Maputo—Dßsseldorf Rural / Urban Framewalk 2016
Can you see stars in the sky?
The urban.rural debate Where do I „belong“? What is my identity? What do I call myself? Is it about where I’m from? Where I am? Where I plan on returning later in my life? Is it where I feel I „belong“ versus my physical location? Childhood memories — playing outside where? what? with whom? Schoolholidays — what did you do? where did you go? Where do your parents come from? What are typical sounds of the city? What are typical sounds of the countryside? To be continued...
Exploring the theme of Framewalk Mozambique brought to the surface many memories of my childhood: images of a way of growing up that ensured I would never entirely fit in a rural or urban setting.
these hard, outdoor brooms, making swish, shwash, swish, shwash. Years later, sitting outside early in the morning in my Accra neighbourhood, I met swish shwash swish shwash again – somebody was cleaning her frontyard – and only then did I realis how much I loved and missed this peaceful, caring sound of my village childhood.
We always played outside, playing hide'n'seek all over the village, meaning any- and everywhere, no boundaries, we owned the place and of course we did not ask and more than once we were chased away, but who cared.
Being much older and having lived much longer in a city, it is nice to revisit my childhood, but interestingly the soothing swish shwash sound of my sometimes annoying street sweeping duty has been replaced by the pleasure of the far away sound of the first city tram early in the morning, especially when I can turn around one more time in bed. Or the snippets of conversations in warm summer nights with open balcony doors, replacing my mother’s and my aunties’ murmur when falling asleep on the kitchen’s corner seat.
We had at least 5 different dishes on our lunch menu to choose from, first our lunch at home, the lunch our closest neighbours had and the ones from our best friends. We examined, we peeked into the various cookware on our way home from school and took our choices based upon individual preferences. Even better the daily, yes! daily, neighbourly afternoon coffee parties with all these mouthwatering cakes and cookies, due to the unofficial village women’s baking competition. On Saturdays we had to sweep our part and side of the street, with
Taking a walk on my favourite stretch of our river, lying down on warm pebbles and flintstones first thing in early summer, having access to plenty, meeting likeminded people, foods and people from all over the planet, being part of this heterogenous, creative, multi ethnic, cultural body that allows me to be myself and do what I love and what I need, such as Framewalk. I guess this makes me now an urb – al person, more then a rur – ban one, in any case a hybrid of both worlds, rooted in one and in the other. Each Framewalk generously offers the possibility to connect and to grow, sometimes we can embrace it and another time we just can’t. But that’s fine, another Framewalk will come. Petra Kron
What do I call myself? Rural? Urban? And why? Como me considero? Rural ou urbano? E porquê? I consider myself a rural person following the vibrations and the rhythms of the city. The urban dance shakes up a little bit the harmony of my rural breath. And I feel alive. Marisa
Rural, porque, gosto do ambiente, o nivel de liberdade, interacao com o outro, facilidades na aprendizagem em differentes materiais e areas de vida. Júlio
Urban. Freedom and anonymity that come from living in a more urban area is something that plays a big part in my identity and day-to-day experiences. Teya
Urbano, porque ma sei, cresci e vivo no meio urbano, meu comportament è urbano, tive uma educadao urbana. Simpliamente, pego e ago como urbano. Estreanty
Urban. I like to deal with differences/diversity, observing people, how they deal with trouble or to how different cultures meet. I think we can grow through urban space. Marie–Lena
Me considero rural, porque tenho muito orgulho por onde eu nasci. Segundo lugar me sinto a vontade de fazer o que quero, por espaco: espaco para futebol, e mais brincar que necessita de cada dia em dia. Matanyane
Urban. I am from St. Petersburg in Russia, I grew up in this atmosphere – many people, many cultures, many possibilities, share your ideas and learn a lot from each other. Dariya
Rural: Eu me considero rural porque apesar de viver em zonas urbanas, a maior parte das coisas que faco (cultos) tem influencia do rural e a maior parte da minha familia e rural. Sufaida
