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Abstract
The mobility of Malian theater groups has been increasing during the last century, especially since the French colonization. The migration of forced labor workers toward the labor camps around Bamako brought the profane Kotéba theater of the Bamana people to the city, where it developed its own urban forms. After the country’s independence in 1960, this urban theater experienced a flourishing period with emerging theater groups that were inspired by modern international influences. These groups started moving domestically and internationally, and the new influences started flowing back to the Malian villages with theater companies performing in rural districts. Contemporary theater groups such as Acte Sept directed by Adama Traoré, Blonba by Alioune Ifra Ndiaye and Jean-Louis Sagot-Duvauroux, or Nama by Yacouba Magassouba, are moving between rural and urban settings for their performances and are adapted depending on context, infrastructure, timeframe, and local language. By including ancient and modern elements of Malian rural and urban theater forms, the aim of the theater groups is to contribute to a common contemporary art.
Notes
1 Mesple-Somps et al. noted in the chapter “Urbanisation et croissance dans les villes du Mali”: Bamako is the main destination of migrants, the capital city received 61% of domestic migrants in 2009 (see in Brunet-Jailly et al. Le Mali contemporain).
2 See Decock (1968) “Pré-théâtre et rituel, National folk troupe of Mali.”
3 On Dauchez’s work in Mali read Dauchez l’Africain, maître et comédien. Une vie pour un théâtre utile, by Pierre Chambert (2006).
4 Koulsy Lamko studies the emergence of an “aesthetic of participation” in different theater forms in Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, and the Ivory Coast in his thesis Emergence difficile d’un théâtre de la participation en Afrique Noire francophone (2003).
5 Original quote in French, translated into English by Olivia Rütti-Joy. French quotes in this article are translated by Olivia Rütti-Joy unless otherwise indicated.
6 I am referring to a personal communication with Adama Traoré in February 2018 during which he sent me the script of the play and told me about the tour. The subsidized tour of La Lumière obviously had a bigger tour budget.
7 Flick U. (1995) and Misoch (2015) served as reference for the methodological approach.
8 In my interdisciplinary PhD research in French literature I use a socio-literary approach (I refer to Sapiro, 2014), which takes in account the “Conditions sociales de production,” “Sociologie des oeuvres,” and “Sociologie de la reception” (Sapiro, 2014) of selected theater plays and therefore uses a mixed-method approach.
9 See Banham (Citation2004): Conthe-Morgan, “Francophone Africa South of the Sahara.”
10 On more examples of secular theater forms in francophone Africa, see Conteh-Morgan (Citation1994).
11 For example, on the famous popular Yoruba Traveling Theatre in Nigeria, see Jeyifo (1984).
12 By “sacred” form, we mean the theater forms practiced by the secret initiation societies. We also use the Oxford Dictionaries definition: “Connected with God or a god or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration” (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/sacred). By “profane” form we mean the theater that is open to non-initiated people.
13 As another reason Imperato described “the breaking of the continuity of transfer of oral tradition” as well as “influence of western technology and secular values,” but also mentions that “People travel into towns and down to Bamako where they are exposed to new ideas and city life […] and the old ways are abandoned because they are seen as having no value in the new society” (Imperato, Citation1970).
14 However, one has to be aware that Islam has been present in the region of today’s Mali in the past 900 years already and is not a phenomenon of the last century (see Conteh-Morgan, Citation1994).
15 We use the term ancient as defined in the Oxford Dictionary: “Having been in existence for a very long time.” And not in the sense of “Belonging to the very distant past and no longer in existence” (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ancient).
16 We use the definition of Encyclopedia69 online, which says that animism is “the attribution of a soul or spirit to inanimate objects such as rivers, trees and mountains, and religion was directed to placating these spirits and those of the ancestors” (http://www.encyclopedia69.com/eng/d/animism/animism.htm). The Bamana people, who were farmers, mainly honored the elements of earth, water, and sky for a fruitful harvest.
17 For a more detailed description of sacred “Do” performance, see Diawara (Citation1981).
18 Meillassoux mentions “generally a circumcision” – ceremony.
19 Original quote in French.
20 Original quote in French from the website Acte SEPT: http://www.actesept.org/p/presentation.html, consulted 12.06.2017.
21 Original quote in French.
22 Original quote in French. Translated by the author.
23 Original quote in French.
24 Original quote in French. Translated into English by the author.
25 Original quote in French.
26 Original quote in French. From the website Blonbaculture, Dossier pdf “Les 15 ans de la compagnie Blonba.”
27 Alioune Ifra Ndiaye, director (together with J. L. Sagot Duvauroux) of Blonba, gives a detailed account on the matter in “Le théâtre BlonBa ferme, victime du ‘Mali de l’autodestruction’” in the L’OBS magazine online: https://www.nouvelobs.com/rue89/rue89-afrique/20120430.RUE9682/le-theatre-blonba-ferme-victime-du-mali-de-l-autodestruction.html.
28 Original quote in French.
29 Original quote in French.
30 Original quote in French. From the Dossier «Compagnie Nama», sent by mail 04.05.2017 by Yacouba Magassouba, director of Nama.
31 Original quote in French.
32 Original quote in French.
33 Yacouba Magassouba told me about Nama performances in villages in our interview of 04.05.2017.
34 In our two-hour Skype interview, Jean-Louis Sagot Duvauroux gave me insight into local issues of the theater milieu and activities of his group Blonba. Interview of February 27, 2017.
35 Original quote in French. From the interview with Yacouba Magassouba 04.05.2017.
36 Original quote in French. From the interview with Yacouba Magassouba 04.05.2017.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Melanie Sampayo Vidal
Melanie Sampayo Vidal is a doctoral student at the University of Bern and member of the Walter Benjamin Kolleg, where she is participating in the Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies Program of the Graduate School of the Humanities and is writing a thesis in French literature about “Violence and Resistance in Postcolonial Malian Theatre.” She has been in regular contact with the local Malian writers, play directors, and editors since the project was started during her studies at the University of Paris St. Denis, where she obtained her master’s diploma after having successfully completed her bachelor’s degree in French literature and political science at the University of Bern.Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/rcin.