Perth Festival 2023 Opens To The World With Aboriginal Techno, The Promise Of Björk And Uncomfortable Truths
The sound of bare feet on the floor was heard in the dark theater. Four women run across the stage, eyes bright and bold, legs and hips twisting as if they were made of liquid adrenaline. With every passion, with every first heartbeat, women throw into the air the dream of freedom, the vision of a decolonized Africa.
Bikutsi 3000, which opened at the Perth Festival in Australia, is an Afrofuturist production by Cameroonian artist Blik Bassi that strikes a bold political chord; it focuses on women as agents of liberation from Africa's insidious history of imperialism, using dance as its sole tool. . Two of the group of African women, local Aboriginal dancers Leanne Dalgety and Christine Lane, take part in the Independence Day Parade.
"The patriarchy has failed us in many ways," Basset says from his home in Bordeaux. "When I wrote this story, I wanted to create a world where women rule Africa not by violence, but by returning to our roots, our language, our cultural values... It's about remembering who we are." :
The return of international shows like Bikutsi 3000 to the Perth festival is a welcome change from the covid years, which were anything but entirely homegrown, boldly asking for a reimagining of global history. The 70th anniversary theme is Jinda, which means "stars" in the Noongar language, and this year the Perth festival is opening its arms to stars from around the world, including Icelandic pop icon Björk, who will perform her own masterpiece. cornucopia; American Kronos Quartet in collaboration with composer Nongar Matakit (Dr. Clint Bracknell); A retelling of Virginia Gay's classic Cyrano presented by Melbourne Theater Company. As well as a host of international literary and musical stars, from poet Kay Tempest to Saharan psych-rock legends Mdu Moktar.
If the rumors are true, Björk's exorbitant cost to perform led to the cancellation of the show, but her offering is undoubtedly world-class and Perthians are embracing it. Commissioned by Artistic Director Ian Grandage, the fourth program continues to focus on Indigenous authorship. It is the basis of the festival, which makes a big impact and allows other artists to tell their stories.
An example of this approach is Jondal, the free discovery of Lake Jondalup, a place full of ancient stories about the universe, which the Nongars describe as a "mirror of the stars". Wrapping the audience in a hypnotic bubble of light, dancing horns and pounding Aboriginal techno beats, Jonald breathes new life into the story of the long white-haired ghost woman who created the Milky Way and lives in Joondalup.
After the introduction
Created by a team of artists led by Ian Mopa Wilkes, creator of last year's Noongar spectacular at the Perth Festival, Jondal follows a Noongar Futurism approach, incorporating indigenous views of the past and imagining the future, often reimagining it. fact According to ancient knowledge.
While comparisons can be drawn to Ilona McGuire's Mumbai, Noongar's highly researched drone project will be on display at the Fremantle Biennale, Jundal is aiming for something very different. Weaving past and future into a fantastical knot, it connects ancient customs with modern challenges and forces viewers to think about how indigenous knowledge can greatly improve our future. "We are not the problem, we are the solution," as the young woman carefully addresses the audience at the end of Jundal.
The Music of the Orbs by the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra at Perth Concert Hall is a melodious mix of classic arias and new compositions that pay homage to the universe. The shining star of the show is undoubtedly Gumbainggir and Yamatji's wife Emma Donovan, the rich and velvety jazz sounds completely disarming in such a formal setting. His first composition, Yira Jinang, reflects indigenous cosmic wisdom and is partly sung in his father's language, Nungar;
Another slightly magical show from WA Youth Theater Company (Waitiko) with Seven Sisters, a play where young actors confront the vastness of time and the weight of an uncertain future under the cosmic blanket of evening. Seven Sisters, directed by Greek theater newcomer Nongar Cesera Kriti-Schnars and Waitiko Artistic Director James Berlin, will open over four festival weekends, each at its own venue.
The performance begins with layered vocals that reveal their understanding of the seven sisters' dream story. How can a young actor with cerebral palsy live in a universe where there is a perfect and wonderful phenomenon? Another expressed concern about being "happy rainbow aliens", while another lamented the tragic sense of isolation from their homelands in Congo and Tanzania.
A particularly poignant moment from Makayla Rowe Fox, who, instead of staring into the black abyss above, looks straight ahead at the mostly elderly theatergoers in the audience; "It's easy to tell you how beautiful the stars are, I can." talks about capitalism, the environmental crisis, and ultimately too much pressure on young people. This inconvenient truth hangs in the air.
"I'm tired of being told that I'm the future, they, like the stars, are older than the past, but they are also our future," he said, "the future is not young." It is old.
