Phase 2 - Thoulathy Research and Exchange

Contes Imbriqués — an intertwined tale between the Niger River, the Sahel desert, the shores of the North Sea and the Elbe.

This nomadic performance project combines the crafts of storytelling, dance and music. It fosters dynamic community interaction between partners from Mali, southern Morocco, coastal Mauritania, and East Germany. Intertwining stories of our human relation to water, this contemporary tale brings untold myths and current challenges to life — with the cultural boat Mary Jane as a central character, the story plunges into an adventurous revolt of the waters!

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“Aman iman” – water is life. The truth of this Tamasheq expression resonates through each of our cultures. The human relation to water, however, is tainted, often unseen and too normalized to be told, yet essential to our existence. An armada of pollution, waste and shortsighted industrial exploitation populates the surface of our interdepence with water. When listening closely, we can still hear a constant stream of mystical stories, beautiful songs and ingenious cultural community practices. In our contemporary tale, we intertwine these tales, myths, local cultural knowledge, contemporary challenges and environmental perspectives into a lively, community based narrative filled with color, song, movement and voice.

Due to production conditions as a European-Subsahara artistic partnership, as well as grounded in the nomadic cultures from our Touareg partners, we have been developinig this project step by step. in a series of artistic research, community workshops and creation residencies in the various regions. The project is ongoing since the first creation phase in Bamako (Mali) in 2021, and we aim to turn it into an evening-length storytelling performance with an international cast and a community choir.

With the storyteller Salif Berthé (Bamako), the dancers Ilana Reynolds (Göttingen) and Valentin Rion (Berlin) and a cross-regional music ensemble including Mustafa El Boudani (Mhamid Al-Ghizlan), Alan Bern (Berlin), Ahmed Amanar (Timbuktu) and Vivien Zeller (Friedrichshagen), an international artistic crew goes into a demanding process of contextualising, blending and contrasting various styles and performance heritages.

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PARTNERS IN CREATION AND RESEARCH.

For this cross-regional project, theCentre Culturel Tuareg Tumast Bamako, theFestival Nomades du Monde Morocco, the Maison des Cinéastes Nouakchott and theOther Music Academy (OMA) Weimar cooperate and bring their communities together. At the heart of this co-production is an international group of professional artists who work with communities (schools, cultural centers and neighborhoods) in the three regions, collaborating in the areas of music, dance, set design and mask-making. In nomadic manner, they develop a dance/musical performance along the journey through residencies in the different regions, inviting the audience to experience and reflect on folkloric material, within a contemporary performance setting. The overarching topic of water currents, focusing on the Niger and the Elbe, invites the topics of migration, pollution and social connectivity along their shores. The project commits to integrating various communities and connecting their stories in the final performance.

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STEPS.

The project is based on the shared interest in local storytelling, as well as the experience of a rapid loss of these vernacular tales. The ensemble consists of artistic tandems from the three regions, coordinated by Ilana Reynolds (Göttingen), Salif Berthé (Bamako) and Valentin Schmehl (Berlin), together with the curators Issa Dicko (Bamako) and Nourredine Bougrab (M’hamid).

The first project research phase took place in Bamako in 2021 with generous support by the Complex Scolaire Moderne Adiara, funded by Cercle Culturel Germano-Malien. The second project phase takes place as an artistic research and international networking exchange in the frame of Thoulathy in „All around Culture“, co-funded by the European Union.

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SHOWCASES.

In 2023, a first performative version was premiered at the Festival des Nomades in Morocco, and a second version of 30min length at the Sommerfest in Aken (Elbe). The performance is to further develop through artistic residencies and finalise into an evening length performance with the goal of connecting rivers and communities.

Content for the creation has been collected through community workshops in dance, mask making and storytelling having taken place in Bamako (2021, 2023), along the Mittel-Elbe (2023, 2024), and in Nouhadibou and Nouakchott (2024) with the support of Anna Lindh Foundation, Zukunftswege Ost, and own funding.

A project of the Other Music Academy [OMA]