Bwa Kayiman—Congressing at the Heart of Liberation, commemorating the historic 1791 forest congress of enslaved people that marked the beginning of the Haitian revolution, concludes with a day-long programme of events.

As a culmination of the congress at HKW, a series of offerings and performative acts in the Anna Seghers Garden are situated in the traditions of gatherings around an axis mundi—a point of connection between physical and telluric worlds—in this case the Papa Legba Tree. As old as the building itself, it was consecrated by Houngan Jean-Daniel Lafontant during HKW’s re-opening to host Legba as the gate opener between worlds. The tree is thereby recast as a penc or palaver tree, a connector between the higher and lower grounds, joining with ancestors and creating spaces for reconciliation, communion, and reconnection.

The outdoor live programme for Sunday, 13 August is named after the radiant drapo (flag) created by Haitian artist Myrlande Constant, Rasanbleman Soupe Tout Eskot Yo (All the Escort Gathering for Supper). It is an invitation to create a space of togetherness while partaking in acts by different artists, thinkers, and poets and to engage in conversations, rituals, and food particular to Haitian Vodou traditions. Those attending are encouraged to bring blankets and whatever else you need to feel comfortable—we will provide some too. 

This afternoon aims to practise liberatory epistemologies and accompliceship with/through other species and non-human entities, while also demonstrating embodied knowledge as central to revolutionary acts of resistance and political education. 
 

Pungwe Sound Trails. Picking up beats and pieces, 2023
Robert Machiri 
Sound Intervention

Pungwe Sound Trails is focused on curating and disseminating sound materials with critical consideration of the spaces and locations within which they are found. The methodology of this project is built on its itinerant aspects and the ‘tracking of the sonic’ best described as a dramatic operation that involves digging through archives, playback acts, and site recordings. Here one witnesses the burden of institutionalized archives and the potential to de-monumentalize them even at a personal level. The field is approached by Machiri not as an object but rather as a subject, where landscape features are transformed into spiritual markers by way of ‘tracking and trailing sound’ in an effort to collect and create memories as well as engage in the process of remembrance. 

Pungwe is a sound station that utilizes a praxis based on the collision of sound and spirituality as an artistic intervention. The praxis draws upon themes of awakening or ‘seeing light’ as political statements, based on the English translation of the Shona word ‘pungwe’, whose literal meaning is vigil. At pungwes (wakes), the anticipation of the ‘light’ is best described as ‘mo(u)rning’, referring to a summoning of commemoration rather than grief.

Video in the HKW Mediathek

Celestial Interjections, 2023
Luiza Prado
Performance
In English with accompanying handout in German

Upending the format of a sermon, this ritual engages with the complex encounters of patriarchal structures and colonial belief systems with struggles for reproductive justice. Artist and writer Luiza Prado proposes a reflection on alliances between human and more-than-human beings in processes of sexual liberation. To materialize these sacred bonds, the congregation is invited to partake in foods and beverages made with common edible plants used in contraceptive, aphrodisiac, and fertility-inducing herbal preparations.

Video in the HKW Mediathek

 

Mwen La
Edna Bonhomme 
Spoken word performance
In Haitian Creole

In the spirit of Haitian storytelling, the narrator will share a story in Haitian Creole that centres present-day Haitian diaspora formulations of the past. ‘Mwen La’ (I am here), an essay written by Edna Bonhomme, meditates on familial hope and grief, and highlights how Haitians embody revolutionary history through intergenerational exchanges. Reciting the account in Haitian Creole opens up space for non-Creole speakers to sit in a space of untranslatability.

 

Morena Leraba le Malingoana—Lihloela, 2023
Morena Leraba
Musical Intervention
In Sesotho and English

In the title of this production, the Sesotho word lihloela translates directly to ‘sentinels’, especially in times of war. This series draws inspiration from Lesotho’s history of resistance against colonial rule, including the Basotho Frontier Wars (1858–68) and the Basotho Gun War (1880–81). The work is a reminiscence of these times through music and song, a reimagination of the Lipina tsa Mokorotlo, meaning war songs or chants, sung by Basotho warriors before going to war. These songs were intended to instil bravery and heroism in men. Women, seeing their husbands and loved ones off to war, also contributed to the performance of these songs, mainly through ululations and praise-poetry.

