Dear African music lovers,
As Roots! A Community Consortium, our mission is to promote African music and musicians in Seattle and build a community of African music lovers through weekly performances of African music and dance. The Sunday evening series currently taking place at Dahlak Restaurant is threatened, however, and we need your help to keep it going in some form. You should know that we pay the performing groups a guarantee of $200 for two hours of music, which is a minimal amount compared to what many other clubs and private events pay. Half of that money is provided by the Dahlak owner, and half comes from the donations that we collect. There are many nights that the donations do not come to $100. There are also many nights in which the Dahlak owner does not earn his $100. He loses money when the people who come to listen to music do not order enough food and drinks to cover his costs, and feels he can no longer afford to host the events under the current arrangement.
Please remember that we depend on the participation of audience members (in addition to the musicians) to keep the series going. We have no other funding, so we ask for your donations to help support the musicians and the series. $5 is a reasonable amount; it is less than the cover charge you would pay at other clubs. Please also support Dahlak Restaurant – this is important – by ordering drinks and food when you come to a show.
We need the musicians who play in the series to also do their part by helping to publicize their shows. Call and e-mail your friends, put information about the performances on the web, on Facebook and Twitter, whatever means you have of spreading the word.
We welcome any suggestions you might have for African Music Nites. E-mail us at info(at)africanmusicnites(dot)org, or see Contact Us on the website for e-mail addresses for either of us.
Thanks
Claire Jones and Shawna Hawk
African Music Nites 