LiveArts in Resistance (LAIR) Virtual
**Ancestral Knowledge, Art and Resistance**
Featuring Kiazi Malonga
Hosted by NAKA, San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and East Side Arts Alliance
In this time of COVID and amidst powerful calls for racial justice, EastSide Arts Alliance and NAKA Dance Theater are launching a series of 5 presentations in collaboration with World Arts West.
On November 3, 2020, join us for a conversation between Anne Huang, Executive Director of World Arts West and Kiazi Malonga.
Kiazi Malonga is a second-generation Congolese American born into a family of artists. He was first introduced to the ngoma at the age of two by his father, Malonga Casquelourd, who was a world-renowned traditional artist from Congo Brazzaville. Casquelourd traveled to the US in 1972 and shortly after, began to build his empire in traditional arts in the US. It was in this setting that Kiazi was trained and learned about his Congolese cultural heritage.
Kiazi became the lead drummer of Fua Dia Congo at 16 and began teaching at that age as well. He has taught and performed in the US, Canada, Costa Rica, Europe and Africa. Kiazi currently teaches Congolese traditional music and dance in Oakland.
This event will be streamed live on Facebook!
Sign Language interpretation by Christine Nakahara and Eboni Gaytan.
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LIVE ARTS IN RESISTANCE is a dynamic series of performances, artist residencies, and community town halls to address racial inequity and white supremacy in popular culture. Collectively, we contribute to a new cultural consciousness of self-determination and indigenous knowledge as integral to our resistance to systemic oppression and imperialism.
LIVE ARTS IN RESISTANCE includes dance, theater, poetry and interdisciplinary performances, curated by socially-conscious artists. Together we push the boundaries of our practices and contemplate our role and responsibility in connecting the many struggles of our respective communities both locally and globally.
LIVE ARTS IN RESISTANCE fosters risk-taking, rigor, and a radical critique on the role of political activism, cultural work and art in society. This role is historically rooted in a culture fighting for justice, equity and self-determination —the political empowerment of our people.
We seek to create a place where artists and audience members can engage in a meaningful dialogue about innovative ideas and experimental work; where artists can reflect on the process of creating progressive art and revolutionary movements; redefining aesthetics and ethics that will decolonize minds. There is a profound need to construct a culture of resistance outside of “market forces”; a culture that will defend our communities from the current reactionary political climate. With the absurdity of backward national elections, xenophobia, fascist policing and militarism that has been shaping our lives, all the inflamed racism, sexism and classism is being rekindled on the world stage.
We reiterate Malcolm X’s words that “Culture is an indispensable weapon in the freedom struggle”. And once again, we must SEIZE THE TIME! — to magnify our struggle, giving wings to our imagination and finding new ways to speak our truth.