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Clubbing in Great Old Addis

Hopping down memory lane has got me thinking…Addis Ababa during my youth, was a state of mind for me, not just where I grew up. Over-protected, indulged with love and bombarded with images of western life made me one anxious teenager! I was obsessed with getting out of there to get a taste of life outside of the bubble! One thing that inched slightly closer to western reality was this idea of going out…clubbing…a term which would make my dad’s heart skip a beat the day of graduation. The classes plan was: we would all go to a nightclub after the dinner and ceremony. For most of the class this was no biggie…for some it was standard protocol for a weekend…for me, it would be the first time ever!

And oh boy, good ole’ mom had to do some serious convincing so my dad would agree. “What if a boy asks her to go for a ride, she will go with him, menem tereter yelewem!” he stated confidently. “Ende!” My mom exclaimed with a look on her face which would make anyone else think they were crazy. But my dad has seen this look many a time, he didn’t flinch. “Yes!” he said. Nevertheless he agreed. Subject, however, to poor older male cousin who had to be woken up at 9pm, picked up from his home and ordered to drive me and my friends to the club, babysit all night and drive me home! He still complains about it! But it’s not something I was prepared to compromise. I mean, by that time, I had completed all my dues right? I studied hard, made great friends, attended all family functions, didn’t get addicted to drugs, no murders…only thing they could get me on was bullying younger (completely opposite from me) sister who was convinced she would never wear a dress for as long as she lived, an absolute tomboy, hence a complete embarrassment to me at school. Years later, she is one of my best friends, and a refined young lady but that’s neither here nor there…

It was known as Club VOGUE. The classiest joint in town! A place of magic and music subtly located in a basement at the corner of a major road, next to the Ambassador Theatre. The building, constructed during imperial days, shows off the club’s curvaceous neon lights to indicate that it is indeed with the times! Invisible by day and electric at night, Vogue was the place to be on a Saturday night in Addis, as clearly proclaimed by the large, trendy crowd surrounding the entrance… pulsing to the rhythm of youth. I was surprised, once we parked and got to the crowd, how such mayhem could be so organised! A long line of laid back folk, wait to get their turn to pay their 5birr and get to the dance floor. Suddenly, I spot one of my other older cousins (one of those, too old to be a cousin, too young to be an uncle type cousins) at the door! Then it hits me! This cousin recently made a public announcement to the extended family that he will not pursue higher education, he will pursue his passion instead, music, hence he will start a disc-jockeying career which, you never know, could take him places. This was a very revolutionary act! At the time, the adults puffed and panted; the teenagers winked at each other, hopeful that this means a move to democracy in this family!

He notices me too…he shrieks out my ‘bet sim’ or pet name (which no one except my best friend knew from my class). I am completely mortified! He screams out again…and yes…a third time while I try to hide behind my cousin who drove us to the club. But my dear older cousin is not the type to be easily shunned. Failing my response, he sends an employee of the club down the line to me to say that he is calling me and I should come to the front. All of a sudden, a wave of heads turns towards me, some with the hope of getting to skip the line with me and others seeing if I would dare! I nodded slowly with a weak smile and gradually walked up to the door. Two feet from the door, he stretches his arm and yanks me towards him and with a bear hug starts talking a hundred miles per hour, as he always does... ‘Heyyyyyy sweetie, endet nesh? How are ya? You ok? My, you look sharp!’ He shouts while he rubs my hair like a 10 year old. ‘Sorry I missed your graduation, I was sooo busy. How was it? Did you get lots of money, haha, so they finally let you go out huh? Haha, so I see you here with your friends? Great, no problem, call them, you all comin in now.’ He has the loudest laugh this side of East Africa!

Before I could get a word in or reply to his questions, he quickly turns to the cashier at the door, a very uninspired young lady, ‘You…let them all in ok? They are with me.’ He shouts rudely. The lady looks up, with an engrained frown, she gives him half a nod and gets back to counting cash. I am thinking…niceeee…this family thing ain’t so bad sometimes! I turn around at my eagerly awaiting cousin and friends, and gesture for them to come over. They start shuffling through the crowd who all of a sudden, start to chew their gum a little louder and roll their big Ethiopian eyes. Despite all this, my friends successfully get to the front, where like sheep at Ethiopian Easter, we are shuffled in one at a time by my older DJ cousin while he counts us, shouting at the cashier ‘Ande, Hulut, Sost, Arat…eyesemash new? Anchi? Amest, Sedest…tsafi eko new yemelish, denkoro!’ Yes, as loud and rude as he was, he was my hero. You see, my cousin was one of those people who were made for the hustle of Addis. He was loud, confident and could not care less about what people thought. He was at the top tier of Addis socialite and indeed over the years it definitely paid off, he stopped the DJ career and moved on to owning a successful business.