Rural: I still keep the behavior my mother taught me: rural and traditonal ways of sitting, dressing, serving meals, keeping the house, etc. Edna I was born and raised in a city. Though I also feel comfortable in rural spaces, but when it comes to living, only in a big city. So this makes me urban. Melih Rural. From there I come. In rural places I heal myself. In rural places I find peace. I’m rural, because there I am. Esteban I was born in a capital city and most part of my life I spent in town just went to rural areas for holidays and visit family. Sumalgy Tenho vicios urbanos, mas adoro natureza, o campo, a tranquilidade daí rural, plantarem espacios largas, animais. Gosto de pagar a terra. Urbana, pois nao sou forteo suficiente a interagir el o solo, asfalto comporto me como urbana, nao tenho os pe’s fixos. Gosto de trabalhar de objectos pequenos. Com muita sensibilidade. Janeth Rural. Porque é com a mesma identidade social que commungo o estilo de vida apatir dos meus habitos e ideais. E no mesmo meio encontra-se reciprocidade de favores en servicos. E assim quem e identifico apesar de ter crecido num ambiente urbano. NBC
Rural e urbano, porque tive duas educacoes, assim podemos dizer (cresci na aldeia no periodo de ferias fui ao campo visitar a familia e conhecer um pouco das plantacoes da familia. I'm urban-rural. Osvaldo Rural, porque as pessoas rurais para mim estao mais abertos para aprender novas coisas, levo o rural como se fosse falta de conhecimento, mas como espaco aberto para aprender. Eu sou rural, ensinam-me tudo. Nilza Rural, eu sou do meu grande bairro de Maxaquene, rural mesmo. Na verdade eu me considero rural, todos os meus pensamentos estao la mesmo. Vasco Uma pessoa rural, porque busco sempre preservar os ensinamentos dados pelos meus pais avos e familiares que sao uma mais valia para o mundo moderno que nos encontramos hoje em dia, mas tambem porque e minha identidade. Eugenio Urbano, porque estou fora da cidade, contemplando nos distritos do conselho municipal, neste caso estar numa sociedade com constantes novas tendencias. Rural, porque estou numa zona de campo sem nenhuma interacao com a tecnologia e preservando muito a tradicao local. Paulo Inacio
Urban/Rural Mozambique & Germany Framewalk Maputo — an artistic conversation about present urban/rural situations/transformations a plural perspective on a smaller scale, a specific context in music, dance and theatre avoid generalisation phenomena concerning individuals and the collective opening a dialogue and a conscious debate resonating in and out stories, myths and legends their current meanings are they symbolic evolutions of the landscape – urban/rural potential conflicts human beings and their environment gestures, attitudes and practices inhabiting urban/rural public space as a physical and now virtual (co)presence how do they circulate how do they stay still push and pull effects intervening in situ, within the urban/peri-urban/rural fabric of Maputo/Mocambique on various phenomena urban mobility/rural mobiltiy — observed locally movement of people, objects, digital/virtual travel physical and virtual mobility movement/representation
Living in an urban area
It should be eternal the smile, the melody of the days (those were) the joy, peace is contagious, the lights throbbing in the space, mild is the sun smiling at us, I feel like drinking one more beer, you are so funny! I didn't know, wow. The heat of every single word that we exchange‌ the clock shouldn't shut? Time doesn't exist. Exist only us and the drunkenness of this moment that we want eternal. Marisa
The Team Petra Kron works as cultural anthropologist and as performing artist. She does production management for plays and programs. She designs and instantiates art platforms like Framewalk and Lab dc in collaboration with artists from varying countries. She has a Ph.D. (ABD) in Cultural Anthropology from Mainz University and a state board examination in Fine Arts and English from Düsseldorf University. She teaches, researches and explores her concept of art & belonging in the field of the performing arts mostly in trans cultural and cross disciplinary contexts. Kojo Benedict Quaye aka Sir Black is an African living in Ghana. He is a performance artist, painter, sculptor and Ehalakasa (spoken word poetry) instructor. He is the founder of TalkFACT3, Ehalakasa Talkparty the only regular poetry event and the Annual Ehalakasa Festival. Sir Black is very much involved in organizing spoken word poetry events, workshops and projects in schools and communities in collaboration with local, international and cultural institutions around the country. Sir Black is the Director of Framewalk Africa. He is a three-time prize winner in spoken word poetry including the 2006 Peace FM National Search Competition.
