Publié ici :
24 Février 2015Mis à jour le :
21 Juin 2017Date de publication:
24 Février 2015
Mots-clefs:
- Mambo
- IFRA Nairobi
- art
- publication
- culture
- Kenya
Zone géographique:
- Afrique
Mambo : Bomas of Kenya : local dances put to the test of the national stage
Introduction
Anthropology of art, more specifically anthropology of musical and choreographic practices, has long focused its attention on forms and performances labelled as “authentic”. A large number of studies have considered as obvious the distinction between “authentic” dances (traditional, tribal, original) and “tourist” dances (folk or commercial). Targeting urban and foreign audiences, dances presented in the shows of Bomas of Kenya (BoK) were thus seen as synonymous with aesthetic loss and simplified staged products which reflect commercial or political choices.
Overcoming the dichotomy between tradition and modernity, which was at the basis of the opposition between authentic and non-authentic, has led to a shift of focus in current research. Progressively more research is indeed focused on music and dance practices as experienced by the actors in the contemporary context of their creation and execution. This study of the dance repertoire of Bomas of Kenya adheres to such a non-binary conception of cultural practices and follows a dynamist approach to choreographic knowledge: it takes into account the historical and social evolution of “traditional” dance in Kenya, and is committed to observe, in the field, the choices and actions that lay behind a particular choreographic repertoire. My attention has been caught particularly by the process of transposition of local practices onto a national stage. The example of isukuti dance from western Kenya will illustrate staging processes observed in the Bomas repertoire.
(...)
Par Kahithe Kiiru is a PhD student in the anthropology of dance in the research unit ‘Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative’ (UMR 7186) of the Université Paris Ouest Nanterre.
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