30229: Minsky:(news) Women's rara band performs in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tequila Minsky <tminsky@ix.netcom.com>


Rara F, an all-women's Rara band in Port-au-Prince, breaks the gender
barrier to a delighted audience

This Women's Month of March, a most unusual theatrical performance took
place in central Port-au-Prince at the cultural center FOKAL (Fondation
Connaissance et Liberte). An all-women Rara band named Rara F, members
of the women's feminist theatre group Atelier Toto B, gave a very
experimental and daring performance to a packed auditorium.
 
The all-women's band, together for about eight months,  played
traditional Haitian drums with the flared, single-pitched klewon--also
known as kone, long home-made trumpets, mixing theatre, Rara music and
the experience of the public's reactions to the first ever all-women's
Rara band. Previously,  Rara F performed, as is the tradition, in the
streets; on March 9 they performed on the FOKAL stage capturing the
imagination of those in attendance.

Atelier Toto B initiated this experiment first for its own members, the
women in the theatre group, hoping to help them master the Rara form
and experiment with it to find new energy and break psychological
barriers that would have people believe women cannot do certain things
reserved for men. Atelier Toto B is under the artistic and
administrative direction of Dieuvela Etienne and Manoucheca Ketan.

http://www.heritagekonpa.com/
Rara%20F%20women%20celebrate%20Haitian%20Rara%20in%20Haiti.htm