Othello Johns works as choreographer, dancer and pedagogue for various institutions in the field of the performing arts. For most of KABAWIL’s dancetheatre productions like Wer hat Angst vorm Schwarzen Mann? Leila and Madschnun and King ED, to name a few, he was the artistic director for Dance and Choreography. He worked as a soloist for the companies of Milton Myers, Rod Rodgers, Isadora Duncan, Erick Hawkins and Tanzatelier Wien. He studied Dance and Choreography in New York at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and at the Erick Hawkins School, as well as at the University of Louisiana.
Horácio Macuácua is a dancer and choreographer. He started his work in Mozambican traditional dance in 1996. He is also a founding member of CulturArte, one of the first Contemporary Dance Companies in Mozambique. He participated in various performances directed by Panaíbra Gabriel and has worked with international choreographers such as Frans Poelstra, Cristina Moura and Thomas Hauert. He is working closely with David Zambrano, as a performer and in developing his flying-low technique. Macuacua worked and works as a dance teacher in the best dance schools in Mozambique, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Brazil and Portugal. Since 2006 he has been creating his own works including Comum, Oca and Canais. In 2009 his piece Orobroy, Stop! won the Great Prize PUMA Creative and the 1st prize of Danse L’Afrique Danse 2010 in Bamako/Mali. In 2012 he started his project Smile, if you can, which recently toured Europe.
Cândido Salomão Zango, aka Matchume, is a Mozambican musician and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the new masters of the timbila and he has developed and produced a new sound with this age-old instrument. He is also a multi percussionist, who plays the Mbira, Xitende and he does electronic music. Matchume Zango shares and teaches his music and his culture with his students all over the world, in Canada, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Chad, etc., and currently he teaches at the University of Capetown, of which he is an alumnus. He organizes cultural musical exchange programs and provides space for artists in residence at his studio/house in Maputo. He is constantly collaborating and touring the world as a soloist, as well as with well known musicians and bands. He has recorded several albums with Timbila Muzimba, Kubilai Khan and MoSomeBigNoise. He is one of the founding members of Timbila Muzimba, the Warethwa Cultural Association, and the “Orquestras Amadoras” community project.
Kyekyeku, Eugene Oppong Ampadu, has worked on several artistic projects connected with sound and music for short movies, theatre, poetry and performance in general. He writes, arranges and produces music, A lively performer whose music and performances cut through a cross-section of music and performance styles heavily influenced by the acoustic guitar with a tasty Ghanaian Highlife music yet exploring a mix of classical, flamenco Jazz and Brazilian guitar styles and sounds. Simon Eifeler is a stage director. He studied stage direction at the Academy for Performing Arts in Ulm, Germany and and ever since he has been creating and directing plays in the fringe or off – theatre scene. His best known plays are: König Ödipus by Sophokles, Kassandra by Christa Wolf, Woyzeck by Büchner, Maria Stuart by Schiller, Faust by Goethe and the Odyssee by Homer. Simon is founder and director of fred – Freies Ensemble Düsseldorf, an independant municipal theatre that offers a platform to professional theatre creatives for their works.
Rogério Manjate is an actor, theater director as well as an author of poetry and fiction. Manjate founded the theatre company Galagalazul in 2004, and it’s where he directs and performs. The main plays were Dois Perdidos Numa Noite Suja (2005), In the Solitude of the Cotton Fields (2006), A Rebelião (2009), Woyzeck (2014). From 19922005 he was part of Mutumbela Gogo Theatre Company, at Teatro Avenida, under the direction of Henning Mankell. His books have won several literary prizes in Mozambique. His short film I Love You’ won the 2008 Durban International Film Festival award for Best Short Film, and the short film prizes of the Africa in Motion (AiM) festival in Edinburgh and the African Film Festival of Tarifa (FCAT) Spain in 2009. Whether it is writing, film or theater, for Manjate it is always about the joy of storytelling.
