Ecole of Rock!

My first trip to a bar. Who knew it would be in Africa with my mom, her friend and a six year old boy? And that it would be to see a rock band made up by 7 teachers from my school ?


I agreed to go and didn’t know what to expect, but I mostly went along to mock.
We dressed casually and navigated though the neighbourhood of Dassasgho and found our way to a dark dirt road that was surprisingly busy.
We crossed the street and went though the open doorway and find ourselves in the open courtyard of the Maquis Tip Top, where the concert would take place. The man at the entry did not spare a second glance for our weird looking group.

We sat down at a very low metal table, in hazardously sharp-edged metal chairs.
I looked around: Directly in front of us was the African-style mosh pit, minus the moshing. Loud African music was playing. It was quite dark and there was a cheesy soap opera playing on the TV on the wall. So far we were the only expats in the place.

A waitress with a bored look on her face asked us what we wanted to drink. We asked for 2 orange sodas and 1 Coke. She brought us 2 Cokes and 1 orange soda…Ok. Well, after living here a couple years (maybe, like, try nine) you learn to keep sending the waiters back until you get what you what. Don’t give up! Otherwise you will never, ever get what you want when you go out and it will eventually make you a bitter and crabby person.


Well, it was 8.30 by now and the concert was supposed to start at 8. It’s the Burkinabe way to start every thing at least one hour late. I was wide awake - the little boy, though, was falling asleep. Around 8.40, we grew hopeful- 4 of the band members arrived and they… sat down to have a beer.
Well it shouldn’t take long now, I thought. The mostly Burkinabe crowd started to have quite a few expats in it – mainly other teachers from the French school coming to watch their colleagues play. Maybe they would push their friends to start!


The last band member finally arrived and sat with her friends to have a drink.
It was now 9.30 and I was going nuts. I felt like I had heard the same song over and over for the past hour and a half and the swirling and flashing lights of the mosh pit were growing surprisingly hypnotizing.

Then, it finally started! Two guys on electric guitar and one on bass. There was one lead male singer - that was my little sister Alexa’s teacher. There was also a drummer, a female backup singer and a pianist/violinist.
And they weren’t that bad! The backup singer and pianist were a bit weak, but every one else was good. They sung some songs from The Beatles, The Clash and the Rolling Stones. (No Tokio Hotel!) I had never heard any of it before. My mom had to tell me what the songs were.
(Just so you know: She recently made us kids listen to Bohemian Rhapsody to “educate” us. I think I'm scarred for life!!)


By the second song, about four or five way beyond age 30 French women were “dancing” in the mosh pit. I think they were dancing, anyway. Let's just say they were jumping up and down more or less in time to the music being played. The Burkinabe people in the audience looked surprised and not exactly impressed. (They tend to be really good dancers)
I held back a smile. My mom leaned over and said:
-If I suddenly get up and start dancing like that, shoot me - OK?
-I will, don’t worry. I replied.


I glanced back at the band - it looked like they were having fun. They acted like a group of teens in a rock band.
Yeah, I thought, A bunch of balding, wrinkled teens.

Then I noticed an actual group of teenagers from my school, maybe about 3 years ahead of me. They were watching, some of them with an amused look on their faces and others with pure boredom. Just then I realized this was a twisted situation: Those teens should be the rock band playing. They should be the dancers in the mosh pit. And the adults should be the confused and bored group sitting at a table.


The band was not done playing, but the little boy with us was asleep - so we headed home. I actually would not have minded staying till the end. I bet they played Bohemian Rhapsody. That would have been something to see!