In the cool basement space of the Equator Club, the rhythms of soukous meld with flowing calypso and reggae beats. Jeans and flannel rub against embroidered garments. African dialects blend with American slang. It’s exactly the sort of hodgepodge that owners Adolphus Nnodi and Emmanuel Egwu planned when they opened the club five years ago. “This is supposed to be a meeting place, the equator is the center of the world,” says Egwu. “On any night you can find Ugandans, Kenyans, Zaireans, Egyptians, and Americans.”
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The idea for the club came to the two Nigerians when they were both students at Roosevelt University in the mid-80s. “We saw that whenever Africans would have parties, they didn’t have a particular place to gather,” says Nnodi. “We saw a need for a place with our music and culture.”
They also bring in top international acts two or three times a month. Zimbabwe’s Thomas Mapfumo, Zaire’s Loketo, and Nigeria’s Fela Kuti have all played here. Many African acts rarely came to Chicago before the club opened. Egwu says the Equator Club has helped expose people to different types of black music. “A lot of Americans didn’t know the difference between African music and reggae,” says Egwu. “Now they can hear the many different styles on a regular basis.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Photo/Jon Randolph.
