The Muzungu CAN dance!

This past weekend marked another “muzungu convention” (i.e. party weekend) here in Mazabuka. Every time we get together, the group seems to grow. In total, we were close to 30 people this time.

The reason for the get together (if there has to be a reason), was to attend the annual Radio Chikuni Festival in the nearby, yet still somewhat remote village of Chikuni. In convoy, we travelled down to Chikuni on Saturday morning to take in a variety of Tonga music and dance. We all had an excellent time!

Fun music and dancing at the Radio Chikuni Festival

All were welcome - young, old, muzungu, etc.

Ilene and Jerry enjoying their first taste of raw sugarcane.  It's much juicier than it looks on the outside.

At the end of the day, I bought two CDs of Zambian music for 25,000 kwacha each ($5), which seemed like “a song” (sorry, I just couldn't resist the pun). The two bands I really liked were Green Mamba and Mashombe Blue Jeans. I have yet to open the CDs though, so hopefully I'll still like the recordings.

These guys seemed to be engaged in some sort of friendly dance competition.

One thing that really surprised me was that the audience hardly moved at all. With all the rhythms, melodies and dancing emanating from the stage, it only seemed natural to move with the groove. This muzungu caught the dancing bug, which prompted lots of smiling and snickering among many of the Zambians near us. I tried to encourage others to dance but mostly they just smiled wider!

While waiting for some members of our group to catch up just before we left the festival, I took some photos of more kids... an activity which is fast becoming my favourite pastime in Zambia. All in all, it was another great weekend.

The girl in the foreground made me laugh - I loved her expressions!

One of my favourite photos so far in Zambia.