“Simply by combining the two-dimensional clichés ‘decolonisation’ and ‘Lumumba’, the performance creates a three-dimensional picture that shows links between the then & there and the here & now, culminating in the pivotal moment: Lumumba’s memorable independence speech.”
rekto:verso
Kuzikiliza
Pitcho Womba Konga
Three very different men want to make a speech together. For them, perfect communication draws upon three elements: text, sound and movement. The men complement one another: each is talented in one of these three elements.
Pitcho Womba Konga’s starting point was the speech made by Patrice Lumumba when Congo declared independence, a speech that is still topical today. Because isn’t it true that behind a country’s independence lies the emancipation of an entire people, and that behind the emancipation of a people lies the independence of each individual person? How do we reconcile the present and the past while the process of decolonisation is still under way?
Kuzikiliza – “to make yourself heard” in Swahili – is a multilingual, interdisciplinary performance that causes communication and its mechanisms to falter.
Monty