In The Ghosts are Returning, GROUP50:50, a collective of artists from the Congo, Switzerland and Germany, tells the story of seven so-called ‘pygmy’ skeletons that a Swiss doctor brought from the Congo to Geneva in the 1950s and made available to the University of Geneva for research purposes. They travel to the equatorial forest in the DR Congo to the nomadic Mbuti people, who are threatened by illegal logging, are being driven out of the forests and are resisting at the same time. Do they want the skeletons and thus the spirits of their ancestors back? Because along with the masks, skulls and skeletons, the spirits that the Europeans stole and locked away during the colonial era are also returning. Singing and dancing with them, they develop a ritual with which the seven spirits can come to rest. The result is a multimedia music theater piece about (neo-)colonial crimes, death and mourning.
The musicians and performers of GROUP50:50 dedicate their work to post-documentary music theater by taking up economic and political facts and transferring them into the future. Following the music theater project Hercules of Lubumbashi – a mining oratorio (PODIUM Esslingen / Centre d’Art Waza), in The Ghosts are Returning they deal with the restitution of African cultural assets and human remains and use artistic means to contribute to the current debate.
Musically, the production draws on dirges from both classical music and traditional Congolese music and explores the ancient polyphonic songs of the Mbuti, who held their requiems in complex polyphonic choral songs long before polyphonic requiems were composed in Europe. The result is a musical-scenic requiem for the seven skeletons and their spirits, with a Mbuti choir that enters into conversation with the musicians and performers on stage via video.
DIRECTOR Christiana Tabaro, Eva-Maria Bertschy, Michael Disanka, Elia Rediger | COMPOSITION AND MUSIC-CAL DIRECTION Kojack Kossakamvwe , Elia Rediger | WITH Ruth Kemna (viola and performance), Christiana Tabaro (vocals and performance) Huguette Tolinga (percussion), Kojack Kossakamwve (guitar), Franck Moka (electronics and performance, Merveil Mukadi (bass), Elia Rediger (vocals and performance) In the videos Josée Agbepa, Jean de Dieu Bongama, Jean-Baptiste Ekaka, Mama Sese, Mukom-bozi, Anselm Ngobe, John Bayaese, Tristan Köster (cello), William V. Murray (viola), Per Hakon Oftedal (trumpet), Josefine Schmidt (electric piano), Maxine Troglauer (bass trombone) | TEXT Christiana Tabaro, Eva-Maria Bertschy, Michael Disanka, Patrick Mudekereza, Ruth Kemna, Elia Rediger | DRAMATURGIE & DESCRIPTION Eva-Maria Bertschy , Patrick Mudekereza | DESIGN Elia Rediger, Christiana Tabaro, Michael Disanka , Janine Werthmann | VIDEO Joseph Kasau, Elia Rediger, Franck Moka, Moritz von Dungern | ASSISTING DIRECTOR Luca Maier | TECHNICAL DIRECTION Sylvain Faye | PRODUCTION Pamina Dittmann, Véronique Poverello | SOUND & SOUNDDESIGN Philipp Ruoff | TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE Anton Pelzer | SOUND STAGE VIDEOS Daniel Freitag | DIRECTOR STAGE VIDEOS Beltrán González | TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT Sylvain Faye PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT Pamina Dittmann, Véronique Poverello Maria Pelzer (collaboration) | TOUR MANAGEMENT Mascha Euchner-Martinez, Isaac Yenga | TECHNICAL COORDINATION ON TOUR Moritz Schick | ARTIST DIRECTOR PODIUM Esslingen Joosten Ellée | TRANSLATION Souzy Boukanayo, Julien Couturier, Katia Flouest-Sell, Luca Maier and Julie Guigonis
The Ghosts Are Returning is a joint project of PODIUM Esslingen, GROUP50:50 and the Centre d’Art Waza Lubumbashi in project of GROUP50:50, produced by PODIUM Esslingen and the Centre d’Art Waza Lubumbashi in co-production with the CTM Festival Berlin, euro-scene Leipzig, Kaser-ne Basel and the Vorarlberger Landestheater. Supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation in the TURN 2 fund and by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in the NEUSTART KULTUR program, Fachausschuss Tanz & Theater BS/BL, Pro Helvetia.