In Blick Bassy's Afrofuturistic tale, the Queen of Nkolmesseng in present-day Cameroon leads a resistance through the ages to rid the continent of colonialism and all forms of imperialism. Their army, made up of women, has a single weapon: dance.
Based on the tradition of bikutsi, a traditional Cameroonian music and dance practiced by Beti women to relieve pain, Blick Bassy has created a powerful, multidisciplinary show - a feminist manifesto in which women are the agents of societal emancipation. In the musical fairy tale between fiction and historical reality, dance becomes an act of resistance.
In collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Kamerun, the Institut français and with the support of the Franco-German Fund, Bikutsi 3000 premiered in June 2022 at the Musée du Quai Branly as part of the exhibition Sur la Route des Chefferies du Cameroun. For the first time in Europe, the pan-African version with dancers from Cameroon can be experienced, which emphasizes the Cameroonian choreographic peculiarities.Already touring in Cameroon, Bikutsi 3000 is also aimed at the young African population with the aim of triggering a reflection on roots, identity and post-colonial emancipation. To the same extent, the project promotes international choreographic collaboration.
ARTISTIC DIRECTION Blick Bassy | WITH the dancers and choreographers Germaine Marie Louise Katia Eyi, Beatrice Annette Ntsoli Bouillong, Marie Philomène Celeste O'Konor, Isis Jobrelle Abanda | LIGHT Anthony Cals | ASSISTANCE / TOUR MANAGEMENT Hermine Yollo | PRODUCTION BB enterprise / Likoda Prod
One of Cameroon's most innovative artists, Blick Bassy draws inspiration from his childhood memories and transforms them into music, dance, text, performing arts and film. After spending ten years with the group he founded, Macase, he embarked on a solo recording career. His album 1958 pays homage to the Cameroonian independence fighter Ruben Um Nyobé, who was shot dead by French colonial troops that year. In 2016 he wrote his first novel, Le Moabi Cinéma, published by Gallimard and awarded the Grand Prix celebrating the continent's francophone authors.