What was special to you? What is the Framewalk spirit, its DNA? What was new, what went well, what should be enhanced? Write about the topic »Rural/Urban« or write about the final presentation. Did Framewalk leave an imprint on you? What was special to me? Hummm… let me see… the relationships, the bonding between all of us in a very short time, we became a big family. We had challenges. …and we fought them and we won. The Framewalk spirit… humm… I found in Framewalk the spirit of solutions… of Love… of belonging… of family… What was new? Many things… the good, perfect mix of cultures and the topic (urban/rural). Perdido. Pensando em contramão Nesse espaço de único sentido… Agressão e agressão. Árvores atropeladas pelo Betão… Pássaros pisados pelo alcatrão. Luz do sol, fornicada pela televisão. Irmandade embrulhada pelo cifrão…(To be continued) Estreanty Ernesto Langa My experience being part of Framewalk has been great. It was a good exchange full of good energy. For me the spirit of Framewalk is about learning from each other. It was awesome to experience different art expressions like theatre and music. I think these kind of projects are a great opportunity to bring people together and create art and culture. Having the oportunity to meet other artists around the world and get to know each other, and let our mindset grow. I think the show was really good because we got to get a good connection within the performers and we developed a good energy during the performance. I have a good feeling about it. I hope we meet again and we have more opportunities to create new projects with new ideas. I would love to continue with this project. Matanyane
This framewalk I was really pushed, harder than I had ever been before. Framewalks are always incredibly intense, but this time was even more, and I grew so much as a result of it. Every framewalk has a deep impact on all who participated. The intensity of the week means that bonds are formed and steps forward are taken much faster than in a normal space. Teya Framewalk is so much more than just performing-artists working on a one-week-project. It requires sweat, passion and dedication. It requires the best of you and makes you walk out of your frame, your comfort zone. You experience new ways to use your skills. New ways to move your body, new ways to use your voice, new ways to embrace yourself on stage. It makes you face challenges and it forces you to fight against yourself. But no matter how it ends, you always gain something. Experience, strength, skills, knowledge, wisdom, inspiration, friends. But the most exciting part about Framewalk is, to realize, how many hidden talents this planet harbors and how we are all in a special and spiritual way connected to each other. Flying all the way to the literal other side of the world and finding instant bonds to people you have never seen before, you had no idea even existed, is one of the most tremendous feelings I have ever experienced in my life. And Framewalk is giving you this unique opportunity over and over again. I have the same feeling after each Framewalk. I feel like a hollow shell. Because I leave the place physically, but not mentally. I hate this feeling. Melih Celik
ÂťYou have to do, to do, to do and to trust the process. and when this is happening, you start to open up for each other.ÂŤ
»Framewalk for me as a dancer is full of different experiences. It is harmonic and stressful, beautiful and ugly. There is space for a lot of emotions and also for a lot of experiences.« Why shouldn't we hold hands? Who knows if my hand and your hand, still carry utilities. Let’s get together and see where it leads us. For me this is Framewalk's motto. You don't think, you don't plan, you just go. And whatever comes out, it’s fine. Let’s just have fun and produce some cool stuff. Time? Three, four, five days? No problem, because we are ninjas hahaha!!! And the final presentation speaks for itself, amazing! (for me the final show was more empowering than the working process itself) I can still feel the echo of some precious moments, like Dariya’s and NBC’s duet for example, so that for me is mission accomplished. What to say besides a big ”Muito obrigada”. Marisa Framewalk for me as a dancer is full of different experiences. It is harmonic and stressful, beautiful and ugly. There is space for a lot of emotions and also for a lot of experiences. It depends on group dynamics and that you have to go fast