{"id":39881,"date":"2020-04-08T15:20:50","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T14:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=39881"},"modified":"2020-09-27T11:36:51","modified_gmt":"2020-09-27T09:36:51","slug":"the-guardian-teranga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/the-guardian-teranga\/","title":{"rendered":"The Guardian’s Teranga: a dive into Napoli’s afrobeats club scene"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/b>Explore the world of afrobeats in Napoli, Italy, and the budding community of struggling refugees who use music as solace from their traumatic past and corrupt circumstances of the migrant system.<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n

Teranga<\/em>, meaning \u201chospitality or welcoming generosity \u201d in wolof (a Senegalese language) uses the Afrobeats club scene of Napoli, Italy as a lens to tell the story of two asylum seekers, Fata and Yankuba, who navigate a corrupt migrant system, escaping their hardships through dance and communion in the Teranga, a club in Napoli\u2019s Centro Storico.<\/span><\/p>\n

Filmed over two years, the documentary is a snapshot into the life of the protagonists, waiting in limbo for answers to their asylum requests, and facing the uphill battle of corruption as refugees with almost nothing to their name except a passion for music and a relentless search for a better life. Throughout the documentary you can\u2019t help but admire the resilience, ingenuity and ambition of Yankuba and Fata, a portrait that deviates from the mainstream narrative often used to portray refugees of their kind. After the long and traumatic journeys across the desert, Libya, and the Mediterranean Sea, both young refugees maintain dreams of long-stay visas that will allow them to pursue their dream jobs; Yankuba hopes to become a biochemist and Fata has dreams of becoming a world famous afrobeats DJ.<\/span><\/p>\n

Teranga<\/em> is a reminder of the power of music to create a community, provide an escape from our troubles, and nourish our dreams. To get deeper into the musical aspect of the documentary, PAM asked the British born director Sophia, who lived in Napoli for years engaging with the migrant community, some questions about the protagonists, the afrobeats music scene, and the community\u2019s relationship to music.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nOutside, on a night out at the Teranga, a patron says, \u201cmusic is the portal to let Italians come into our world.\u201d Did a local Italian scene frequent the Teranga to share the music and culture with the likes of Fata & Yankuba ?<\/span><\/h6>\n

 <\/span>When it was founded in 2005 by Judicael Ouango, a 35-year-old migrant from Burkina Faso, Teranga was conceived as an association to promote cultural exchange between Neapolitans and migrants. Judicael had experienced first hand the lack of cultural spaces where Italians and migrants could meet in Naples: Teranga was created to fill that void, with cultural events that included concerts but also various other activities including a literary cafe, weekly meals, etc. It was frequented by both migrants and Neapolitans, curious to learn more about West African culture. In 2015 however, when the \u201dimmigration crisis\u201d reached its peak and flocks of young men arrived in Naples, Teranga gradually evolved into a nightclub open everyday (bar Mondays), overwhelmingly frequented by young asylum seekers looking to escape from the grim reality of their corrupt welcome centres. This isn\u2019t to say that Italians have stopped coming: in fact, during the two years we have been shooting, we saw the opposite unfold before our eyes, with an increasing number of young Neapolitans heading to the nights in the search of a new cool underground scene in the city. It\u2019s hard to tell what exactly drove this evolution, but the explosion in popularity of Afrobeats likely played a part. The dance floor at Teranga has an equalizing nature: for at least a few hours, people from very different backgrounds dance together to the same music, transforming the club into a sort of laboratory for a bottom up form of integration. The owner Judicael has been keeping count and says that at least 173 babies have been born from meeting in Teranga: it\u2019s anecdotal of course, but also quite an amusing symbol of the role Teranga has been able to play. 
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