Monday 7 May 2007

To go out in Dar

Sweet Eazy restaurant and bar in the Oysterbay Shopping Mall (Corner Ghuba Road and Toure Drive) has Live Music every Thursday and Saturday, and also offers rather nice food with a selection of seafood dishes; The Q Bar, famous for Sports fans on Haile Selassie Road (just behind Shrijees Supermarket) has life music on Wednesdays and Fridays, but unfortunately also a lot of prostitutes. Alternatives are the Arabella, with an adjoining driving range for gold fans, the new George and Dragon Pub, and the equally new Irish Pub in the Peninsula Hotel on Chui bay - the latter two also make excellent bar food. A much more local place for live music and dances is the Mango Garden on …If you fancy a late evening ice cream on a huge oval bar brining every night people of all walks of life together, then the place to head for is the bar at the Royal Palm Mövenpick!

There is quite a hip hop scene local to Dar – the music is locally called “Bongo Flava”. The original meaning of bongo is “brain or head”, but some years ago the term bongo started to be coined with the connotation of Dar es Salaam, meaning that “you need your brain to survive in Dar”. It is in recent years that Swahili spoken hip hop has gained respect. There are performances in numerous places, including the Jubilee Diamond hall in Upanga.

Sal Davis, a voluminous great singer performing almost every evening in Kempinski, is sort of a legend to Dar – he was singing in the Hotel in the good old socialistic times with all the Southern African dignities visiting already. The only down point he comes with – he always starts late (not before nine) and has long pauses between each of his songs, while the singers in between generally are not so much worth to listen to.






In October, the Light festival originating from the Indian state of Gujarati is on; While good spirits are said to visit the earth for a week, the Indian community meets every evening in their temples in Kisutu street for dances and sharing delicious sweets. Ladies are all dressed in most beautiful silk dresses and dance in great circles – a feast for the eye. Guests are most welcome.

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