with each other, you have to leave your own habits behind and adapt to another culture. You have to bring proposals and act because there is little time for talking and difficulties. You have to do, to do, to do and to trust the process. and when this is happening, you start to open up for each other. This is so unique, so special for me! Framewalk never stops exchanging and questioning cultures and behavior. It is living of different people, energies and situations. Framwalk needs different colours and creations and it needs to always flow. It consists of flexible, soft, but strong, resilient material. Framewalk is always a lot of work in a short time. The way it's organised, the division in music, theatre and dance is a strong, necessary way of structuring the complex time. What could be interesting is, what would happen if dancers, musicians and actors work together all the time. This would be a chance to interact directly between the genres. Marie Lena
Special for me was the spirit of being together, when we were mixed with different languages, sharing our experiences, without thinking where we are from. To see artists from music and theatre facing the challenge to dance, to move organically, for dancers this is easier. At the end I felt I was ‚rur-ban’. A rural and urban woman from where I live up to where my heart and my mind is now. Janeth This project left many impressions, thoughts and ideas – but I will try to make this review short! I am happy for having taken part in Framewalk, and I think it has been a unique platform for sharing ideas and experiences, as well as getting to know other artists from different fields and nations! This is special for me, because I can clearly see my perspectives changing, and my ideas growing bigger! As we were engaged in the theme ”urban and rural spaces” we had moments of reflection which expressed the varieties of languages and feelings within the group, I believe this is central for the project! I am satisfied with the results – how we managed to coordinate everything! I just wished we could have had some extra time just among the dancers. Yet, I understand that in a project with so many participants and such a time limit, things have to run a bit fast! I am thankful for getting to know all of you, learning from you, getting inspired and being able to show my passion for dance! I hope we will meet again! Sumalgy
»Since Framewalk appeared in my life I’ve been growing in so many aspects that it’s hard to mention a few, all are truly important for me.«
»I never felt so alive on stage.«
»At the presentation everyone was shining so bright I ended up blind.«
Since Framewalk appeared in my life I’ve been growing in so many aspects that it’s hard to mention a few, all are truly important for me. I’m now ok enjoying this other year at the Folkwang. Framewalk also helped me to get better in the school and now I am even creating choreographies and participating as a dancer with other year students. The connection with David and Marie Lena also helped me to get more into German society. I have no way to say thanks, all this gave me power and courage to believe more in myself and to keep on going. What was special to you? This is really hard to explain, since the invitation for this project everything that surrounded me after was full and filled with something I can define as precious and special, even the moment when I had to take several planes with all my fear, I experienced as wonderful. Getting over fears with half unknown people, going to another continent, a new continent, the look in the eyes of the people in Addis Ababa, how many cultures waiting and waiting together, then home in Mozambique, the smell of the place, the sound of the surroundings, the smile of the people, the food, all the different backgrounds of the people I met, their lives and mine how they are still mixed, how we still talk about things, how bonds were created with so many things… so many things I rescued into my own memories, I truly cannot say any other, everything was special for me. What is the Framewalk spirit, its DNA? We may call it dance, music and theatre, but about the DNA, the answer is simple and sensible, as I perceive Framewalk as something that “Keeps the need of the human to mix with their own kind, while sharing those things that make us so different, that we end up being the same.“
