The Epic of Black Music
"Black Boy", from written to spoken
The "Black Boy" show illustrated by cartoonist Benjamin Flao.
© Benjamin Flao
By: Joe Farmer Follow
3 mins
Black Boy
is a novel by Richard Wright published in 1945. It narrates the living conditions of a young black man in the southern United States at the beginning of the 20th century.
This literary work has become a traveling show that has brought together, for three years, three protagonists invested in a new musical reading.
The storyteller (Jérôme Imard), the guitarist (Olivier Gotti) and the designer (Jules Stromboni and Benjamin Flao, in turn), lead the performances in front of ever-enthusiastic spectators.
Advertising
Richard Wright was born in Mississippi in 1908. He lived through the dark hours of racial segregation, lynchings, Ku Klux Klan abuses, bullying and humiliation, physical and psychological violence exercised by white Americans on the black community in the USA.
This painful destiny, told in
Black Boy
, espouses the spirit of blues musicians whose status remained mistreated for a long time.
However, these melodious poets testified to the social injustice they suffered on a daily basis.
It is therefore relevant that the revitalization of this troubled era today involves the inspired notes of a seasoned guitarist, the sensitive playing of a committed actor, and the essential contribution of a drawn visual illustration.
These three forms of expression immerse us in a fearsomely unequal America that photos or rare videos will never be able to, so precisely and crudely, restore.
The actor Jérôme Imard at RFI.
© Christian Rose
The strength of the novel
Black Boy
was to say, out loud, the horror of discrimination across the Atlantic.
The legitimacy of the
Black Boy
show is to note implicitly, in the light of the original text, that racist excesses continue to sadly punctuate our present.
Lessons from the past are not always well learned and the various protagonists of the
Black Boy musical narrative
make it their duty to rekindle our indignation.
Taking the time to reflect, to listen, to question oneself, in a world punctuated by the immediacy of information, is a benefit that should not be overlooked.
Not looking back on the past, not understanding what history can tell us about our present, not having the will to know, this inexorably leads to the exacerbation of our basest emotions.
Guitarist Olivier Gotti.
© Bluebird Booking
As we commemorate, on March 25, the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, listening to the words of Richard Wright declaimed, illustrated and set to music in
Black Boy
in 2022, encourages our open-mindedness, our benevolence and our examination of conscience.
The many spectators who have already attended this melodious theatrical narration are unanimously enthusiastic.
After 200 dates in three years in dozens of French cities, the adventure continues and the actors of this beautiful artistic and cultural initiative do not leave the boards.
They will perform in the coming weeks in the following locations: Montigny-le-Bretonneux, Lignières, Bouloire, Hazebrouck, Cholet, Amboise, Bouc-Bel-Air, Clichy, Paris… Don't miss
Black Boy
!
►
Find out more
Excerpt from the show "Black Boy" at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris (January 2019).
© YouTube screenshot Yohann Feignoux
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Culture
Musics
On the same subject
The Epic of Black Music
Slices of life in Mississippi
The Epic of Black Music
Memphis, the heart of the blues
The Epic of Black Music
Dee Dee Bridgewater returns to Memphis