The ZOMAYI project aims to put on stage a theatre play inspired by the novel « Esclaves » written by the Togolose writer Kangni Alem (éditions Lattès en 2009). More than just an artistic project, the production of the play willl go together with an academic - historical and anthropological - research program focused on the present situation of an afro-brazilian network settled, during the 19th C. on both sides of the Atlantic ocean.
« Esclaves » narrates the story of a Hêviesso (or Shango) voodoo priest attached to the royal court of Abomey (King Adandozan) who was betrayed, and then sold in 1818 to a British slave handler and who finally landed in Brazil, before returning to land of his ancestors, in 1836. He left the African continent as a chief of a voodoo cult, and comes back as a muslim (he will convert to this religion during the Malê uprising, Salvador de Bahia, 1835 – he was one of the leaders of this grand rebellion). He will change at least three times his name. Back in Africa, he will discover that the son of the main leader of the Malê rebellion has also returned to Africa, where he continued slave trade…
The biography of the main character of Kangni Alem's novel is as such a symbol that stands for the whole "Afro-Brazilians" community that is still vivid on the Guinea Gulf coast (West Africa). Most of them were ancient slaves from Salvador de Bahia, and they traveled back to their presumed homeland when slavery was not yet abolished in Brazil (1888).
Quite surprisingly, this old transatlantic networks seems to come to live again, in a post-colonial context, where the economic tights between Brazil and Africa seem to strenghten again. This trend also forecasts a new form of immigration, based on South-South transnational networks, between "emerging" countries or regions.
The production of the play will then give the opportunity to make a research on the history of the Afro-Brazilian communities, focused on the present state of these transnational network set up during the slave trade by freed/former slaves, on the West African coast, between Port-Harcourt (Nigeria) to Freetown (Sierra Leone), what is now called the Guinea Gulf.
We will pay special attention to the present memory and heritage of these “afro-brazilians” in order to discover and put in light a number of narratives, resonating with outstanding life stories. The results of this research will be used as dramaturgical material, and they will nourish artistic process. The fusion of these scientific and artistic material/data will take place during special workshops.
Le play will present a number of scenes, kept up by musical interludes, inspired by Hêviesso/Shango.
The play will be launched in Lomé (Togo) in octobre 2012. We hope to tour the play on a heritage sailing boat - similar to the Don Francisco that deported the main character of the story, the Hêviesso/Shango voodoo priest (alias Miguel, then Djibril Sule).
The tour will dock in several harbors in Africa and America, from Lagos to Bahia.
The first workshop is scheduled between the 9th and 24th of Decembre 2010 in Lomé (Togo).