Thirsty Thursdays: Watching Kennedy Star Live At Bar Caupa Bangou, Niamey, Niger
Well on our last night backpacking in Niamey, Niger, we were served up a treat – local live music – guitars, drums, singing live in front of our eyes with cold beers to boot. It was the final night of a wild adventure which started on a bus from Olsztyn to Kolobrzeg in Poland on 9th November 2024. First of all, to set the scene – the Niger Visa is NOT an easy one to nab. Currently, the UK, Irish and Polish governments all advise us NOT to travel to Niger. That in itself, was the spur and catalyst to make us want to go there and prove them all wrong, as usual. So, we headed to Berlin, TWICE to get the Niger Visa in Berlin, Germany.
Now that we had the visa, we headed to Niger on a direct flight from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Boxing Day. On arrival we headed straight to our superb hotel, the Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe in Niamey, the capital city of Niger!
While staying here, we were able to relax by the pool, chill out, drink local beers and dine in the restaurant. We also toured the sights of Niamey. We did waste a bit of time solving a passport dilemma. I wasn’t too fussed about it but Marek got stressed because the police keep your passports in Niger. I knew it was standard procedure and no cause for alarm. We ended up visiting this “DST Office” twice to try and locate and source our passports, but in the end the passports were simply being held at the international airport in Niamey because we were coming in and out of the airport. Marek met a local lad called Illiassou by chance in our hotel and he was the one we spent an afternoon with at DST loyal and trying to solve the passport issue. He even went to the airport with us, but turned down the offer of drinks and dinner as a devout Muslim. Otherwise, we would have drinkpacked another local restaurant before the Kennedy Star night out! Thanks to Illiassou.
Once all that had been sorted, we were finally relaxed and up for a night out in Niamey, one of my top 17 memories from backpacking Niger. Thanks to Augustine in the Hotel Univers 3 Aeroport Luxe, we were invited to a local music night in a bar called Bar Caupa Bangou. But Augustine left early on his own and it was now dark. We tried in vain to get a taxi and time was ticking, it was now about 20:30 on our last night in Niger, but we didn’t want to miss the live music. The streets are barely lit at night here in Niamey and we had no mission to find this bar on our own, so we finally found a taxi and our hotel reception manager was able to tell the taxi driver exactly where Bar Caupa Bangou was located and he knew it. Sorted. Or not…
The traffic was nuts, pure madness. None of the windows in our taxi went up, the door had no lock and suddenly in amongst the traffic it started to feel tense, like other cars full of locals were staring at Marek and I. With the darkness gaping in, one lad started shouting at me and then to my shock, the door burst open and he got in beside me in anger. It was nuts. It all happened so fast. About five of his mates were behind him and he started asking Marek and I if we were American and why we were here. He asked us in French of course and I understand only a bit. He was aggressive, I had no idea if he would have a knife or a gun or if they were going to attack us and hijack us or ambush us. Even our taxi driver looked scared. Marek was in the front seat and stayed calm. I chatted to this guy in a traffic jam in the blackness darkness and told him we are Irish and Polish tourists. NOT Americans and we love Niger and Niamey. We love your country, we are here to see it. It took a while for this to cool the situation down and his aggression wore off. Finally after five minutes or so (I don’t remember), the lad finally got out of the car. It was all a mad frenzy and we saw him board a truck which I then thought was following us, but the traffic wasn’t move. It was dark and slow. Finally we came to a clearing and a break in traffic and I gazed back and it looked like they had gone. I’ll never know their motive or how I sweet-talked myself out of a hijacking, but within minutes we were inside Bar Caupa Bangou and I had an ice cold Libs Sorgho in my hand.
Marek and I found Augustine in there at the back and sat down beside him. Marek and I were the only two Caucasian or white people in sight, not just that night and that day but for the whole time we were in Niger, apart from the Italian Priest we met at the Catholic Cathedral. Long story shortened and over, we were now safely in this bar to enjoy the night and the beers went down well!
The music pumps out a beat and we see some ladies dressed elegantly in white and red. I asked Augustine if they are the dancers or the next band on. But I was shocked to learn they were all prostitutes sitting in line in the bar, waiting to be picked by the next local lad! Marek and I popped into the bar area briefly to check them out and what it was all about. There was one other non-Niger lad in there – he was a well-known Turkish businessman we were told.
Everyone was on the drink and we are then told that this bar is open 24/7. The party never stops. Niger Away was nuts and this was our last night here, but we had no intention of staying the whole night. Although our flight out the next day was late afternoon, so we actually could have done. We drank and chatted with the local music pumping ahead of the band getting ready to start.
After a few hours of pumping music, good chat and vibes and more cold beers, we get to meet the lead singer of Kennedy Star!
Within a few minutes we are front row with a beer and they start to play…
Here are some photos of Kennedy Star live in Niamey, Niger…
Eevn our bill looked nuts at Kennedy Star Away!
Here are some videos of the performance by Kennedy Star At Bar Caupa Bangou, Niamey, Niger on 28th December 2024:
Here are two videos of us Drinking In Bar Caupa Bangou With Marek and Augustine – Niamey – Niger – 28th December 2024:
