The Festival de l’Imaginaire in Paris, hitherto organized in autumn, takes place for the first time in spring: its 26th edition takes place until June 11 in the capital and in the near suburbs, with always on the bill traditional spectacular forms rarely presented in France.
This year, the musicians, actors, dancers, shamans are Malagasy, Uyghurs, Malaysians, Martinicans, Guatemalans, Kosovars, Koreans. They come from the Mascareignes archipelago (formed by Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues) or from the Atlantic coasts of Central America. They are the representatives of cultural heritages still alive within often very small communities, who manage to preserve their traditions in a globalized world.
The director of the festival, Cédric Taurisson, cites the example of the Ensemble Garinagu Wagia, interpreter of the music of the Garifunas, holders of an African heritage established on part of the Atlantic coasts of Central America like reggae for Jamaica. . “The village where this group comes from, Livingston (in Guatemala, editor’s note), is only accessible by boat. This relative isolation, somewhere, protects them and guarantees a certain authenticity”, explains Cédric Taurisson. “Even if, let’s not kid ourselves, there is no longer a place on the planet that is totally isolated from the rest of the world today.”
Women will also be very present during this edition. “It means a lot of things in a lot of patriarchal societies, where some women have managed to shake up the established order,” says Cédric Taurisson. Nadjiyé Bututchi, to date the only woman to participate in the sofrat, the public performances of this traditional music from Kosovo, is the perfect example. Other spectacular forms are linked to rituals, such as the Main Puteri of northern Malaysia, a healing ritual.
The Festival tries as much as possible to restore the spirit and the philosophy of this music. The traditional Korean music performed by the group Namureyoung is, for example, intended to be played in the middle of nature, in order to be in harmony with it. The training will therefore occur in Parisian gardens. Tradition is also opening up to more contemporary technologies. This will be the case during the meeting between the Malagasy Justin Vali, player of valiha (Malagasy stringed instrument), and the designer Jacek Wozniak (who works in particular at the Canard Enchaîné), whose works drawn live will be projected during the recital, with the theme of the baobab.
