African Theatre, Dance, Carnival and More: World Cultures Festival

Description

This year’s World Cultures Festival kicks off with an upbeat concert of acclaimed Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour–one of Africa’s most beloved artists–and his ensemble, the Super Étoile de Dakar. Cape Town Opera closes the festival with the Mandela Trilogy, a theatrical homage to the ‘father of the nation’ that integrates opera, Broadway musical and traditional Xhosa song and dance to tell Mandela’s moving life story.

The musical programme also includes performances by the Grammy Award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa and Beninese singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo.

Dance group DAFRA from Burkina Faso will perform Tlé (The Sun), a passionate and joyful choreography  featuring West African drumming and movement. Senegalese/French performer Germaine Acogny, the “mother of contemporary African dance”, now 73, will perform two signature solos: Somewhere at the Beginning and Mon élue noire-sacre #2 (My Black Chosen One).

The festival also brings African theatre to Hong Kong, such as the autobiographical works A Woman in Waiting by eminent South African actress Thembi Mtshali-Jones, and Split/Mixed by Rwandan actor Ery Nzaramba.

In addition to live performances, the 2017 World Cultures Festival also plays host to meet-the-artist sessions, talks, workshops, exhibitions, an outdoor carnival, and outreach performances in shopping malls and schools.