Wachilia: The Minnesota African Musical Experience is Texas Bound

After several years of entertaining Kenyans and other Africans in Minneapolis, MN, Wachilia hits Texas a the end of this month. Wachilia is a Swahili word that means “release” or “let go.” The Wachilia event is designed to help revelers “release” the daily stress of work, school, parenting and bills, among others. The event starts at 9:00 pm with non-stop African dance music all the way to midnight. This is the only place in Minnesota that customers can be treated to a three-hour non-stop dose of oldies from the 80’s all the way to current music.

Once it hits midnight, the format switches to a mix of Reggae, Old School, African Hip Hop and more African music. This means that there’s essentially two shifts. The first shift is exclusively African music and geared toward those people who are only interested in African music and can then leave at midnight or stay until 2:00 am if they so choose. The second shift starts at midnight and kicks the energy up a notch. A good number of the people who arrive at this time come in from work and need to loosen up and “wachilia” the stress of work.

Wachilia happens on every first Saturday of the month at Blue Nile, 20207 E. Franklin Ave,. South Minneapolis and is hosted by Kilimanjaro Entertainment. Cover is $10.
The next Wachilia is Saturday, August 7.

Wachilia will be at Club Nai 15375 Addison Rd, Addison, TX on Friday, July 30 and at

KYA Hall 701 E. Pioneer Parkway, Arlington, TX on Saturday, July 31

Samba Mapangala’s Race to Save The Mountain Gorilla

“Les Gorilles des Montagnes” an upbeat dance song commissioned by WWF to increase awareness of conservation in the Congo Basin, begins with the still-stunning, instantly recognizable a cappella prelude to his 1981 hit “Tolinga Virunga” (We Love Virunga). But then the beat drops into a beautiful new melody and lyrics telling of the need to preserve the rare mountain gorillas and their fragile environment, and expressing gratitude to the park rangers who risk their lives daily to prevent poaching and illegal charcoal production. WWF will use this music to reinforce its efforts in East Africa and Congo, especially in the Goma and Bukavu regions where years of war and turmoil have impacted the gorillas’ habitat in the Virunga mountains, home to around half of the world’s remaining 700 mountain gorillas.

“Music is such a natural way to spread a message in Africa, and I’m thrilled with the positive and uplifting message Samba has created in “Les Gorilles des Montagnes,” says Matthew Lewis, Senior Program Officer for African species conservation with WWF.
Adds Samba: “I am so happy to be helping the WWF protect the wildlife and the environment of the beautiful Virunga mountains, from where I took the name of my band Orchestre Virunga in 1980.”

On Sept. 29, Samba made a personal appearance to launch the song at the International Conservation Council Forum bi-cameral hearing and reception on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, attended by representatives of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership member nations Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe, and Rwanda.

DOWNLOAD A FREE COPY OF THE SONG

SAMBA MAPANGALA’S VIDEO ON AMBIANCE CONGO

Visit the World Wildlife Fund’s site for information on efforts to save the mountain gorillas