German Premiere: The Forgotten Liberators

On Sunday 20 September 2009 at 8 p.m. AfricAvenir presents the Germany Premiere of the Hip Hop Musical "The Forgotten Liberators" (À nos morts) in the framework of the International Literature Festival Berlin at Haus der Berliner Festspiele. The show is part of the commemorative festival around the exhibition "The Third World in the Second World War" which will be hosted by the Werkstatt der Kulturen between 1-30 September 2009. "The Forgotten Liberators" will be shown in original with German supertitles.

Hip Hop Musical: The Forgotten Liberators

Influenced by the Hip-Hop-Culture of the suburbs of Strasbourg, this performance melts poetic texts with urban sounds as well as with a contemporary dance choreography - all this is taking place to the backdrop of historical film and photo material. The production is reminiscent of the millions of colonial soldiers from the former french colonies who fought for France in 1914-18 and helped rid the world of fascism during the Second World War. The "Mémoires Vives"-Project pays tribute to those largely "forgotten soldiers" by dealing with the topic in a contemporary and modern way.

Compagnie Mémoires Vives

Remember and share the forgotten and neglected parts of our (colonial) histories in a society totally impregnated by international migration is the aim of "Compagnie Mémoires Vives". Artists, historians and social workers from different cultural background work together in order to mould this message into contemporary art and language. Influenced by Hip Hop culture and modern dance theater, the performances not only engender enthusiastic critics, but also stir standing ovations by the the young audiences in the banlieus.

Picture (from top to bottom and left to right)
Farba MBAYE, Yan GILG, Maeva HEITZ, Mickaël STOLL, Christophe ROSER, Sabine SAMBA, Yassine ALLOUACHE, Ibrahima M’BODJI, Sovannak NAM

Press Critiques

The Musical "À nos morts" is sponsored by:

DRAC Alsace, A.C.S.é. Alsace et PACA, Département du Bas-Rhin, Région Alsace, Ville de Strasbourg.

The Exhibition

The Exhibition was conceived by Karl Rössel (Recherche International e.V./ Rheinisches JournalistInnenbüro) in close cooperation with graphic designer Holger Deilke, Christa Aretz (FilmInitiativ Köln e.V.), Venant Adoville Saague (Köln/Kamerun) as well as the art consultant Bernhard Lüthi and the photographer Erika Koch (Düsseldorf).

Website: http://www.3www2.de/