Music in migration

Screening of Manthia Diawara’s An Opera of the World followed by panel discussion. The evening is presented as part of  ‘Cosmopolis #1: Collective Intelligence’ at the Centre Pompidou, and curated in partnership between Manthia Diawara and Theatrum Mundi. Cosmopolis is a new platform that highlights research-based artistic practices and a renewed engagement with theories of cosmopolitanism and explores current forms of artistic collaboration. The event will adrress questions such as: Who can tell the story of contemporary migration when it entails such trauma?, What happens when artistic cultures migrate and meet? How do migrants navigate between tradition and assimilation?

The centrepiece of Manthia Diawara’s An Opera of the World is a staging of Wasis Diop’s Bintu Were, A Sahel Opera, in Bamako, Mali, in 2008. This pioneering new work of musical theatre tells the story of migration from West Africa to Europe by combining traditional Malian music with the dramatic structure of the Western art form. Diawara’s film weaves this performance together with classical opera and footage from the current migrant crisis to propose universalities in the migrant experience through history. Meditations from Fatou Diome, Alexander Kluge, Nicole Lapierre, Richard Sennett, and Diawara himself, reflect on this experience and question music’s role in expressing and distilling it.

This event, presented by Diawara and Theatrum Mundi, uses the film as a starting point to ask what happens when both people and artistic forms meet, and address the politics of cultural expression as it migrates and encounters other forms.      

An Opera of the World (2017) Digital video, color, sound, 70:22 min. Co-produced by Maumaus / Lumiar Cité (Portugal, USA, Mali) with core funding from the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development and 3sat. Greek Film Archive (Tainiothiki), Athens