Support Kambule Campus and our online production of Kambule 2021

With Carnival 2021 officially cancelled due to ongoing restrictions due to  COVID-19 Idakeda Group, producers of the annual Canboulay re-enactment are keeping the spirit of the season alive with a series of online workshops focusing on the theory and practice of Carnival’s traditional artforms.

‘Kambule has become a staple of the annual Carnival celebrations, but it’s so much more than a play,’ explains Idakeda founder and Kambule choreographer Dara Healy.

‘We have a returning cast of over 50 young people and we think it’s important for us to continue that connection regardless of whether there is an official two day observance on the streets.’

Healy says they have stayed in touch with the cast through this year of challenges for artists and cultural workers.

‘All of us felt it was important to keep going. This is the essence of what Kambule teaches us, that we must keep our traditions alive. And the digital space offers an opportunity for us to do so.’

The online workshop series began on November 14 2020 with drumming led by Kayode and Iremide Charles and continues this year starting on January 16 2021 at 5pm. There will also be workshops in dance, protection of artistic copyright, and Kalinda!

The workshops will be conducted via Facebook live and are free of charge for both local and international participants! Content will also be posted on our Youtube channel, Kambule Movement.

Preparations are also underway to re-imagine the pre-dawn production for an online broadcast.

Written by poet and playwright Eintou Springer, Kambule imagines the  conversations between the stick fighters and jammettes as they prepare to do  battle with Police Commissioner Captain Arthur Baker. Springer uses the spelling ‘Kambule’ – a Kikongo word that means procession.  This meaning became conflated with the more widely known spelling Canboulay,  which is a French patois word meaning burnt canes.

Alongside these workshops we are asking participants to support a 2021 online Carnival production of Kambule by contributing to our fund-raising campaign at https://fundmetnt.com/campaign/kambule-campus. Your support would be greatly appreciated as it  goes back into supporting Idakeda’s work using cultural practices and Carnival traditions to reach at-risk youth. It will also help us to keep the Kambule tradition alive despite these trying times.

For more information on the Kambule Campus please email idakedaconnect@gmail.com or connect with us on Facebook and YouTube.

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