Faustin Linyekula and Les Studios Kabako Festival of Lies

Celebrated Congo-based choreographer Faustin Linyekula turns The Cedar into a Kinshasa social club, combining a spirited soukous party with an intensive performance installation.
Linyekula, his five-member company, an all-star band of local Africans (featuring Yawo Attivor and Siama Matuzungi), and catering by Tam Tam's African Restaurant come together to create an immersive, emotionally resonant piece that reimagines an age-old and surprisingly joyous combination of tradition and myth in which villagers gather to drink, dance, feast, and concoct outrageous lies about their leaders as a way to laugh about-and subvert-the violence, corruption, and poverty surrounding them.<!--break-->

All-star band members include: Yawo Attivor (lead vocals, acoustic guitar); Siama Matuzungi (electric guitar); Doug Little (saxophones and flute); Greg Schutte (drums); Serge Akou (electric bass); and Patrice Delemos (percussion).

"An ethereal figure with a spirit of steel... the Congolese choreographer is an intellectual and practical force to be reckoned with." - The Star (South Africa)

Saturday's marathon presentation extends past last call, combining Linyekula's company with a diverse, global mix of leading Twin Cities performing artists for an evening featuring the Festival of Lies performance remixed and expanded to include spoken word, dance, and storytelling by powerful local forces, including Tish Jones, Ananya Chatterjea, Meena Natarajan and Dipankar Mukherjee, the cast and friends of Black Arts Fusion, Beverly Cottman, and Leah Nelson. More food, more drinks, more art, and especially, more lies.
Presented by the Walker Art Center and copresented with the National Performance Network (NPN) and made possible in part by the NPN Community Fund. Additional support provided by the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the National Dance Project, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Performing Arts Fund--a program of Arts Midwest, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Walker Art Center's Dance Season is sponsored by Gray Plant Mooty.

$18 Walker and Cedar members