Coup Fatal. [Video trailer]

© Berliner Festspiele

  • Duration 105 min, no interval

Past Dates

SUN 18 October 2015
after the performance
Artist and audience talk
French/German, with translation

A set made from used cartridge casings by Congolese sculptor Freddy Tsimba resounds with arias by Georg Friedrich Handel and Christoph Willibald Gluck among others. 13 musicians from Kinshasa enriched this music and a new music integrates in a natural and exuberant way the baroque phrases with traditional and popular Congolese music, rock and jazz. Counter-tenor Serge Kakudji imports this music’s allegorical joie de vivre and its clear yet chased and sometimes almost supernatural attitude to his home country. The staging by the counter tenor from Lubumbashi and Belgian choreographer Alain Platel was inspired by the “sapeurs”, Kinshasa’s dandies. “Coup Fatal” pays homage to the music of the Baroque and the dark elegance of the Congo.

Counter tenor Serge Kakudji
Conductor Rodriguez Vangama
Artistic direction Alain Platel
Musical direction Fabrizio Cassol

A project by Russell Tshiebua (backing vocals), Bule Mpanya (backing vocals), Rodriguez Vangama (electric guitar, balaphone), Costa Pinto (acoustic guitar), Bouton Kalanda (likembe), Erick Ngoya (likembe), Silva Makengo (likembe), Tister Ikomo (xylophone), Deb’s Bukaka (balaphone), Cédrick Buya (percussion), Jean-Marie Matoko (percussion), 36 Seke (percussion)

Compositions Rodriguez Vangama, Fabrizio Cassol and Coup Fatal
after Handel, Vivaldi, Bach, Monteverdi, Gluck
Idea by Serge Kakudji und Paul Kerstens
Assistance artistic direction Romain Guion
Scenography Freddy Tsimba
Lighting design Carlo Bourguignon
Sound design Max Stuurman
Costume design Dorine Demuynck
Light technician Luc Laroy
Stage manager Lieven Symaeys
Photography Chris Van der Burght
Production management Eline Vanfleteren, Paul Kerstens
Tour management Hanna El Fakir, Paul Kerstens

Production: KVS & les ballets C de la B
Co-production: Théâtre national de Chaillot (Paris), Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Festival d’Avignon, Theater im Pfalzbau (Ludwigshafen), TorinoDanza, Opéra de Lille, Wiener Festwochen.
Sales: Frans Brood Productions
Supported by: city of Brussels, city of Gent, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie, province East Flanders, the Flemish Authorities