Bars In Dar Es Salaam

Bars here are almost no different than the United States.  Women are dressed up to the nines and my grunge look made me stick out like a sore thumb more than I do on my own in this country. 

The first bar we went to, a Muzingo bar, or white person bar, had a live band with a famous Tanzanian Artist.  We danced the night away to classics like circle of life, Shakira Waka waka, and DJ music like Oliver Twist = d’banj.  Bars here tend to rotate btw house music, Africa music, Congolese style, zanzibari style music, R&B, contemporary American club music, and many others.  Cover was 5000 shilling and we showed up around 10, 1030 pm.  I tried the Serengeti Lager for the first time…and it was surprisingly good! 

Another unique feature to Tanzanian bars is prostitutes.  Yes, you read it right.  You know the prostitutes because they have on clothes that just seem overly showy.  Since I am not a man I don’t know if it’s normal to be approached by them on the regular or how much they charge!  I ended up mostly sticking to our group of 7 folks. 

My last observation was that there are 2 groups at the bars:  the decent group and the indecent group – as aptly named by Dr. S.  The indecent group includes the tourists groping prostitutes inappropriately.  I sometimes wonder who raised the men that feel it’s okay to publicly touch ANY woman in that manner.  Then there is the decent group, which includes MOST of the people at the bar.  Gender roles are less specified here. So, men dance with men, with women, and women with men or with each other.  But the main difference is that there is virtually NO grinding.  While you may dance closely with the other person, it’s rare to actually see bodily contact. 

The second bar we went to included a band of almost 10-15 singers/dancers.  And, I saw a row of men with hips that carried their own rhythms.  I have NEVER seen dancing that was so beautifully choreographed.  Granted, some of the moves made me blush…but I’m glad for the experience. 

P.S. I managed to pull off being the ONLY muzingo at the bar wearing a kitenga.  How exciting.

me in a kitenga (the skirt) at Mbogayo beach