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 Topic: The Rhythms, The Dances and The Gods |
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Message posted by Guest on June-01-2003 at 1:55pm - IP Logged
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October-03-2002
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HAITI PROGRES
"Le journal qui offre une alternative"
* THIS WEEK IN HAITI *
May 28 - June 3, 2003
Vol. 21, No. 11
ONE PART HISTORY, ONE PART FOLKLORE, ONE PART BROADWAY, SHAKE AND... VOILÀ
"HAITI: THE RHYTHMS, THE DANCES, AND THE GODS"
by Kim Ives
On May 23, Jean Jean-Pierre and his colleagues in Mapou Productions brought
"Haiti: The Rhythms, the Dances, and the Gods" to Manhattan's prestigious
Carnegie Hall.
The musical extravaganza, which Jean-Pierre directed, produced and wrote,
along with long-time collaborator Paul Urhy Newman, was the New York
community's event of the season, delighting a mostly Haitian audience of
close to 3000 which packed Carnegie's Isaac Stern Auditorium on a rainy
night.
The production, which starred North American film stars Danny Glover and
Theresa Randle along with large supporting cast of Haitian musicians, was
not so much a play as a loosely-knit series of dazzling dance and musical
numbers which spanned from mournful and solemn to playful and exuberant.
Hinged on the ruminative soliloquies of Toussaint Louverture (Glover), who
led the struggle for the abolition of slavery in the French colony St.
Domingue, and his wife Suzanne (Randle), Rhythms explored the highlights of
Haitian history: the abominations of slavery, the glories and agonies of the
1791-1804 revolution, and the triumphs and promise of Haitian culture today.
Toussaint calls an ethereal summit of the revolution's foremost founding
fathers - Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Henri Christophe, and Alexandre Pétion -
to convince them that their descendants, today's Haitians, can carry through
their dreams to create a nation free from the strife and poverty which have
become its hallmarks.
Charismatic Haitian diva Emeline Michel (La Rèn Kongo) paired off with
singers Jean-Claude Eugène (Nèg Kongo) and James Germain (Msye Solèy) in a
number of singing and dancing duets. Michel's husky voice mixed particularly
well with the opera-trained Germain's honeyed but powerful alto. Erna
Letemps (Nègès Mawon), usually backed by swirling dancers and the six-person
Haiti Chorus, injected a breezy pop sensibility into her numbers. Troubadour
Boulo Valcourt (Msye Kalalou), dressed in a baggy white peasant clothes and
performing only with his guitar, sang simple and elegant Creole ballads
which enthralled the hall.
The musicians interacted gracefully with Glover and Randle. The act
"Toussaint and Suzanne: A Song Without End" was particularly poignant when
Michel and Eugène began a tender, bittersweet dance taken up and finished by
Toussaint and Suzanne. Germain received some of the loudest applause of the
evening for his masterful solo rendition of Latibonit, a Haitian traditional
favorite.
Three master drummers - Frisner Augustin, Mapou Azor, and Daniel Brévil -
arguably Haiti's best, played the roles of Dessalines, Christophe, and
Pétion respectively. In the act they shared, each displayed his drumming
prowess on individual entrance, but their attempt to play together stumbled,
perhaps over show-boating.
The most astounding performance of the evening was delivered by the
Ayikodans Dance Company, formerly known as ARTCHO, whose accomplished and
acrobatic dancers are in a league apart from the traditional folkloric
troupes. The Spartan stage, where the only prop was an imperial chair in
which Toussaint sometimes sat, provided the perfect foil for the imaginative
costumes of these professionals, which ranged from flowing white to black
stripes to outfits in hues of mango and watermelon. Their choreography
combined elements from modern dance, Broadway chorus lines, ballet,
cheerleader cartwheeling, to the old hip wagging standbys of folkloric
routines.
Ayikodans' professional consistency was matched by Jean-Pierre's 23-piece
Kiskeya orchestra, comprising conga drums, violins, guitars, and an 8-piece
horn section, with Jean-Pierre on the drum-set and Gary Topper conducting.
Haitians traveled to New York from as far away as Montreal and Miami to
attend the event. Even the Minister of Haitians Overseas, Leslie Voltaire,
and President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's chief of staff, Jean-Claude
Desgranges, flew in from Haiti.
Despite the artistic mastery on display, the message of the play was
somewhat disappointing. The writers insist and dwell on the notion that
Toussaint was betrayed by the other founding fathers, a version of history
which is, at the very least, in dispute and favored by French historians.
More indisputably, Toussaint, St. Domingue's governor, was betrayed by
France, who captured him in 1802 and locked him up in a freezing prison cell
in the French Pyrenees where he died on Apr. 7, 1803.