Back to my anxiety and the sound of thumping base as we walk down the stairs covered with a thin red carpet to the entrance of the club. First thing that hits me is the smell. A concoction of perfume, cologne, old carpet and body heat. Musty… but hey it was also the smell of freedom! Soon as we walk in, the crowd notices we are somewhat different, freshies or maybe fresh meat. Didn’t really care at the time. I was mesmerised by the flashing colours coming from a glass dancefloor in the middle of the room. People grooving to the sound of ‘Return of the Mac’, some to the rhythm, others maybe missed a beat or two. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, suddenly, something grabs me by the arm and drags my 5’4, anxious body through what seemed like a crowd of giants and towards the back of the room. I was promptly seated onto an old couch at the back of the club, looking up, I realised it was my cousin who had a stern look on his face. ‘DO NOT LEAVE THIS COUCH’ he said calmly with puffy eyes, ‘I WILL COME BACK TO GET YOU WHEN WE LEAVE’. I nodded enthusiastically. Clearly he was still upset about the whole waking him up at midnight thing, its ok, I will make it up to him later. I looked to my right to see that in fact, most of the gang had left me by the door and walked here to sit down. A sense of relief filled my teenage chest and I took a slow breathe in, followed by a cough because of all the dust coming from the couch.

Full of excitement, we look at each other and think what’s next? I turn to one of the guys in my class sitting next to us (the guys clearly had more experience than the girls) to pose the question…’Eshi, what you gonna do now?’ Just as my head turns to ask, I notice a strange guy in my line of sight, staring at me. I turn behind me, thinking it must be someone else he is looking at cause I sure as heck don’t know him! After confirming there is no one behind me, I turn back to this strange person. We make eye contact again. I quickly look away, pretending this didn’t happen and continue to talk to my guy friends. They smile patronisingly and tell me to just relax and enjoy myself. So I turn to my best friend to get her thoughts on the whole dancefloor situation. In the distance, I notice a familiar shape, now waving towards me! Oh yes, it’s the same guy. He is not only very inappropriately staring at me…his back is to a column, leg is bent, jacket is still on, and is gesturing me to come over! My mouth drops in shock. Is this guy, who I have never met asking me to leave my friends and walk over to him? I have never even done that in school! Meanwhile, my best friend says ‘Heldu, come on lets dance, the whole group is going’. I stand up and follow the group, still in shock horror, and with no opportunity to tell best friend of my predicament.

We arrive on the dancefloor and Biggie’s ‘Hypnotize’ is on. We smile at each other and start busting moves that we have done time and again at my best friend’s house, while watching recorded music videos. The bros from school are surprised by our stepping skills. The realisation this is the first and one of the last times we will be dancing together makes us dance just that bit faster, bumping hips and electric sliding. I’m all smiles…this could not be any more perfect…until a tap on my shoulder makes me turn. All I can see is teeth, strange teeth from an even stranger person. But hey, not so strange, this is the same guy who was staring at me earlier. He has followed me to the dancefloor and thinks nothing of saying the following: ‘Eshi, endet new, ancheferem?’ WHATTT??? He did not just ask me to dance! I grab my best friends hand and walk steadfast back to our seating area. I see my sleepy cousin taking a nap, we go and sit next to him. My best friend looks at me and says ‘Oh my god, can you believe that?’ I’m like ‘I KNOW!’ She says ‘I cannot believe that guy touched my butt’. I turn to her confused and go ‘What?’. ‘Yes’ she continues in disbelief, ‘I am almost 100% sure that guy felt my butt!’ My mouth drops, I look over to where she is pointing, to another guy on the dancefloor, this time wearing tight short sleeved shirt, toothpick in his mouth and winking towards us. I then also tell her MY shock horror story. We nod our heads and express how disappointed we both were at such unacceptable behaviour!

A couple of hours later and my cousin beeps the car horn impatiently at the gate of my house. I am tired, hungry and my feet are about to fall off! Lets not even consider how my cousin feels, he has not spoken a word since we left the club and my friends, who had moved on to another venue. As tempting as their invitation was, in my mind, I already had enough drama for one night! I say bye to my cousin who is relieved to see me walking away and walk slowly into the house. I step into the lounge and sitting there with their PJ’s and nightgown are both my parents! (Oh lord!) My mom’s face beams with a big smile, ‘Eshi endet neber Heldu?’ ‘It was fun!’ I exclaim with an awkward smile, slowly walking to the exit and hoping to God they don’t ask anymore questions. ‘WAIT’, shouts my dad. My heart and I stop in our tracks. He gets up and walks slowly to where I was standing. I look up at his serious face and squinted eyes. ‘Do you realise what time it is? The sun has come up! What kind of party goes on until the sun rises?’ If only you knew Afu, that’s how we do in Addis! Of course, I didn’t say that…