All night long the same slightly dragging rythm, all night long the same cloying lyrics, and yet
photographer Caro Bonink and I couldn't get enough of it. Kizomba music is omnipresent in Luandan night life. In Kimbundo, the national language, it means 'party' or 'dance'. Angolans love to dance, preferably in pairs. The style that originated in the eighties in Angola, a local version of the Antillean zouk, excellently serves this purpose. By now kizomba has not only conquered lusophone countries, also in The Netherlands the music can be heard at salsa parties. The extatic head whirling that passes for kizomba here however has nothing to do whatsoever with the way the Angolans dance kizomba: modest and close. But not too close, as an Angolan girlfriend warned me before I was taken to the dance floor: 'If a man pulls you so close that the only thing you can do is move your hips, he is teaching you tarraxinha. Then you must like him a lot.'
Kizomba for beginners on YouTube, lesson 1 en lesson 2
All night long the same slightly dragging rythm, all night long the same cloying lyrics, and yet photographer Caro Bonink and I couldn't get enough of it. Kizomba music is omnipresent in Luandan night life. In Kimbundo, the national language, it means 'party' or 'dance'. Angolans love to dance, preferably in pairs. The style that originated in the eighties in Angola, a local version of the Antillean zouk, excellently serves this purpose. By now kizomba has not only conquered lusophone countries, also in The Netherlands the music can be heard at salsa parties. The extatic head whirling that passes for kizomba here however has nothing to do whatsoever with the way the Angolans dance kizomba: modest and close. But not too close, as an Angolan girlfriend warned me before I was taken to the dance floor: 'If a man pulls you so close that the only thing you can do is move your hips, he is teaching you tarraxinha. Then you must like him a lot.'
