Dark. Images of present-day Guinea-Bissau. Enter in procession with trumpet tree branches. The branches are thrown on the floor. Silence.
Good evening. My name is Welguet N’Ancabna Tambá N’Tungué and today, I am 31 years old. When I was born, my country’s administration was still ruled by practices of Portuguese colonialism and so, my parents had to register my name as Welket N’cabna Tambá Bungué. N’cabna from my mother’s side, Tambá Bungué from my father’s. My father’s name was Paulo Tambá Bungué. He was a forestry engineer. My mother’s name is Segunda N’cabna, she is ex-military police. But the woman who made me is named Fátima Alatrache. My father was a much-loved man, and therefore he did not only have one, two, three, or four, but five wives. This also made him a man who did a lot of loving. We are five siblings. Wakana, Windjaba, Winloh, Willima, Welket, Welsau, Wesna. I am from Guinea-Bissau on the west-African coast. It is bordering on Senegal in the north, Guinea in the south and east and bathing in the Atlantic Ocean to the west. I was born there in 1988. When I was 3, we went to Portugal, me, my father, Welsau and his mother Fátima Alatrache. She is also my mother. Because the woman who birthed me, remained in Bafatá and our paths only crossed again 27 years later in 2019. When we were 11, Welsau and I went du Beja, in the Alentejo, for our studies, where we spent the best part of our adolescence. It wasn’t easy, because we didn’t have family there, but we learned well to live side by side with kids from very diverse backgrounds. At boarding school, there were designated times to wake up, eat, study, play go to sleep, but we were happy. In 2012 I went to Brazil and stayed there until 2018, and today, I am here. I am Brazilian, Alentejano, Portuguese, European, African, Guinean. Up to this point I have always been told your stories, everything I believed in, I was told by you. But I am not from here! In Guinea-Bissau, there are multiple ethnicities, each one of them live in their own tabanka, I am Balanta. This will be earth of the Balanta.
A ritual dance with palm branches to electronic music. The music stops, picks up again incense ignites and disperses in the air alongside prayers in Krioul. In the meantime the trumpet tree branches lying on the floor are collected.
Anós djinti di tchon, nó misti pa aonti riba ku tráss. Dia cu nó padidu. Dia di luss. Ahós cau sucuru, sangui secu di nó fidjus qui muri na luta ca ta seca rostu di sé padidas. Tchon viranta pecaduris, mar sucundi na fundu. Limárias na labra, mindjeris na luta, homis na tchora. Mons ca céta, é cansa. Tarbadju gós i ca formacon, furta i nogós. I ta tchubi ora de cudji e ta sécu ora de simia. Mundo cai na mal, bondadi negado pa nó’sta. Nó rassa, nó cala. No tchora!
The branches are put down and the bath begins. He scrubs the body gradually and releases cries of anxiety. He walks silently across the space, reaps wreaths of ivy and passion fruit trees and marks the Guinean territory.
Guinea-Bissau begins at Cape Roxo and ends at the Bridge of Cajé. River Cacheu, River Mansoa, River Geba, River Grande de Buba, River Tombali. Nó tchon! In Guinea there are almost 35 ethnic groups, Papel, Manjaco, Sussu, Fiafada, Fula, etc… I am Balanta. We all are! Nha irma, my sister. Nha hermon, my brother. Nha papé, my father. Nha mamé, my mother. (Bringing the wreaths to the audience.)
A painful voice takes the stage, whimpering speech, crying. He undresses and remains wearing only his underwear.
Kal dia ki fidju di tera buru sim. Kal dia ki fidju di tera buru sim. Kal dia ki fidju di tera buru sim té pa si cabeca. Kal dia ki fidju di tera buru sim.
(Encore, in crescendo)
He picks up the ivy, and wears it like armour. The harlequin appears.
Guinea-Bissau liberated itself from oppression in 1973. It has less than two million inhabitants. Portugal liberated itself from oppression in 1974. It has almost 11 million inhabitants. Brazil is still living in oppression. There are more than 200 million inhabitants. In Brazil about 30.000 youths were killed by the military police between 2005 and 2015, 77% of these youths were Black. (An equal number of those who lost their lives when they migrated from African Countries to Europe.) I wonder how many more brothers have to die until they reach a number equal to the population of my country?
A samba emerges. Capoeira. The Kissundé dance of the balanta. Accompanied by the rhythm of the ivy on the body’s surface. Ritual dance.
I am Balanta, but there are many groups of Balantas. Nalu Balantas, Mané Balantas, Souther Balantas, Nhaga Balantas. I am Kunthoe Balanta, there some clans are wolves, but be are lizards. (Silence.) Sometimes, we yearn for our ancestors and so we say that there are stories of children who disappear and are reincarnated in the face of a relative or a loved one. It is not evil, it’s nostalgia.
(He goes to the microphone and recites ‘Katarsi’.)
Anós djinti di tchon, nó misti pa aonti riba ku tráss. Dia cu nó padidu. Dia di luss. Ahós cau sucuru, sangui secu di nó fidjus qui muri na luta ca ta seca rostu di sé padidas. Tchon viranta pecaduris, mar sucundi na fundu. Limárias na labra, mindjeris na luta, homis na tchora. Mons ca céta, é cansa. Tarbadju gós i ca formacon, furta i nogós. I ta tchubi ora de cudji e ta sécu ora de simia. Mundo cai na mal, bondadi negado pa nó’sta. Nó rassa, nó cala. No tchora!
The cup of ash. It is told about the arrival of the white man.
When the white man came to our land. We looked at them and thought they were dirty. (The cup of ash is emptied over his head.) And we scubbed. They scrubbed and scrubbed. And it was then, that we understood, that he could only be a brother.
Gun shots. Exploding bombs, deaths, bodies crawling, begging for help. War atmosphere. Looking for divine assistance.
In Guinea-Bissau, we believe in many things. Wrath is God, the sorcerer is human.
The war to conquer the mystical powers and the wisdom of the sorcerer. The bodies fend each other off in the growing desire to rule. Pause.
Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to our world. There’s no men, nor women or children. Just Struggle. No people is superior to the other. No man is above justice. Nenhum povo etáacima de outro. Nenhum Homem está acima da justiça. In nature, no colour overshadows the other. Li ki no tchon, I li ku nmisti sta. No vida i precioso, no tempo. Ma kusa ma importanti ku tem I bu nomi, bu individualidade.
Electronic music starts to play. He puts on tennis shorts, a bandana and at last a raincoat. Rehearsal of war movements, martial arts, the atmosphere turns more aggressive. The sorcerer challenges himself with a clear desire to conquer the mystical powers and his wisdom. The bodies repel one another in a growing desire to rule, they fight. Pause. He turns the music sown, then off.
The sorcerer is good. If you aks him for good things, he’ll give you good things. If you ask him for bad things, he’ll give you bad things.
A Calmaria snake. A ethnic whistling song starts and in strangulation the Creature beguiles the sorcerer until in the end they become one.
The end.
