UK. Host DJ Amour interacted well with the audience and kept us laughing throughout his time on stage.
As the Angolan group S.O.A. graced the stage, the crowd cheered for them even without knowing who they were or their songs. After a long performance by S.O.A, ‘Tyroon Da Prince’ a Sierra Leone native took to the stage with his London based dancers ‘Unique Silver’ and some friends to perform his new single ‘Can You Drive Me Crazy?’ The song was ridiculously catchy, as my friend and I found ourselves singing along to it in the pouring rain.
DJ Amour called London based, Ghanaian artist Skob to the stage. Skob had everyone dancing – doing all types of dance moves from the Ghanaian dance craze ‘Azonto’ to people literally jumping up and down, not sure that move has a name yet. With the rain slowly drifting away and more people arriving, Abrantee took over the rest of show and introduced Afrobeat UK’s very own – Vibe Squad, Flava, Kwamz and Mista Silva as they all performed continuing the Azonto craze for the night.
With a beautiful introduction by Abrantee, the yahooze crooner Olu Maintain finally got on the stage. Maintain got all the ladies and some gents dancing and singing along to his singles ‘NAWTi’ and ‘Yahooze’. They definitely did save the best till last.
We thought it was all over until DJ Abrantee took himself to the DJ booth, and for about a good half an hour got the party started as we all danced in the rain to Afrobeats. From when I saw people teaching each other how to Azonto in the rain, I knew that Afrobeats had been taken to a whole new other level!
