The festival "Brussels in Archa" continues in the Archa Theatre
Press Release from November 13, 2000
Following the success of the festival "Helsinki in Archa," Archa Theatre is now presenting another European town of culture - Brussels. In January, 2000 we already presented the outstanding Belgium ensemble BL!NDMANN QUARTET in concert entitled Polyphonic Variations. Now the festival continues with the presentations from the art center Les Halles de Schaerbeek. Included will be concerts by the groups Foofango and Mousta Largo, and a dance-theatre-musical performance by SC 35c. The festival will conclude with performances of "In Spite of Wishing and Wanting" on December 20-21 by dance group Ultima Vez led by Flemish choreographer Wim Vandekeybus. Original music was composed by David Byrne.
On Thursday, November 23, 2000 at 5:00 p.m. Archa Theatre will host a presentation of the art center Les Halles de Schearbeek. Les Halles de Schearbeek is an independent and European-minded association catering for cultural expression and encounters. A policy of programming and identifying potential projects is being unfolded against this background in a clearly-defined structure comprising:
- a non-profit-making associative status based on cultural expertise and a European-minded approach;
- guaranteed freedom to take initiatives and develop an independent programming policy in the context of cooperation with political institutions and the world of business;
- public and private-sector financing in accordance with the association's requirements;
- a policy aimed at breaking down barriers and encouraging diversity, respect for the environment, new knowledge and the development of the democratic process;
- an unrestricted flow of artistic and cultural experiences channeled through existing and planned networks.
Les Halles and Archa have collaborated on the festival's programme to represent the art from the French community of Belgium.
On Friday, November 24, 2000 at 8:00 p.m. Archa will be hosting an evening in the spirit of the annual festival Couleur Café in Brussels, first established in 1990 by the art center Les Halles. On Prague's scene we will see the musical groups Mousta Largo and Foofango.
Mousta Largo is Arabo-Andalou-Brusselo group of musicians, whose energetic music, inspired by rhythm of flamenco and reggae, is called "marock'n'roll".
The group Foofango comes from Burkina Faso. Their music blends contemporary jazz with original rhythms of West Africa. "Foofango" in the Fulfude language means "breath of life".
On Sunday, November 26, 2000 at 8:00 p.m. we will be presenting one of Belgium's most outstanding blues-rock musicians - Arno. Arno Hitjens, who has been called a "Belgian Tom Wait", combines American blues, funk, French chanson and popular cabaret. During his career he has published several successful albums. Two of his CD's - "Le European Cowboys", "Best of" - will hit the Czech market soon thanks the Monitor/EMI company.
On Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30, November 2000, we will be presenting SC 35c by the groups Victor B. and Namur Break Sensation. The performance combines break-dancing, theatre, DJing and texts by Tim Burton to create an art installation with live music. These vastly different forms of expression do not cancel each other out, but rather highlight and exaggerate the differences between them to express the merits of each. The brief and poetic text of filmmaker Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Mars Attacks) is a part of the performance. Naive and cynical, poetic and "macabre", fragile and cruel - these texts correspond with the spirit of the performance, connecting the rough and violent to the more poetic and humorous pictures.
The entire festival "Brussels in Archa" is organized under the support of City of Prague, Délégation Wallonie-Bruxelles and it is a part of the project Prague 2000 - European City of Culture.
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