Praise-poetry was largely dedicated to Basotho rulers (mainly Morena Moshoeshoe, the founder of Basotho nation, and his sons) and other military leaders of the era. Accounts of these wars were recited by warriors and poets and with the arrival of French and Swiss missionaries in Lesotho from 1833, some early Basotho scholars were able to record these poems. Most significant was: ‘Lithoko tsa Marena a Basotho’ (meaning ’praise poems of Basotho Chiefs’) compiled by Z. D. Mangoaela. In this performance taking the form of a musical intervention, Morena Leraba recites lines of the praise-poems. 

With Teboho Mochaoa (vocals); Pachakuti (keyboards); Aduni (percussion)

Video in the HKW Mediathek

 

Tongue & Throat Memories—Taste of the Haitian dish 
Chef Paul Toussaint
Culinary Intervention

Born and raised in Jacmel, the southeast part of Haiti, Chef Paul Toussaint grew up learning about the culinary traditions of that region. Extending his curiosity to other parts of Haiti, he explored the different variations of flavours, techniques, and uses of ingredients across the country. Chef Toussaint later went on to study law in Canada, but his passion for cooking could not be dampened, and he chose to pursue his studies in culinary practices instead. He is today a renowned chef and Haitian cuisine connoisseur who contributed to the establishment of food houses and gatherings in both Canada and Haiti.

For this gathering under HKW’s Legba tree, Chef Paul Toussaint invites all guests to a communal food sharing moment with various food specialities carefully made in celebration of Bwa Kayiman.

 

Kouri lawonn. A partition for the unnamed, 2023
Simone Lagrand
Collaborative spoken word performance
In Creole and English with accompanying handout in German


A letter to the unnamed great grandmothers yet not forgotten.

Celebration for the buried history yet fertile soil.

Laughter and voices for the micro-stories yet to tell

Let’s kouri lawonn. Let’s gather in a virtuous circle mixing poetry, free dance, lavwa égal (choir), call and response.

Tibwa, joy and memory

About hacking the distance to create presence.

About collaboration, and sensitive emaNations

May the audience turn into drumsticks (tibwa) and drums (tanbou)

May the tree becomes poto mitan (pillar) for the ceremony

May our voices create a partition for a fragmented chant yet an incantation
 

I Come as a Woman, Dark and Open, 2023
Phyllis Akinyi
Performance
In English

On 13 August 2023, Venus, the planet of feminine energy, aligns with the sun, causing what only happens once a year: the Venus Star Point, signifying her rebirth and transformation from night star to morning star. Hosted within this symbolic reconfiguration of the sky, Danish-Kenyan Flamenco dancer and choreographer Phyllis Akinyi offer a rhythmic gathering of movement that honours the long history of female influences on revolution and justice, whilst specifically paying tribute to the Haitian Vodou priestess, mambo Cécile Fatiman, who is believed to have led the ceremonial rituals of Bwa Kayiman.

I come as a woman

dark and open

some times I fall like night

softly

and terrible

only when I must die

in order to rise again.

—Audre Lorde, The Women of Dan Dance with Swords in Their Hands to Mark the Time When They Were Warriors (fragment)

Video in the HKW Mediathek

 

Rumours On the Wind, 2023
Written and performed by Obaro Ejimiwe in collaboration with Mar, Río y Cordillera
Spoken word performance accompanied by live music
In English. German translation handout

Rumours On the Wind is a spoken piece written in response to Bwa Kayiman. A speculative testimony, unerasable in its mythic form and rooted in its power to recall, this piece centres the unknown voices that weren’t present but had a part to play in the coming Haitian revolution. With rumours of this historical gathering travelling on the wind through this performance, questions are evoked:  What kind of energy was in the air when word of these gatherings reached others ears? Were people fearful or overcome with pride and a sense of purpose?

Video in the HKW Mediathek