Playing with Arts and Identity in Koffi Kwahulé’s Recent Theatre: Basquiat and Fela Kuti
“Playing With Arts and Identity in Koffi Kwahulé’s Recent Theatre: Basquiat and Fela Kuti” situates Kwahulé’s theatre within the trajectory of Francophone African theatre that queries notions of identity and politics. It sees Kwahulé’s work as part of a movement that turns away from questions of col...
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| Publicado no: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ht, |
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| Principais autores: | , |
| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
| Publicado em: |
Horizons/Théâtre
2021
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| Acesso em linha: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:ht_1638 |
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openedition |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:ht_1638 https://doi.org/10.4000/ht.1638 urn:doi:10.4000/ht.1638 en https://journals.openedition.org/ht/1638 2021-09-11T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/gtj2 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Playing with Arts and Identity in Koffi Kwahulé’s Recent Theatre: Basquiat and Fela Kuti Horizons/Théâtre Presses universitaires de Bordeaux info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2678-5420 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2261-4591 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ht Miller, Judith G. Watson, Rachel M. intermédialité rap graffeur jazz théâtre africain intermediality rap graffiti artist jazz African theatre “Playing With Arts and Identity in Koffi Kwahulé’s Recent Theatre: Basquiat and Fela Kuti” situates Kwahulé’s theatre within the trajectory of Francophone African theatre that queries notions of identity and politics. It sees Kwahulé’s work as part of a movement that turns away from questions of colonization and decolonization to trouble the center and periphery paradigm of postcoloniality. Kwahulé adds a transnational dimension, especially through the use of jazz motifs. He constructs in his plays an identity in constant motion, an identity that refuses borders and transforms through contact and improvisation. In recent works, notably the focus of this essay, SAMO: A Tribute to Basquiatand Kalakuta Dream: A Tribute to Fela Kuti (both written in 2015), Kwahulé incorporates jazz and rap strategies of scrambling lines, repeating phrasing, riffing while rhyming, and syncopation to capture textually the particular aesthetics of both artists. Through musicality, Kwahulé grasps the vibrancy and collage techniques in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s canvases. SAMO thus becomes not only an exploration of Basquiat’s hybrid identity but also a theatrical transposition of how Basquiat’s paintings “speak.” Kalakuta Dream, more a surreal sketch than aplay, invites actors, dancers, and musicians to realize a political commentary through instrumentation.Kwahulé’s Fela Kuti, iconoclastic and gutsy, dreaming of another, and freer, universe in his Kalakuta “Republic,” skewers dictatorial power through irreverent behavior,including trenchant music.Innovative and challenging, both plays foreground the feints and dodges necessary to survive an increasingly materialistic world. Dans ses récentes pièces, le dramaturge ivoirien Koffi Kwahulé essaie de capter à travers une écriture et une structure dramatique expérimentales les gestes et le feeling des artistes, et surtout des musiciens qu’il admire. Entre 2015 et 2016 il a écrit un texte en hommage au peintre américain Jean-Michel Basquiat (SAMO: Tribute to Basquiat) et un autre inédit au musicien nigérian Fela Kuti (Kalakuta Dream: Tribute to Fela). La distribution des rôles, la musicalité de la prose, les répétitions et les refrains, et la juxtaposition des styles communiquent à la fois l’énergie, la charge politique de l’œuvre explosive de Basquiat de même que la musique révolutionnaire et corrosive de Fela. Nous analysons ces innovations intermédiales, tout en inscrivant Kwahulé dans une nouvelle génération d’auteurs africains pour qui une certaine hybridité technique, un déplacement de la centralité du conflit colonisateur/colonisé, une considération des relations entre l’Afrique et ses diasporas prennent le devant sur une scène théâtrale de plus en plus transnationale. |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
intermédialité rap graffeur jazz théâtre africain intermediality rap graffiti artist jazz African theatre |
| spellingShingle |
intermédialité rap graffeur jazz théâtre africain intermediality rap graffiti artist jazz African theatre Miller, Judith G. Watson, Rachel M. Playing with Arts and Identity in Koffi Kwahulé’s Recent Theatre: Basquiat and Fela Kuti |
| description |
“Playing With Arts and Identity in Koffi Kwahulé’s Recent Theatre: Basquiat and Fela Kuti” situates Kwahulé’s theatre within the trajectory of Francophone African theatre that queries notions of identity and politics. It sees Kwahulé’s work as part of a movement that turns away from questions of colonization and decolonization to trouble the center and periphery paradigm of postcoloniality. Kwahulé adds a transnational dimension, especially through the use of jazz motifs. He constructs in his plays an identity in constant motion, an identity that refuses borders and transforms through contact and improvisation. In recent works, notably the focus of this essay, SAMO: A Tribute to Basquiatand Kalakuta Dream: A Tribute to Fela Kuti (both written in 2015), Kwahulé incorporates jazz and rap strategies of scrambling lines, repeating phrasing, riffing while rhyming, and syncopation to capture textually the particular aesthetics of both artists. Through musicality, Kwahulé grasps the vibrancy and collage techniques in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s canvases. SAMO thus becomes not only an exploration of Basquiat’s hybrid identity but also a theatrical transposition of how Basquiat’s paintings “speak.” Kalakuta Dream, more a surreal sketch than aplay, invites actors, dancers, and musicians to realize a political commentary through instrumentation.Kwahulé’s Fela Kuti, iconoclastic and gutsy, dreaming of another, and freer, universe in his Kalakuta “Republic,” skewers dictatorial power through irreverent behavior,including trenchant music.Innovative and challenging, both plays foreground the feints and dodges necessary to survive an increasingly materialistic world. |
| author |
Miller, Judith G. Watson, Rachel M. |
| author_facet |
Miller, Judith G. Watson, Rachel M. |
| author_sort |
Miller, Judith G. |
| title |
Playing with Arts and Identity in Koffi Kwahulé’s Recent Theatre: Basquiat and Fela Kuti |
| title_short |
Playing with Arts and Identity in Koffi Kwahulé’s Recent Theatre: Basquiat and Fela Kuti |
| title_full |
Playing with Arts and Identity in Koffi Kwahulé’s Recent Theatre: Basquiat and Fela Kuti |
| title_fullStr |
Playing with Arts and Identity in Koffi Kwahulé’s Recent Theatre: Basquiat and Fela Kuti |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Playing with Arts and Identity in Koffi Kwahulé’s Recent Theatre: Basquiat and Fela Kuti |
| title_sort |
playing with arts and identity in koffi kwahulé’s recent theatre: basquiat and fela kuti |
| publisher |
Horizons/Théâtre |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ht |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/ht.1638 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/ht/1638 |
| _version_ |
1877293463452516352 |