the musicality of words: asmara-addis literary festival (in exile)
Ever since Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature, there has been no denying it: word and music are closely connected. But how exactly? Find out at the Asmara-Addis Literary Festival (In Exile). Afro-European authors, musicians and author-musicians talk about the ways in which music sneaks into their texts, and literature into their music.
Boundless ideas
‘Hello, I’m starting a new literary festival. It’s my love letter to my parents’ countries Eritrea and Ethiopia, as well as to the entirety of Africa.’ This is how Sulaiman Addonia announced on Twitter last year the creation of his new literary festival, the Asmara-Addis Literary Festival (In Exile).
The pan-African festival is a home for all ideas that have travelled through the literary world, over and beyond borders – of any kind. In this second edition too, you will gain insight into various African communities in all their diversity, difficulties and beauty.
Words that contain music
What came first, words or music? In Africa, that question is as unsolvable as the chicken-and-egg causality dilemma. If you ask writer Kalaf Epalanga and singer-songwriter Mariama Jalloh, music and words are two sides of the same coin. In its contribution to the Asmara-Addis Literary Festival (In Exile), Passa Porta focuses on the work of the two artists and on the rich African literary tradition in which music and words are never far from each other.
The speakers
Kalaf Epalanga (b. 1978 in Angola) is a musician and writer living between Lisbon and Berlin. In Belgium he is known as the founder of the music group Buraka Som Sistema. His columns for the Portuguese newspaper O Público were collected in O Angolano que comprou Lisboa (por metade do preço). In his first novel, Também os brancos sabem dançar (2018), an Angolan musician and writer travels with his band to the border between Sweden and Norway. Not being in possession of a valid passport, he is arrested for attempting to enter illegally. He finds a refuge and home in kuduro, Angola’s uptempo, energetic music.
Singer-songwriter Mariama Jalloh (b. 1986 in Sierra Leone) lives and works in Cologne. At age 16 she started writing her own songs, gradually developing a successful solo career. In 2019 she released her second album, Love, Sweat and Tears, and performed at the Africa Festival in Würzburg. Mariama is influenced by both tradition and new sounds from African countries.
Pic. Kalaf Epalanga © Ana Brigida
Coming soon at
NLDead Ladies Show #11 in Antwerpen
In de elfde editie van ons café chantant brengt Gaea Schoeters een programma met o.a. Rachida Lamrabet, Anneleen Van Offel en Steven Van Ammel. Onderbelichte vrouwelijke kunstenaars en wetenschappers krijgen het spotlicht, met muzikale intermezzo’s door pianiste Lies Colman en zangeres Lieselot De Wilde.
Meet the author: Sheena Patel
I’m A Fan, British writer and director Sheena Patel’s debut novel about obsession, social media and power relations, put her on the map as one of the most exciting new voices in British literature. She will be interviewed by Sudanese-Australian writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied, who will be working on her new novel as writer in residence at Passa Porta in Brussels.
NLDead Ladies Show #11 in Oostende
In de elfde editie van ons café chantant brengt Gaea Schoeters een programma met o.a. Rachida Lamrabet, Anneleen Van Offel en Steven Van Ammel. Onderbelichte vrouwelijke kunstenaars en wetenschappers krijgen het spotlicht, met muzikale intermezzo’s door pianiste Lies Colman en zangeres Lieselot De Wilde.