In a 19th-century West-African village where slavery is in full swing, the young woman Omolola receives a god-given gift in secret. Yemandja, the spirit of water and fertility, gives her the power to change the world through music. However, this power is only effective when her heart is pure. When a Brazilian slave trader makes a deal with the local king and kills or enslaves the people around Omolola, a desire for revenge threatens to outweigh her positive strengths.

‍Yemandja is a tale that combines family drama and historical thriller, and is drenched in themes like love, betrayal, honour, free will and the horrors and injustices of slavery. With this performance Angélique Kidjo shows her personal perspective, colored by her roots and childhood in Benin. The piece shows what happens when people are robbed of their culture.

Programme note by Naïma Hebrail Kidjo, playwright of Yemandja‍

'Yemandja was born from a deeply personal place: hearing my mother’s childhood stories of growing up in Benin. There, the mythical and the mystical were intertwined with the modern. Her youth in Africa always struck me as bright: filled with life, community, tradition, and music. This was a contrast to my upbringing between France and America, where mysticality was “primitive” and the individual was paramount.

This piece is my attempt to reconcile all the worlds I grew up between, and all of the worlds within. To build my own bridge in order to help you build your own. Because no matter your background you also contain dualities — even simply by virtue of being the child of two different people. So, through words and song, we hope to take you on a journey both outside of yourself and within yourself. The destination? Healing and a more open heart.  

What are the ramifications of fostering fear, of responding to hatred with even more hatred? What does it mean that our modern thriving economies are built on the slave trade and slave labor — both historical and in new forms of modern slavery? Who does war, pain, and division really benefit? What is the impact when we think only of short-term gains when long term harm is inevitable? These are all big questions posed by this piece.  

My aim is not to rewrite history, minimize the importance of accountability, or simplify the complexities of the human experience but, instead, to remind us that individuality placed above community is not a sustainable solution. We may be separated by miles of beliefs, mountains of appearances, oceans of hurt, but since the dawn of the human race we have all been intertwined genetically, historically, and spiritually. All the divisions have been our own making. So when the world feels too big, Yemandja is a reminder that we are all linked and that we have all the power to change the world with empathy, be it through small everyday kindness, or grand heroic acts of humanity.

A river does not flow and forget its source.

Actions have consequences.

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