Panorama

Sunday, October 15, 2000

Hilary Bradt’s “Guide to Madagascar” says:

“The Panorama disco […] is rated by everyone who has been there as Madagascar’s best disco. […] Especially great at full moon.”

It was Saturday, full moon, so I thought this could be my first visit to a Malagasy club. If you take a map and look up Fort Dauphin (also called Tolagnaro), you will see that it is at the very end of the world. Comparing it with all those clubs I’ve been to in various countries, I realized that all clubs are the same, no matter where, even at the very end of the world. There are guys trying to pick up girls, girls waiting to be picked up (although in general, Malagasy girls display this in a more agressive manner than North Americans, for example), and drunken people looking for trouble. I liked most of the music, a mix of African and Malagasy songs (I hope I will be able to get a hold of at least one of those CD’s). Everybody danced to this music. However, also Britney Spears et al. made it to the very end of the world and the people seemed even more enthusiastic about that. I assume, in this part of the earth, they would classify Britney Spears as “World Music”.