Le Bal de Ndinga

Léopoldville, 30 juin 1960, veille du jour de la proclamation de l’indépendance. Dans le Congo encore belge, un homme rêve aux lendemains de liberté qui s’annoncent.

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 Rendez-vous du 09 Juin 2011 au 03 Juillet 2011

jeudi, vendredi, samedi, mercredi: 20h00
dimanche: 16h00

 Rendez-vous du 09 Juin 2011 au 03 Juillet 2011 ,

Petite salle

De Tchikaya U Tam’si - Mise en scène et jeu Pascal N’Zonzi

Présentation

Dates

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Présentation

Léopoldville, 30 juin 1960, veille du jour de la proclamation de l’indépendance. Dans le Congo encore belge, un homme rêve aux lendemains de liberté qui s’annoncent.
Il rêve de Sabine aussi. La belle Sabine qu’il pourra s’offrir juste une nuit contre trois mois de salaire. Pendant que les futurs ex-colons font semblant de croire que rien ne changera jamais, son coeur bat au rythme de la rumba et il danse l’indépendance. Danse frénétique en deux temps trois mouvements, écourtée par une balle perdue. La danse s’arrête, les rêves s’achèvent. C’est le bal de Ndinga, une symphonie inachevée. Le drame de tout un continent.
Le sujet est éminemment politique, mais nous sommes au théâtre où des auteurs comme Bertolt Brecht ont démontré qu’il est possible de l’utiliser pour observer et représenter le monde dans lequel nous vivons.
Tchicaya U Tam’si s’inscrit dans la même démarche. Il utilise l’humour, la douleur et la dérision mêlés à un lyrisme sobre et une grande vigueur poétique. Un appel à notre conscience pour tous les «anonymes morts au bal de l’espoir».
Dans un monde dominé par la peur du lendemain, voilà pour moi l’importance de faire écouter ce texte porteur de rêve et d’espoir.

Le Bal de Ndinga

Théâtre

Auteur : Tchicaya U Tam'si
Metteur en scène : Pascal Nzonzi
Avec Pascal Nzonzi

Durée :

Léopoldville, 30 juin 1960, veille du jour de la proclamation de l’indépendance. Dans le Congo encore belge, un homme rêve aux lendemains de liberté qui s’annoncent.

Maison de la poésie Paris

157, rue Saint-Martin
75003 Paris
Metro: Étienne Marcel, Rambuteau
Site : www.maisondelapoesie-moliere.com

du 09/06/2011 au 03/07/2011

jeudi, vendredi, samedi, mercredi: 20h00
dimanche: 16h00

 

 2. Tchicaya U Tam’si: Le Bal de Ndinga par Kahiudi Claver Mabana

2.1 A narrative based on a mythical background Le Bal de Ndinga was published in 1987 in a journal L’Atelier imaginaire (Nouvelles), of Lausanne (p.169-185). It deals with the event of the Congolese independence on June 30, 1960. Ndinga was a humble servant at the Regina Hotel, he was shot dead whereas he was celebrating the coming freedom of his country. He can be called a “hero” or “martyr of independence”.

Subtitled as “complains” the play retraces the death of a Hotel Regina worker shot dead at the Place des Beaux-Arts in Leopoldville, during the turmoil that was linked to the meeting organized by MONACOLU party. At the mourning ceremony, his colleague Jean-Pierre Mpende and his cousin Angelique Nkoba tell the last moments of his life. The play is exposed as a flashback, a detailed account of the death, although Ndinga is seen on the scene without dealing with the other characters.

Mpende tells that Ndinga fell in an indomitable euphoria since the independence has been announced for June 30, 1960. Since April, he has been saving money to celebrate that great day. His aim was to seduce Sabina, a whore who used to spend her time with the customers of Regina Hotel. From that time on he used to continuously sing “Indepanda Cha Cha”, a song written by a brilliant musician Kabasele to immortalize the event. For this reason, the boss of the Hotel, M. Van Bilsen and Sergeant Outouboma were angry at him but nothing could stop him singing. Ndinga could finally consider himself as a human being like the white man the oppressor he hates. Amid troubles related to the meeting, Ndinga who is fleeing with Mpendje, stop, dances a Cha Cha Cha at Place des Beaux-Arts before being hit by a weapon from Outouboma’s militia.

Angélique evokes a dance that she performed with Ndinga; during the dance Ndinga called her by the name of Sabina. The play relates to the Bantu tradition of mourning. Through her mourning songs, Angélique seeks to join her cousin Ndinga in an ecstatic dance if eternal happiness. On the other hand, the official radio speaks of one victim killed by anonymous stray bullets, late after the departure of Sergeant Outouboma’s militia.

Tchicaya uses many devices to show the innocence of Ndinga and the cruelty of the military. Despite the fact that the text is delivered as a novella, it has been transposed into a theatrical performance by director Gabriel Goran who reorganized it into scenes without altering its thematic unity. One can easily identify what R.Jouanny calls a “circular structure in twelve plans” (Jouanny 51-60).

The drama essentially comprises the story told by Mpendje, but this story is interrupted by a long digression – when Van Bilsen, Outouboma, Angélique and Ndinga enter the scene. At the end there is the radio message as an epilog to the play. The play is performed both as a tale (by Mpendje) and as a present event as well (by Nkoba).

