Just out., January 21, 1994, Page 28, Image 28

28 ▼ January 21, 1984 ▼ just out
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PORTLAND CIVIC
AUDITORIUM
Member, Portland Area Business A ssociation
PORTLAND HOMOPHOBIC
VIOLENCE
DOCUMENTATION PROJECT
Tickets available at the
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A joyful noise
REPORT THE
VIOLENCE.
GET SUPPORT.
Two Reel Music gems come to the Northwest Film Center
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by Kelly M. Bryan
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BEST ACTOR — Tom Hanks dirama)
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approach is not traditional, not a preservation of
iziteM ama, directed by Violaine
original musical forms. It is a joyful, vibrant
Villers, introduces us to Zap
hybrid bom of a world that is ever growing
Mama, a women’s a cappella
smaller, of cultures metamorphosing and merg­
singing group who perform a
ing. The small taste of concert footage in this one-
heady “one-w orld” blend of
film is more than enough to send you into the
songs. Based in Brussels, Belgium, hour
the group’s
music store for Zap Mama’s recording (on the
five members arc African, African European and
Luaka Bop label).
European. Like the band’s make-up, its music
reflects a mix of cultures. In concert, the group
Playing with M iziki Mama is Laurent
rapidly switches between these influences, like
changing TV chan­
Chevalier’s Djcmbefola, a portrait of Mamady
Keita, a celebrated virtuoso of the djembe, a type
n els— hence the
word “zap” in its
of drum. (Djembefola means drummer.) The film
name. Culture shock
takes us on a funny, lyrical, poignant journey as
is an outmoded idea
we follow Keita on a return visit to his native
for these women,
Guinea, on the West African coast.
who’vegrownupon
We initially see Keita as a grinning, sweating,
d iv ersity and a
powerhouse of rhythm— a man possessed by joy.
melange o f tradi­
In the opening moments of the film he is teaching
tions.Thequicksuc-
■
a drum class to a group of beginners in Brussels,
cession of disparate forms of music, even the
where he lives and works. With them he is open,
blending of these forms into individual songs of a
warm, laughing.
new breed, is what Zap Mama is all about.
On the first leg of his voyage home, he is
Several segments of this straightforward docu­ reunited with friends and colleagues of the
mentary feature the band members describing
Djolimba Ballet in the capital city of Conakry. As
their ethnic backgrounds and personal history
a boy, he was recruited from his village along with
with Zap Mama. But the focus is on Maric Daulnc,
talented performers from around the country, to
the passionate, self-assured founder and leader of join this national ballet company— at the time, a
the group. Music pulses through this woman,
cultural arm of the “people’s revolution” that
permeating her slightest gesture. Her voice and
swept Guinea in the decades after the end of
theatrical presence are mesmerizing. In the film
French colonialism in 1958. Musicians and danc­
she relates how her search for the “African side”
ers challenge him to duels of skill, trying to prove
of her heritage led her to the music she performs.
that he has lost his touch.
Although she was raised in Belgium, Daulne
As he presses still further into his past, driving
was bom in Zaire, which is located in Central
into the countryside to the natal village he has not
Africa. Her Zairean mother (who appears in the
seen for 26 years, wc are witness to deeper levels
film, but is not named) had left her village to avoid
of Keita’s personality. We sec his discomfort
an unwanted arranged marriage. In the city, she
when his old djembe teacher greets him with
met and married a Belgian man. A week after she
anger and rebuke for his long years of silence.
gave birth to Marie, her husband was killed in
Although they make up, there is a tension as Keita
riots which erupted during the country’s dc-colo-
jokes with him, describing his military-like in­
nization struggles. She escaped with the children
structional techniques.
to the forest, taking refuge with the Pygmies,
Most moving of all are the scenes where Keita
whose lands neighbored those of her own people,
rejoins his sisters and brothers (his parents have
the Bantu. During this stay she learned the song
died long before). There is naked pain, shame and
style of the Pygmies, a particularly beautiful form
longing on his face amid tKe pleasures of
of yodeling, which she later taught to her daugh­ rcacquaintancc. The final sequence is a rapturous,
ter. Eventually, the Daulnes were airlifted to
bittersweet finish to a film which is as much about
Belgium with other evacuees. (As the wife of a
the ways that political events shape an individual’s
colonial, with children of mixed blood, she be­ life as it is about music.
lieved that she and her family risked execution if
they remained in Zaire.)
Daulne has augmented the musical traditions
Mizikc Mama and Djcmbefola
taught to her by her mother, and those of her
play on Friday, Jan. 28, at 7 pm and on
father’s relatives (such as liturgical and classical
Saturday, Jan. 29, at 2 pm, at the Derg Swann
music), with studies in Arab, Asian and African
Auditorium o f the Portland Art Museum, on SW
olyphonic techniques, creating a beguiling mix.
Park at Madison. Tickets are $5.50 general,
he and her band mates readily Admit that their
$4 5 0 members and seniors.
S