Benchmarking global creativity

By Adrienne Sichel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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They say action can speak louder than words. Depends on the words and who is articulating them. When the speakers are the calibre of William Kentridge, Peter Sellars and Wole Soyinka, mere sentences morph into vivid imagery and profound brain food. During A Unique Gathering: Rolex Mentors & Protégés weekend at the Baxter Theatre (April 5-6), intellectual choreographies and philosophical cartographies came into serious play.
On paper this meeting of the three masters and a sample of seven mentees who have been honoured by the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative since 2002 could appear to be a rather dry academic exercise. Unleashed within the walls of The Baxter in Rondebosch, the public workshops with Kentridge and Sellars, the concert with Neo Muyanga and friends, and the final discussion with the three sages interviewed on stage by Michele Constant, had the energy of a rock concert. The fact that this unprecedented gathering (initiated by Baxter director Lara Foot who was Sir Peter Hall’s protégé in 2004-2005) drew capacity audiences during the same weekend as the Cape Town International Jazz Festival down the road, speaks volumes about how this interface between artists talking about their processes and a curious public can strike a chord.

These meetings are usually in New York where the awards are presented every two years, so bringing these events to Cape Town was significant. A sub-text to all the engagements was Africa itself – the myth and the reality. This debate in all its complexity and diasporic contradictions was evident from the moment Honduran-born Aurelio Martinez set foot on stage with Neo Muyanga, Congolese bass guitarist Dady Kabuya and Mozambican drummer Texito Langa. They had had two brief sessions before this jam in the Concert Hall. Imbongi Jessica Mbangeni in full Xhosa regalia set the tone with a praise poem for Rolex’s global think tank and its participants. Then rhythmic synergies, cultural essences and colliding traditions (Central American Garifuna culture met Sotho, Xhosa, Zulu and other African music and dance forms) imploded, then exploded into a syncretic wonderland. The lead musicians not only played instruments (Muyanga on piano, guitar and vocals – Martinez the 2008-2009 music protégé on guitar, vocals and Honduran drum) they also danced their identities. At one point they were joined by Beirut’s Maya Zbib, the 2010-2011 theatre protégé and Togolese born Anani Dodji Sanouvi. For his 2006-2007 award this dancer-choreographer, whose schooling was affected by his sickle cell anaemia condition, was mentored by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker at her school and company in Brussels. Sanouvi also attended Germaine Acogny’s Ecole d’Sable in 2002-2003 with South Africa’s Funeka Ramorula and Margaret Makoka. In Brussels he met our Moya Michael and made his signature duet, Music for Pieces with Wood, with her and De Keersmaeker.
Between sessions Sanouvi explained how he is determined to set up his The Tools of Wisdom laboratory in Togo, a process he had begun in Mail (with funding from the Stichting Doen Foundation) earlier this year at the Festival sur le Niger in Segou which was disrupted by war.
He is developing a method (and he is adamant this is not a technique) called AgamaFo which is rooted in animism.
This year Sanouvi has also been collaborating with Peter Sellars and composer John Adams on The Gospel According to the Other Mary in which he performs as Jesus Christ. Sellars remarked: “We were searching for a language, a lexicon of what is life in the body carrying the cross. We went beyond a perceived iconography where the text speaks through the body.”