It is ironic that Rhythms, produced in the framework of Haiti's bicentennial
celebrations, should lionize Toussaint at the expense of his lieutenants.
Toussaint was merciless and brutal in enforcing the colony's attachment to
France and the former slaves' loyalty and productivity to their former
colonial masters. After Toussaint's capture, Dessalines united the
factionalized generals of former slaves and freedmen to fight for
independence.
But in Rhythms, these leaders of the independence war are treated harshly.
In Suzanne's review of them, Christophe is "so cruel" with his "brutal grip
on power" while the mulatto Pétion "hid his pride in the color of his skin"
and "his love for decoration never overcame the repulsion that he felt for
his own grandmother." Dessalines, upon whom colonial historians always heap
the most vilification, is summed up as "our rage... In his rage, he scorched
our earth until there's nothing but dreams... charcoal and dreams."
Rhythms is the second presentation at Carnegie Hall of Mapou Productions,
which was founded in 1995 by Jean-Pierre with fellow Rockland County
resident and film director Jonathon Demme, human rights lawyer Michael
Ratner, and others. Friday's successful performance will certainly add to
the repute of the company.
Interviewed after the show, Glover explained that Toussaint "is one of my
heroes. He's one of the great men of history. And just for that brief moment
to be him, was just beyond words, beyond description."
Glover is also working to produce a movie, to be filmed in Haiti, based on
Toussaint's life. "We're working on the project right now, and we hope we
can get it done soon," he told Haïti Progrès. "We hope to shoot sometime
next year during the bicentennial, hopefully within the next year to 15
months."
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Message posted by coolp on June-01-2003 at 2:01pm - IP Logged
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| coolp |
Forum Admin
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United States
October-03-2002
249 Posts |
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Well, it's nice to see another point of view for a change.
-----------------
Mr. HaitiXchange Himself!
Kenbe Fèm!
 
pascal@HaitiXchange.com |
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Message posted by Guest on June-01-2003 at 2:36pm - IP Logged
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| Guest |
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October-03-2002
7580 Posts |
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Another point of view.. that's it I'm out of here! Isn't this mind meld central where everyone conforms to the voice of the strongly opinionated?  |
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Message posted by Guest on June-01-2003 at 6:59pm - IP Logged
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| Guest |
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October-03-2002
7580 Posts |
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Quote: Originally posted by Guest on May-27-2003
I agree with most of the comments made earlier. It is clear that this is a fundamental problem for us haitians. As someone mentioned earlier, in most cases, we need a non haitian to validate everything we do. Also I think it is about time we stop being tolerant for critiquing artwork is good for the art. I personally feel that we have a lot of haitian actors who could do a better job. Especially Mapou productions was created supposedly to promote haitian culture. How can one talk about promoting haitian culture when nothing is done to promote local artists.
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Message posted by Guest on June-01-2003 at 11:53pm - IP Logged
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| Guest |
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October-03-2002
7580 Posts |
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| Let's say I would book lesser known actor to play Toussaint would still have came to show? Be honest. |
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Message posted by Guest on June-02-2003 at 10:34am - IP Logged
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| Guest |
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October-03-2002
7580 Posts |
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NegNwe,
I'm beginning to believe that your irate ourbusts against brother Danny Glover reflect OUR traditional self hatred which usually pushes us to denigrate our own -mind you the right wing zealots from Washington are boycotting Mr. Glover for supporting Africa, Haiti and being against the recent Iraq war-. Now we are piling up on a performance that I think most of us did not understand.
First have we all read the playbill? Had we have, we would have seen that this was not a play (at least Kim Yves of Haiti Progres got it right -even though he somewhat disagreed with the writers-). You cannot have a play at Carnegie Hall. It is a concert hall.
It was, as I understood it, a cutural dramatization (imaginary theatre with no props) and a musical/dance/narration representation of a certain period (1789-2003) of our history (Please CaribNews review).
So Mr. Glover could have been reading his text behind a podium. I understand that originally he was not going to even act that night. Please read the playbill on page 52 and see that Carnegie Hall listed Mr. glover as a narrator. According to one of the writers (said Kim Yves) Mr. Glover is working on a movie about Toussaint Louverture and he wanted to wear the Haitian hero's uniform at Carnegie Hall.
Another fact, in your diatribe you did not say anything about the content of what you saw at Carnegie Hall. Did you understand what you saw? Did you hear what Kim Yves heard? Did you read from the playbill that all the music and their arrangements were done by a fellow Haitian (journalist -Village Voice- and composer (fomerly of Bossa Combo in Haiti) Jean Jean-Pierre.?
Did you realize that Toussaint's goal is to convene for the first time in 200 years a summit with Christophe, Petion and Dessalines? This was done when the Haitian master drummers came onto the stage (read Kim Yves' review in Haiti Progres).
