A synthesis of arts for memory and morality (By Mamadou Oumar Kamara)
Timeless! The day before yesterday, the film of the show “Birima” was screened at the Pathé Dakar Complex. This musical tale, written by Pape Omar Ngom and Youssou Ndour, was performed at the Théâtre du Châtelet (France), in September 2023.
The imported recording allows us to admire the Senegalese genius in a majuscule art and splendor. There are many traits to remember from this spectacular masterpiece. First, Youssou Ndour’s almost innate ease in negotiating turns, with a keen understanding of situations. Without turning away from his artistic principles, YN always aligns himself admirably in tune. Very often by placing itself at the forefront and laying the foundations for transmutations. This is where his exception lies: he draws on the sources of cultural heritage, and responds without complexes to the mermaids who have sometimes not even hatched from their eggs.
In doing so, YN inspires a saving approach in a foggy era of wandering and confusion. We never stop defending it, the key is to be inspired by heritage. Follow progress yes, but celebrate and elevate our identities itou. Illuminate our imaginations which, despite all the twists and turns of reality, remain our most authentic essence. In “Birima”, however, YN is only the locomotive of a synergy of great talents. Its star illuminates the thing; eventually he plunges into the memories of the first part of his fifty-year professional career.
YN began his profession at the age of 13, as a singer of Sine Dramatique, hired to declaim the anthem of the said theatrical troupe. He thus rediscovers his first loves, his first impulses, in a marvelous mise en abyme orchestrated by Majaw Njaay. The latter, who staged the opening ceremony of the 15th edition of the Dak’Art Biennale, excels, because he creates in harmony with the public and the subtleties of the times. The prodigious director then lends his genius to the dramaturgical picture of “Birima”.
A fresco where each part is flamboyant. Maguette Guèye’s tailor-made costumes mark the era (1855-1859), the actors masterfully interpret History, the musicians compose a fire of emotions, the choreography is perfectly executed, the tale mastered, and Youssou Ndour gives full measure to his art. Above all, Majaw Njaay has the ingenuity to set our beneficial values in motion, with a selection adapted from the elephantine repertoire of Youssou Ndour. Through these arts, the troupe exalted our cardinal properties and virtues: sacredness of speech, honor, dignity, fidelity, courage, dilection, solidarity, benevolence. Tradition, orality, modernity. Mastery, accuracy, panache.
What better medium than theater to convey this sublime dispatch? This major art has, unfortunately, been going through a “route from blank page to stage” for quite some time, as the former director of the Daniel Sorano Theater, Ousmane Diakhaté, already regretted in 2005. Several deserving and active players are making a considerable effort for recovery. We think of Mamadou Diol, Yacine Sané, Meïssa Gueye, Kader Diarra, Seyba Traoré with Sorano of course, among many others. But the momentum remains broken. The 6th art, however, experienced a golden age here, evolving from the stages of Sorano whose dramatic troupe toured the world with large-scale plays, to move to the urban, to the popular theater (based in its early years at the Ministry of Youth, with the Assises du théâtre populaire in 1969), to the forum theater and to the small skylight.
A destructuring has invaded its field for almost 30 years, corrupting its institutions, its school, its troops, its spirit. The lack of corrective criticism and the censorship of power exacerbated by insufficient funding had started the cancer. Added to the disaffection and even ignorance of the general public, the exponential virtuality, gender confusion and unraveling deliver the blow. A Grand National Theater which (re)finds its vocation, the effective involvement of municipalities and especially the return of school theater could be of great help. Ah that time when we received theater on Wednesdays at elementary school for educational, fun and cathartic afternoons!
