By Our Reporter
Every generation brings its own culture with it, sometimes it’s a culture where the new replaces the old, sometimes it’s an amalgamation of different cultures added to the old to create the new. In Uganda, the case is not pretty much different, it is expected that night clubs will now have to do more than have a name to keep customers; they now have to constantly stalk them on Whatsapp and invite them over to the clubs. But what has resulted in this decline in numbers?
It can’t be that the theme nights are boring. The execution of these themes may not be perfect but unlike in the past, clubs today have had a number of theme nights that are bound to accommodate all likes and preferences. More than ever before, the deejays are at their best in the country, the girls are more ratchet than ever, yet this has not seen a growth in numbers of those wishing to be part of the night club life. So why is this case that way?
First, many have blamed it on the rise of house parties, and the rise of more authentic bars that mimic the whole experience one would get from a night club, yet offer more plates of this table of the night life. For many youngsters, given a chance to choose between a house party and a nightclub, they would willingly choose a house party.
Some youngsters have argued that clubs begun a culture of putting certain classes of people above the others. “This culture of having VIPs who were treated differently compared to the rest made many of us to feel like strangers in these clubs. A VIP would hit on your girl, you would protest, and the bouncers would immediately find you guilty and have you thrown out. It was a scenario of some party animals are more equal than others, slowly by slowly many realized this, and begun to genuflect from this line of going to night clubs,” says one of Uganda’s top party animals.
“House parties made one feel special, they made us feel understood, that we were in the company of people who cared, people who didn’t take sides because one was the richer guy compared to the other,” this party animal further explains.
The same applies to bars that are now frequented by most party animals. According to those night owls, bars make one feel at home. They respect and give attention to their loyal customers and one feels at peace going to a bar where everyone knows him/her by name, can remember his favourite drink and can even let him go away with a debt. This is not an experience one could expect to find in a night club. Night clubs are full of pretentious and snobbish people.
According to the dudes, the girls in the night clubs were there to look for attention. They had no other intention but to feed off the attention of these thirsty and desperate guys. The ladies on the other hand also had the same disdain for the guys. Somehow, the guys in night clubs would always pass judgement on them; they saw nothing beyond night stands with them. “These guys we would meet in night clubs only saw sluts in us, they placed us in a class of gold diggers and thought we were their sluts and whores, and thus didn’t even bother to form a connection with us, it’s pretty much different at a house party or in a bar.”
But do these factors alone explain why the numbers in night clubs are dropping?
Some expert analysts think it could be about the need for people to attend clubs that are next to their residential areas. Somehow, no one wants to go through the hustle of driving all the way to town in order to go and have fun. That’s already hard work in itself. One would rather stay in, or take a drink from a nearby bar. And the “kawunyemu” traffic police have not made matters even easier, it has further complicated them. Rather than put our jobs on the line, we would rather do house parties, drink, and thereafter black out in comfort.
Other factors could be a renewed interest in live music that’s played in some of these classy hangout spots such as Gattomato and Jazzville. “I do Gattomato because I can afford to have a drink, have a chat, and also listen to some good music, it’s a much better environment than a nightclub,” says Tasha, a corporate. Then perhaps we could blame it on the corporate culture and their desire to keep up a certain public image.
One shouldn’t also forget factors rotating around the insecurity in and outside night clubs. Because the bouncers always take sides of the loaded guys, the poor guys will always end up getting walloped by the rich guys and no one will care. The only guys who enjoy these night clubs are the rich and famous, for ordinary people, clubs are places for being reminded of how it sucks to be on the bottom of the pecking order.
Though on a grander scale, there’s also been an increase in the options for a Friday or Saturday night. There’s more options that people from this generation can choose from unlike in the past where clubs held a monopoly to a night life. Today, one can choose to do a poetry recital, one can do a movie night, if there’s anything that night clubs should be scared about, it’s the ever increasing options.
Of course, there is also the smartphone generation that has helped the nerds rubberstamp their culture. More and more nerds are staying indoors chatting with those in night clubs, some stay in doors to play video games. The smartphone addiction has also made it boring for most people to go out, because everyone instead of partying and catching up, is busy following conversations on Whatsapp and Twitter, so it makes no sense.
With exorbitant prices charged on drinks served in night clubs on top of the entrance fee, most are now choosing the options of bars and house parties where they can get more value for less amounts of money. As a result, some night clubs have registered falling sales, some have ran into debt, and many have been forced to close up for lack of better strategies.
For some, it could be that the time is up for night clubs; the times are changing. With changing culture, comes changing pathways of expressing that culture and for many of these youngsters, the changes are being expressed through the decline in night club attendance.
Many would rather go to house parties where they are assured of bringing out their little inner demons without getting judged for it. Perhaps, the new type of party animals are doing a cost and benefit analysis of going to night clubs and finding that the costs outweigh the benefits. Exciting times, or are they?