Léon Gontran DAMAS A franchi la ligne [en]

:: BROADCAST SHOW ::

I’m not a nigger, I’m a man, but if you think I’m a nigger, it means you need it. James Baldwin 1963 – Dr Kenneth Clark interview.

The life of Guyanese poet, Leon Gontran Damas who was one of the founding fathers of the Negritude movement with Aimé Césaire and Léopold Sédar Senghor. This choice and editing of his texts interrogates the part of existence that is allocated to us to inhabit this world. Back and forth between “I” and “us” to stand up against the stupid and dumb life that is given to us.

Photos du spectacle © Cie AWA

… je vois toute une nuit de ragtime et de blues
traversée d’un pêle-mêle de rires
et de sanglots d’enfants abandonnés …
extrait de Feu sombre toujours [in memoriam] Aimé Césaire à Léon Gontran Damas

The show was represented more than 70 times, in France [Paris – Lucernaire], in Avignon [TOMA], in Belgium [Antwerp], in the Caribbean: CMAC Atrium National Scene Martinique, National Scene of Ink Guyana, Festival of Fort de France.

The show received the Year of the Overseas 2011 label

Photos de tournée © Cie AWA

The intensity and intelligence of Wagram’s readings of Damas’ language and vision, even exploiting the rap tonalities and rhythms of these poems written long before Blacks had any kind of voice, make a gripping performance of these too long unheard poems. Molly Grogan – ParisVoices

Vidéos

  Extrait et interview de la cie Awa

  Léon Gontran DAMAS A franchi la ligne

  RFO – Damas au Lavoir Moderne

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