It's okay, everyone

[In full] Koulsy Lamko (Chad): "That of the islands"

1:00:06

Reading of “Celle des îles” in Avignon, July 2022. © Pascal Gely

By: RFI Follow

3 mins

"Celile" or "Celle des îles", a storyteller and cabaret singer responds to a funny casting to brighten up the evenings of "well-thinking and well-sleeping customers" at the restaurant "Le petit bateau négrier", built in the port area of Nantes.

Its potential boss, Le Peintre, is the son of the restaurant owner, murdered a few years ago by a cabaret singer.

A beautiful love story seems to be woven between the two characters.

But the ghosts rise up, reminding the memory of the necessary rereading of a history of blood.

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That of the islands

, La Haitiana in Spanish version, implicitly evokes the memory of the transatlantic slave trade and the difficult memory shared between descendants of slaves and slaveholders.

Story ?

Memory ?

Written in 1998, this play is part of a theatrical didactic carried out by African authors, who relayed the need for political and educational mediation so that these taboo themes emerge among the great debates of society.

Directed by Armel Roussel, assisted by Ilonah Fagotin (EdN).

Read by Alvie Bitemo, Miss Nath and the students of the École du Nord (Felix Back, Sam Chemoul).

Musical creation: Miss Nath, Pierre-Alexandre Lampert.

Koulsy Lamko

Born in Chad in 1959, Koulsy Lamko leads a career as a writer, singer or gose artist, cultural entrepreneur and university teacher.

With a constant pan-African commitment, he crosses borders to practice his profession as a cultural activist.

Since 2003, he has lived in Mexico where he founded Hankili So Africa, a space of refuge for writers and artists and for the promotion of African cultures and the black diaspora.

A dozen of his works have been performed on stage, including

That of the islands is published by Acoria editions (2012).

Alright everyone!

The It's okay, it's okay world!

is designed and coordinated by Pascal Paradou and directed by the director Armel Roussel, with the collaboration of the École du Nord (EdN), a professional school of dramatic art directed by David Bobée.

It is co-produced by RFI and the company [e]utopia, with the support of the SACD for its radio cultural action, Wallonia-Brussels International and the French Institute.

Slideshow

[IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES]

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Broadcast

Presented by: Pascal Paradou.

Production and sound recording: Jérémie Besset and Thibault Baduel.

Technical coordination: Benjamin Avayou

On-line

Writing and coordination on rfi.fr: Siegfried Forster (in collaboration with Sonia Borelva).

Photos: Pascal Gély.

Videos: Dominique Fiant, Romain Ferré.

To listen to the other readings of “It’s okay, it’s okay people!

» ⇒ click here 

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• Culture

• Theater

• RFI

• RFI Theater

• France

• It's okay, everyone

• Literature

• Avignon 2022

• Chad

On the same subject

Alright, Alright World!

Armel Roussel and the art of the voice of “Celle des îles” by Koulsy Lamko