From a festival dedicated to early music, you expect a lot, but not contemporary music theatre. Yet that is exactly what artistic director Xavier Vandamme has in store for us. On Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 August, street theatre group Kamchátka presents Musica Fugit, a performance about refugees. Visitors become part of the story. So they experience for themselves what it means when fleeing becomes a way of life. - Sturdy footwear recommended.
When Vandamme programmed this "improvisational and interactive musical adventure", he could not have imagined how close it would be to reality. Kamchátka came into being in Barcelona in 2006. It is a collective of artists of different nationalities who share an interest in immigration. Led by Adrian Schwarzstein, they made several productions on the theme of displacement.
Bloody religious disputes
Musica Fugit ties in perfectly with the festival theme 'sing, fight, cry, pray', which zooms in on the various (counter)reformations. Religious quarrels often go hand in hand with bloodshed, and this is equally true in the Christian world. Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin may have wanted to reform the Church peacefully, but they were fought tooth and nail by the Pope and Roman Catholic princes.
Nevertheless, the supporters of the reformists grew rapidly. This led to several religious wars and associated streams of refugees. In 1685, for instance, the French king Louis XIV triggered a massive migration when he revoked the Edict of Nantes. This marked the end of tolerance towards Protestants, upon which hundreds of thousands of Huguenots sought refuge in England and the Netherlands.
Generosity or selfishness?
At Musica Fugit places Schwarzstein and his collective at the centre of flight. - Not in the sense of escape, but as a form of resistance in a fight for a better world. They also thematise the solidarity of fellow human beings who help refugees shape their new lives. Kamchátka is joined for the occasion by musical ensemble Zamus Cologne. Together they embody the 'timeless immigrants', who see their reality change overnight, exchanging a familiar past for an uncertain future.
Theatre group and musicians take us to various spaces and sanctuaries. They create a charged, mysterious atmosphere under the sounds of composers such as Barbara Strozzi and Johann Sebastian Bach. With soprano Emma Kirkby - queen of early music - as the icing on the cake. During the tour, the audience itself becomes part of the drama, with the music being the only means of communication between performer and listener. Thus, without word, gesture or physical contact, "a form of proximity and involvement" is created, giving space to "musings around individuality and generosity".
The question is not explicitly asked, but Schwarzstein and his are holding up a moral mirror to us. Are we willing to welcome those seeking help, or do we selfishly bury our heads in the sand? - Brave that the Early Music Festival dares to address such a heavily charged theme.
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