Punta versus Polly. How to decolonise the Beggar's Opera?: Musical Belongings IV lautten compagney BERLIN meets Caribbean Punta Music

Musical Belongings IV – Musical Belongings IV

The ballad opera "Polly" by Johann Christoph Pepusch and John Gay was written in 1729 as a sequel to "The Beggar's Opera", which had been celebrated as a sensation in London in 1728. Due to political turmoil, however, it was not premièred until 1777. In this opera, a colourful 18th century London society is transported to the Caribbean, to the so-called West Indies, whose name testifies to the stupidity of the first European colonisers, who thought this Caribbean archipelago was part of India.

This English ballad opera also features so-called "Indian" characters such as Pohetohee and Cawwawkee as well as various pirates who meet "Polly Peachum". In contrast to the exotic projections, there will be original music from the Caribbean, in particular the so-called Punta, an Afro-indigenous dance form practised by the Garifuna in the Antilles. The discourse programme will deal with European projections onto the Caribbean, but also with the musical traditions of the Garifuna, who came to Honduras as slaves in 1797. For this programme, the most famous Punta song "Sofa de Caracol" will be arranged for old European instruments and typical Punta percussion instruments (turtle bells, Garifuna drums, shekere, congas). The new composition by a composer from the Caribbean will deal with the colonial view of the "Polly" opera and react to it in a contemporary way.

 

- 18.00 Introduction

- Duration: 90 min

- No language skills required

- Location: Room 2, ground floor

- Part of: Musical Belongings

- 16,00 EUR / reduced 8,00 EUR

Next date:

• Date Friday, 13/September/2024 19:00 (2 more dates)
• Venue Humboldt Forum: Saal 2
• Address Schloßplatz, 10178 Berlin-Mitte