On Monday, September 23, at the Paris Centre Town Hall, a tribute was paid to Maryse Condé in the presence of the community and authorities.
The Guadeloupean writer Maryse Condé died at the age of 90, on the night of April 1 to 2, 2024, and received a national tribute at the National Library of France on April 15, which was paid to her by the President of the Republic and a number of relatives and artists.
Chantal Loïal, the founder of the Mois Kréyol Festival, organized an evening at the Mairie Paris Centre to pay tribute to Maryse Condé by artists from the Creole community as well as famous guests such as: Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, Jérôme Coumet, the mayor of the 13th arrondissement of Paris, Ariel Wail, the mayor of the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, Valérie Pécresse, president of the Ils de France, Jean-Marc Ayrault, the foundation in memory of slavery, etc.
On this occasion, Chantal Loïal presented the eighth edition of the festival of Creole languages and cultures, which will take place from October 4 to November 25, with the theme for its 8th edition: « Born where our heart beats » – « la nou fèt, la kè an nou ka bat ».
The Creole Languages and Cultures Festival returns every year in October-November in mainland France and in January-February in the Antilles-Guyana.
Chantal Loïal, a renowned choreographer of Guadeloupean origin and founder of the Mois Kréyol Festival created in 2017, offers an unmissable annual meeting of Creole cultures. Between tradition and modernity, it highlights the artistic riches of the Overseas Territories.
For this 8th edition, the festival pays tribute to Maryse Condé, renowned author and patron of the festival, and highlights Guadeloupe and the rhythms of Gwoka percussion.
Gwoka, a true African heritage through its drums, called « Ka » (traditional Guadeloupean drum), now extends to the whole of Guadeloupean society and has become a common good. Nicknamed by some, « the lung of the Guadeloupean soul », it accompanies moments of encounters such as certain rituals for the deceased, political or social demonstrations and carnivals.
Several thousand people practice it assiduously each week in schools and dance and music associations. We observe that these drum dances resonate everywhere from the Antilles to Haiti, via the Indian Ocean. We even find it in Japan!
For 10 years, this year, its song, rhythm and dance have been registered as UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage.
It is in this spirit of celebration that we invite the public to discover many talented artists in a multidisciplinary program. They will discover, during our stops in France and the Antilles/Guyana, dance, music and theater shows, meetings, conferences, film screenings.
All its events embody this heritage and contribute to the defense of the intangible cultural heritage of Overseas and Africa, while also involving the Indian Ocean: Mayotte, Reunion, Mauritius and Haiti.
The artists of this new edition
Dancers such as Max Diakok or Lena Blou, an artist who has devoted her career to Gwoka and for whom colonial and slavery history is at the origin of a way of moving the body, will be among us. Just like musicians Julien Coriatt, Arnaud Dolmen, Rogers Raspail, Christine Salmen, the Difé Kako company, Ymelda Marie-Louise nous fera vibrer, the researcher Marie Hélena Laumeno or the film « Gwoka la Linèsko, jou mèkrèdi lasa » by director Philipe Mugerin will instruct us.
Having a very strong link with the African continent, the Mois Kréyol Festival will open its doors to these artists like Deen Enolia and Rodolpho Saksbo who will take the public to this continent which is the origin of all our hearts.
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