His Master's Voice: avons-nous écouté Damas?

Authors

  • Kathleen Gyssels

Abstract

Comme l‘ont bien vu de nombreux critiques, la musicalité de la poésie damassienne serait l‘expression du rythme « nègre » et de ceux de sa génération, il aurait été le plus jazzy. La poésie de Damas mérite mieux : il suffit de l‘écouter mise en musiques par Pigments & The Clarinet Choir, pour comprendre combien elle transcende l‘Afrique noire et la Caraïbe car à  travers la valeur ajoutée d‘une interprétation instrumentale en plus d‘une récitation poétique rare, ce sont les drames de l‘individu déraciné et démotivé par un corps social et un entourage inamical. Drame de la solitude et drame de l‘incompréhension, espérance de réconciliation et rage contre l‘impasse de la question raciale dans une France prétendument multiculturelle se relaient. Dans trois extraits de leur projet décapant, Pigments & The Clarinet Choir offrent une partition époustouflante du « Master‘s Voice ».

As many critics have seen, the musicality of Damassian poetry would be the expression of “negro” rhythm, and of the poets of his generation, he would have been the most jazzy. The poetry of Damas deserves better: it is enough to listen to it set to music by Pigments - The Clarinet Choir, to understand how it transcends Black Africa and the Caribbean, because, through the added value of an instrumental interpretation and a rare poetic recitation, these are the dramas of the individual uprooted and demotivated by a social body and an hostile environment. Drama of loneliness and drama of incomprehension, hope for reconciliation and rage against the impasse of the racial question in a supposedly multicultural France take turns. In three excerpts from their amazing project, Pigments - The Clarinet Choir offer a breathtaking score of the “Master‘s Voice”.

Author Biography

Kathleen Gyssels

Kathleen Gyssels is Professor of Francophone Postcolonial Literature and Culture at Antwerp University, where she teaches classes on authors from the African and Jewish diasporas. Her publications are principally concerned with African American, Caribbean and Francophone authors and subjects from a broad, comparative perspective. Her current research has extended her reach to include conflictual issues, such as the Memory Laws and the Memory Wars in the French Republic and postcolonial countries. A new research project deals with the Jews and the Chinese presence in the Caribbean literatures and with the transfer from metahistorical fiction to art (sculptures) and museums. She also investigates the archives and posthumous publications of André Schwarz-Bart and has organized seminars on female postcolonial or postmemory authors such as Hélène Cixous, Régine Robin and Simone Schwarz-Bart.

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Published

2020-07-31

Issue

No. 116 (2020): Dossier spécial Léon-Gontran Damas

Section

Articles