Solemn Gestures on the Sandy Ground. Tchiloli in São Tomé and Príncipe

Solemn Gestures on the Sandy Ground. Tchiloli in São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe, an archipelago on the Equator, boasts one of the most curious performances of popular imagination. Tchiloli is the fruit of cultural (and at times violent) encounters and creolisation. It is a delightful ethnodrama/ethnotheatre that unites music, movements and 16th century texts in one ceremony.

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01.02.2021 | by Marta Lança

Tchiloli of S.Tomé or Charlemagne in Africa

Tchiloli of S.Tomé or Charlemagne in Africa Tchiloli is a story of blood and justice that the local people have made their own. They have turned it into a way to raise their voices against opression but also to retie their links with their African ancestors. Behind the colourful spectacle there is a hidden invocation to their ancestors, in references to a cult that was forbidden under colonial rule. Defeat comes, but there emerges an identity in territory that the first players could take for their own as a means of survival.

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12.08.2010 | by Agnela Barros