Friday, 26 January 2018
6:30 – 7:30 pm
JAZZ PEFORMANCE
The Wretched of the Earth
In general, a distinction is made between literature (novels, poetry, theatre) and essays. When looking at things and at life in this way, the aesthetic quality of certain theoretical texts is sometimes overlooked. The texts by Fanon or Césaire not only throw light on the state of (black) people, but also deliver a rich, exhilarating, evocative, prophetic and indisputably literary language, displaying impressive élan in doing so. This language alone, which is elevated and yet perfectly suited to questioning slavery and colonisation as well as their consequences, makes this evening event well worth a visit. The performance, which is based mostly on essays by black intellectuals, sees itself as an improvised concert, as a timeless, transcontinental stroll from Lumumba's Congo to Alabama, from the mines of Johannesburg to Lagos, from Fort-de-France to London.
Texts from: Aimé Césaire, James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon, Edouard Glissant, Chenjerai Hove, Langston Hughes und Toni Morrison et al.
Fiston Mwanza Mujila (Author, Rep. Congo / Austria)
Denis Abrahams (Actor, Germany)
Ben Kraef (Saxophone, Germany)
Marco Mingarelli (Drums, Italy)
Fyodor Stepanov (Double Bass, Russia)