What was new, what went well, what could be enhanced? For me new was all, except for method Framewalk works with the participants. There were a few uncomfortable moments in terms of some administrative and teachers— teaching—performance, I don’t know if this can be enhanced, because it always depends on so many things that sometimes nobody is even aware off, so I guess having these surprises will always be present. At the presentation everyone was shining so bright I ended up blind. Sometimes the human squared way of thinking and the expectations we have, corrupts what we see or experience, but when all is open to receive an experience we transcend into another state of mind, another state of being where time cannot be explained and reality turns into something we feel addicted to. I never felt so alive on stage. Every time I do a Framewalk my life changes dramatically and this Mozambican one did this too. At the final presentation, where I felt so much being part of a family that accepts how weird and silent I am, as shy as I sometimes am, supported me with the things I’m not really good at. The presentation was like a graduation with so many people in my heart that urban and rural stopped to have a meaning and the only thing I could see was that humans need humans close… Did Framewalk leave an imprint on you? Yes of course, I think somehow I reflected this in my other answers because it is hard for me to describe in words something that is so big and abstract in my mind. I would say that to address this correctly I must write a short book talking wonders about a week lost in time, like a very fertile island in the middle of the Pacific, a story full of treasures from different nations, a monumental touching piece of art, gastronomy and anthropology, a song that softens the heart and dropping eyes with nostalgic feelings, a dance that celebrates existence, a poem that cannot be finished… All text on this page by: Esteban Zuniga Vicenti
Mbira Song
Dariya + NBC
красивый лес... Здесь нет никого... Деревья умолкли И смотрят в небо...* Ukinukela acimutch aka mioo hoooo Walidea na mama na papa Nonkomile wanipurono hioo niwakavithele tcho kalai** я помню тот город, где дом мой родной, и тянет, тянет туда...* ukinukhela uwaini, ukinukela uwani мой дом родной // мой дом родной мой дом родной // мой дом родной... Ich bin in einem Schönen Wald... Hier ist niemand… DIe Bäume sind verstummten Und schauen in die Himmel… Ich erinnere mich an meine Stadt, Wo ist meine Heimat, Und meine Heimat ruft mich… Meine Heimat // Meine Heimat Meine Heimat // Meine Heimat...
** Sinto saudades da minha familia lá na aldeia com os meus pais Sentados num sitio ouvindo historias do passado Sinto saudades da casa Onde o amor é verdadeiro e não plástico
Urban i am, gone rural Nao mais trafico,oòo Bad air in my lungs, go Baga sibir… bye bye Nifohla Ikufamba Ni lavetela Utomi Nifohla ikufamba zedzetela Hutomi Hi Nguiwa Hiti ngwana Hi biwa hiti mboma Hitlulela Ama lwangue Nilavetela Utomi kamatikeni yavangwane
How do I fit in this world (How, How) Am I rural, Am I urban, I don’t know Where does my soul fit (Where, Where) Am I from the city Am I from the country, I don't know.
Ondista minya'alma ewunasey I'm a Country girl, I'm a City girl I don’t know. Am I from the city am I from the country I don't know! Odwa Bongo
Performers Daniel Felisberto Banze Domingos Bie Marisa Bimbo da Costa Odwa Bongo Melih Celik Estevao Carlos Dos Santos Amisse Paulo Inacio Edna Jaime Marie-Lena Kaiser Estreanty Ernesto Langa Eugenio Macuvel Dariya Maminova Julio Vasco Mariquele Ana Marx Matanyane Armando Abilio Nhamucume Nilza Adolfo Matiquete Juan David Mendez Sufaida Celia Moiane Janeth Mulapha Sumalgy Nuro Osvaldo Passirivo Teya Beth Leonard-Quarmyne Benilde Uatura Esteban Zuniga Vicenti Vasco Andre Wate
Framewalk Urban / Rural at: Semana International da Arte Tridisciplinar Team Dance: Horacio Macuacua & Othello Johns Music: Matchume Zango & Kyekyeku Theatre: Rogério Manjate & Simon Eifeler Organisation in Situ: Marilu Joao, Petra Kron, Yibor Kojo Yibor Dulcério da Cruz Arlindo Banze Photography: Castigo Alessandre Pessana Concept: Petra Kron Collaboration partner: Kabawil e.V. Düsseldorf Yodine, Maputo Thanks to: Quito Tembe Yodine Centro Cultural Franco – Mocambicano Teatro Avenida
KABAWIL e.V., Flurstraße 11, 40235 Düsseldorf T. 0211.9 36 55 00, www.kabawil.de, info@kabawil.de www.framewalk.de, follow or join framewalk on facebook. Framewalk – the Crosscultural Week is supported by: Landschaftsverband Rheinland