“If you’re broke, go home”: welcome to the wild and expensive nights of Lagos
Exorbitantly priced bottles, funeral processions, and a shower of banknotes: in the nightclubs of Nigeria's metropolis, the wealthiest flaunt their riches in displays of questionable taste. This is radically altering the culture of partying, laments New Lines Magazine.
Masked women in elegant black dresses carry a coffin-shaped box over a meter long. In the flickering flames emanating from it, bottles of premium liquor are visible. At the head of the procession, one of the women holds up a brightly lit VIP sign displaying the buyer's name for all to see. As they make their way through the crowd with measured, choreographed steps, like pallbearers at a funeral, an eerie silence falls over what, just moments before, had been a vibrant dance floor.
The crowd hangs in wait for what will happen next. The heady scent of expensive champagne mingles with the perspiration of hundreds of bodies crammed into the dimly lit space. Blue neon lights give the scene a celestial glow, while phones, held aloft to capture the moment, create a constellation of white lights.
The DJ plays Ameno, the haunting music of the [French] group Era, while the masked women bring in the order. The mystical refrain of this song has become the unofficial soundtrack to Nigeria's wildest parties, and its Latin-inspired vocals lend a solemn, almost religious, character to the theater.
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Courrier International
