niger a la mode

Last night was the high point of the bi-annual four-day fashion fest, Festival International de la mode Africaine or FIMA, it was so beauiful. Wow and wow. Niger’s first lady "madame le primiere dame" was in attendance, (and the reason the show started two hours late, thank you.) Designers from around the world presented their collections on a sandy stage, with gorgeous other-worldly models. FIMA continues through tomorrow, today I’m going to the National Musee to see a special FIMA-related exhibit of regional costumes.

One of the designers used the same music that I used for my movie, Introducing Etran Finatawa. A lot of people comment on how fabulous the music is in the movie, so I wanted to let you know where you can buy their CD. It’s far easier to buy at amazon than to find it here in Niamey, but you may not run into them and get to shake their hands like I did, tee hee. Etran Finatawa just performed in Washington DC, along with Ismael Lo (another Niger-born artist you must check out) and the crowd loved them. Day to Day, the show on NPR also did a piece on Etran Finatawa, which you can listen to here. Peter’s cousin Mike calls Introducing Etran Finatawa CD of the year, which is high praise from a real eclectic music lover.