2.2 Characters.“On verra bien ce que tu vas gagner avec des macaques comme patrons. Est-ce que tu as déjà vu un macaque construire dans la jungle hein? Non, hein! Ce n’est pas demain qu’on le verra.” (172-173) [One will see how much you will earn with monkeys as bosses.Have you ever seen monkeys build in the jungle, hein? No, hein! It is not tomorrow that one will witness that.]

“Il y aura toujours des boys, et le Congo aura toujours besoin de nous, les Blancs. Indépendance ou pas, rien ne change” (173) [There will always be boys, and the Congo will always need us, Whites. Independence or not, nothing changes]

For this extremist colonizer, the only relationship possible between a Black and a White is that of colonial exploitation. It is even a historic necessity like a racial destiny. Van Bilsen called “King Baudouin” by the call-girls manages the Regina Hotel with powerful hands, inspiring terror and a spirit of forced works to his workers. He symbolizes the colonial order, but despite his rudeness he receives support from Sergeant Outouboma. Outouboma, the heir of colonial power. A new bourgeois who openly shows his wealth, Outouboma or better written “A-Moboutou” has acquaintances with the Belgians. He protects Van Bilsen, even threatens the Regina Hotel workers to continue serving their masters without complaining. “Il ne faut pas se montrer ingrats. Faut pas se montrer insolents” (175) [Do not be ungrateful. Do not be insolent] Moved by his personal interest and his ambition, he collaborates with the oppressors to steal the riches of the country, he represents the traitors of the new African nations. Jean Pierre Mpendje, the friend, storyteller and the last witness of Ndinga’s death.He is the double of the hero, the one who tries to calm him down although unsuccessfully. Mpendje is the opposite of Ndinga, he rebels against the colonial order but does not show as does the latter. He roughly criticizes the intervention of the Public Force led by Outouboma. Ironically, he is the one to report his friend’s comic madness: “Oui, patron, on est des sales nègres. Sales nègres pour toujours. Faut pas couper la semaine, patron.” [Yes, we are dirty niggers. Yesterday, today, tomorrow! Dirty niggers for ever! Do not shorten the week please, boss.]

Modeste Ndinga, the martyr of independence. First of all Ndinga is a passionate character burnt by the euphoria of the independence. Rebellious, hot blood, he is the victim of his own reluctance against the colonial order and his indomitable exaltation for the political independence of this country. He hates Van Bilsen, who represents all the plights endured by the black inhabitants of Leopoldville. He can no longer uphold to be treated as a monkey so that he considers independence as his personal victory over Van Bilsen and over the colonial system: “Moi, Ndinga Modeste, j’ai cette intuition qu’avec le temps-indépenda tout m’appartiendra tout autant qu’aux autres” (176) [I, Ndinga Modeste, have the intuition that with independence time everything will belong to me as well as to others] Thus, the song Independa Cha Cha serves a momentum for his journey towards the realization of his dream. He was fascinated by Sabina’s shoulders, charmed by her eyes, and wished to death to possess her on the Independence Day. To be equal to white people means to enjoy life like them, therefore having sexual intercourse with Sabina will fully mark his emancipation. It is a process of re-conquering his original values lost or destroyed by the colonial order; a process of renaissance and reinvigorating vital forces.

The dance with Sabina, prefigured by Angélique, is the highest moment of his life. One can deem him blind in his dream but Ndinga is coherent in his inner universe. He idealizes Sabina so much that he is killed by a stray bullet from Sergeant Outouboma’s militia. Moved by the dizziness of music and the frenzy of the dance with Sabina, he dies at the paramount of his transfiguration. Like his hero Lumumba, Ndinga dies totally conscious of his integrity towards his people and race, passionate for the national cause, betrayed and killed by his blood brothers. Ndinga who dies is a free man.

Like Caliban, Ndinga shouts: “Uhuru”, a Shwahili word meaning freedom. This word is more than a simple slogan of liberty, it challenges every opponent, it is an existential claim for one’s real identity. Therefore, independence marks a radical rupture with the colonial past: “Desormais on n’entendra plus de menaces, passé le temps des coups. Dieu merci, ca va être fini” (177). [From now no threats will be heard, the times of blows is over. Thanks God, that will stop.]

2.3 The Mukamba ceremony. In the Suku tradition, the eve of a males’ initiation is celebrated in a frenetic mood: all laws ruling the community are suspended. One can do whatever one wants. Mukamba is a kind of general carnival foolishness. Sukus are Bantu people in the West of the DRC and in Angola. On that night before the Mukanda ceremony, once can insult whoever you meet; one can act as the most shameful clown in the world without being punished. Everything is allowed. Till to a certain extent. Mukamba symbolizes the fall of the world to its deepest level. It’s a kind of Mardi gras. No moral, no ethics, no rules. Just live to the extreme. For Ndinga, live to death. In tchicaya’s mythical universe death and freedom are linked; for dying means to free oneself of historical constraints and to enjoy an extemporal essence. Ndinga has reached his aim: he dies just at the gate of happiness. The gate is too narrow to contain his overflowing happiness. Why should he survive if the objective has been symbolically attained? His death is a party of hope and no despotic ruler will overcome… According to R. Jouanny,

Le Bal de Ndinga displays the state of mind of a fabulous character with the purpose to spread Tchicaya’s mythical reading of the African independences (Jouanny 61). The struggle for freedom is never over as Ngugi will show it.

Sources : "Kahiudi Claver Mabana, The price of freedom by two African writer, Tchicaya u Tam'si and Ngugi wa Thiongo."