Zébrures d'Automne: African artists at the center of the Francophone festival

The “30 nuances de noir (es)” parade, choreographed by Sandra Sainte Rose Franchine, will take place on October 3, during the French-speaking night at the Zébrures d'Automne 2020, in Limoges.

© SEKA

Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow

7 min

“The Covid-19 created a psychosis, a kind of fear that paralyzes doing it.

And we are trying to fight against that.

"Les Zébrures d'Automne, the festival of French-speaking creations in all its forms, opens its doors this Wednesday, September 23 in Limoges, in central-western France.

Interview with director Hassane Kouyaté on the challenges of this edition largely devoted to the creations of African artists.

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RFI: Despite the obstacle of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Zébrures d'Automne display thirteen creations, including many shows by African artists, and this despite the delay of the Africa 2020 Season. How did you manage to maintain your program

Hassane Kouyaté: 

We were impacted by the coronavirus crisis, but that did not prevent us from doing, creating, and having a very interesting program.

With the support of our partners, the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF), the French Institute, the Ministry of Culture, we managed to ensure that the artists who were to come from the African continent can have their visa and be here in Limoges.

Then, for some creations, it was necessary to do upstream work on French territory.

We changed some artists who were to come from the African continent by artists from the African diaspora.  

Many artists invited to the festival are from Africa (Ivory Coast, Mali, Tunisia, Guinea, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Algeria ...).

Among the emblematic shows of this edition, there is

I start from an observation: there is more and more a lack of knowledge of our stories.

We know less and less where we come from.

In this case, it is very difficult to know where we are and where we were really going.

And if we don't know, it's even more difficult to understand the future.

So, it was important for me to set up this show with Mohamed Kacimi to recall certain historical facts.

We know that the colonization of the Congo by Leopold II [king of the Belgians and ruler of the colony of the Congo between 1885-1908, editor's note] set off.

Because it was from there that there was the Berlin Conference [between November 1884 and February 1885, editor's note] which decided on the balkanization of Africa, the looting of natural resources and minerals.

We also know all that this has caused so far on the African continent in terms of damage. 

Burkinabè Hassane Kassi Kouyaté, director of Zébrures d'Automne, in Limoges.

© Siegfried Forster / RFI

In

I didn't want it to be a show that was there to accuse anyone.

First of all, it's a moment of celebration.

Then, it's important to say - by the party - strong enough things.

As I often say: you don't write on the blackboard with black chalk.

Otherwise, we don't see anything.

As the facts are very harsh and dramatic, it was important to find a theatrical form that could get our message across.  

In addition, I too am a cultural crossbreed.

I am griot.

In my veins, there is the traditional theater, the kotéba.

And I find it very difficult to conceive of a show without music, without dancing, etc.

I also tried to put my mixed culture on stage.

I am a zebra, with the black and the white which are well drawn at home.

So, in the show, we discover traditional theatrical techniques from Africa - but when we say traditional, it's not backward-looking, it's the tradition of the language and culture of Africa - and Western techniques. .  

During the confinement, we talked a lot about new artistic forms, web-TV, video, on social networks, by phone, under the balconies of buildings, digital festivals, drive-ins ... What are the news artistic forms to discover at Zébrures d'Automne

No, we're not going to invent anything, because artists everywhere have always invented things.

The confinement only highlighted this inventiveness.

I don't think that confinement really invented new artistic forms.

Afterwards, it developed a form which is working with digital technology, but that did not invent it.

So, as in previous years, we will have very diverse shapes at the Zebra Stripes and we will also occupy the most diverse spaces throughout the festival.

It will make a relevant and joyful moment.  

“Akzak, the impatience of a connected youth”, choreography by Héla Fattoumi and Eric Lamoureux, presented at the Zébrures d'Automne 2020, in Limoges.

© Laurent Philippe

For you, neither the Covid-19 nor the climate crisis have really changed the way of conceiving, producing, showing and sharing a show

No, apart from the fact that we were asked to rehearse with the masks.

And to take things digital.

The Covid-19 has brought to light certain difficulties and also certain practices.

On the other hand, the Covid-19 created a psychosis, a kind of fear that paralyzes doing it.

And we are trying to fight against that.  

Les Zébrures also wish to welcome “

What is interesting with Francophonies is always the marriage of another culture and another language with the French culture and language.

It always gives an artistic and cultural object.

French is always one of the two, three, four parents of the child born as an artistic object on stage. 

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