By the way for those who lament about the prices, there were also tickets for $30, $50 and $75.
It is about time we do other things in addition to those bals. Please let get used to other forms of entertainment. Read books. Support Haitian produced theatrical presentations.
Please learn to read the PLAYBILLS. They do help usunderstand a play, a dramatization etc...
Some of you compained about the event. Did they begin on time? (8:05 pm)Did they go inot overtime? (10:35 WITH INTERMISSION) Did they not respect the audience by getting a 21 member dance company from Haiti? Did they not get a 23 Haitian led orchestra playing original Haitian music on Haitia rhythms witj real Haitian drummers? Did they not present OUR culture in a positive light?
Some one said somethign as stupid as the band not wearing tuxedos. God!!!Do you know that on Broadway the orchestra is a pit? The lighting at Carnegie was set up to almost ignore the orchestra which was supposed to be in the background as to not intrude in the role of the performers.
If some of you have something else against Mapou Productions, do not mask it. The decent thing to do is make concrete suggestions and also maybe some of you "theatre critics" should stage your own events. Please do it for Haiti. She deserves it. Or doesn't she? |
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Message posted by Guest on June-02-2003 at 10:53am - IP Logged
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October-03-2002
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To the person who complained about Mapou Productions not promoting local artists, did she/he know
I agree with the previous post. PLEASE FOLKS READ THE PLAYBILL and learn about Mapou's contributions:
1995 Bouyon Rasin in Haiti (Boukman Eksperyans, Boukan Ginen, Papa Jube,
Wyclef Jean, Rara Vodoule (all non-Haitians)
1995 help HAiti reintegrate in the Berne Convention (to protect authors's rights)
1999 Tribute to Guy Durosier at Brooklyn College with Joe truillot, Andre Dorismond, Gary French (all non-Haitians)
2001 Carnegie Hall (with Emeline Michel-Beethovas Obas-Jean Claude Eugene- Michel Pressoir- Marie Michele Sorel) all non-Haitians?
Last week at Carnegie Hall, besides Danny Glover and Theresa Randle
were all the others non-Haitians?
do we suffer from selective amnesia or do we hate each other that much?
local artits |
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Message posted by Guest on June-02-2003 at 11:49am - IP Logged
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October-03-2002
7580 Posts |
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CaribNews reviews Carnegie Hall
Danny Glover As Toussaint L’Ouverture
Led Artistic Tribute To Haiti’s Independence
 The cast of “Haiti: Rhythms, The Dances and the
Gods” in performance |
 Danny Glover |
NEW YORK, NY - On Friday, May 23, the performers in “Haiti: The Rhythms, The Dances and The Gods”
Mapou Productions presented a landmark theatrical production at the world-renowned Carnegie Hall celebrating Haiti as the first Black Republic in the Western Hemisphere. The cultural dramatization, depicting 200 years of freedom, brought a packed house to this dynamic homage to Haiti. The event featured a galaxy of artistic luminaries, including: Danny Glover as Toussaint Louverture; Theresa Randle (Girl6, Bad Boys 1 and 11) Suzanne Louverture, Toussaint's wife; singer Emeline Michel; writer Edwidge Danticat; singers James Germain, Erna Letemps, Jean Claude Eugene and Boulo Valcourt; and Kiskeya: The Haitian Orchestra of Jean Jean-Pierre (orchestra leader and CEO of Mapou Productions.) Danny Glover, who is also starring on Broadway in "Master Harold and the Boys," made a special arrangement in order to appear in this one-time only performance of "Haiti: The Rhythms, the Dances and the gods."
Coming from Haiti to participate in this grandiose festivity, the truly exceptional Aykodans Dance Co. was directed by internationally renowned choreographer Jean-guy Saintus. Drummer Mapou Azor was showcased with two other Haitian Master Drummers of the New York metro area: Frisner Augustin, winner of the National Endowment for the Arts Award, and the incomparable Daniel Brevil. Japanese violinist Kimiko Nakazawa came from Japan to participate in this salute to Haiti as a national and international symbol of freedom. This show is part of a series of events culminating in the commemoration of Haiti's independence bicentennial in the year 2004.On April9, 2003, actor Danny Glover visited Haiti for the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the death of Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture. Below are a few of his remarks:
* One does not come to a point in his life and not have some sort of revelation about how he comes to that place and time. As much as the spirit of the people of Haiti and its glorious history has fueled my own passion--as an artist, as a human being--I fell as If I’m at a particular moment and this revelation in my life where the opportunity to use my craft as the vehicle for understanding the people of Haiti, understanding their valiant role that they played in world history and in this hemisphere becomes critical. |
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