Munganyende
InterhistoricityMunganyende is a Kigali born librettist and poet, who has spent the last decade dreaming, dancing, and wake-working for the wicked woman. Munganyende’s practice centers errant girlflesh, taking shape through opera, fiction, and stage prose. Their debut prose, Liberté, Égalité, Beyoncé, was published in Amsterdam in 2021. In 2023, their work was included in the anthology The Black Joy Project (HarperCollins). Munganyende is an alum of the Zanele Muholi Art Institute in Cape Town, the Accra based Black Atlantic residency at the Library of Africa and Tin House writers workshop. Munganyende practices between Paris, Dakar, and Amsterdam.
This Black Instrument is a video performance featuring a conversation between the artist and soprano Claron McFadden about the makings and unmakings of Black sound. The performance is undercut with scenes following a woman wearing a long red velvet durag, accompanied by the wailing, hurling and moaning sound of a soprano voice.
The video work is an extension of the three-act opera Douceur, developed over the past year, drawing on research at The Black Archives Amsterdam, the Museum of Black Futures and the histories embedded in the historic Oude Kerk.
Cinematography: Rafik Opti
Durag: ongodbytries
Performance: Munganyende, Claron McFadden, Shanice Skinner
With support from TAR residency Arnhem