african music, italian city

In Naples, the southern Italian city that is one of the first European stops of many African migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean for a better life, there is a nightclub called Teranga. It is a dance club with a largely male African crowd, that plays the latest in afrobeats and other contemporary African music, creating a a new nightlife culture for the displaced and the people who welcome them. It is also a temporary reprieve for those who’ve recently faced death in order to arrive here, providing for the refugees and immigrants an atmosphere of safety they do not otherwise feel in a European country many of whose residents resent their presence. The culture that has sprung up around Teranga and the lives of recent refugee arrivals to Naples, are the subjects of a great short documentary, Teranga: Life in the Waiting Room, produced and directed by Sophia Seymour, Daisy Squires and Lou Marillier for Guardian Docs. Watch it in full below.