search the africa institute site

By The Africa Institute

July 18, 2022

The Africa Institute, Sharjah launches renowned Ghanaian avant-garde artist Mohammed Ibn-Abdallah’s play, Song of the Pharaoh at Base Lounge in Accra, Ghana on July 16, 2022. 

Coming from a long line of pan-African activists and Islamic thinkers, Abdallah is the major Ghanaian playwright of his generation, and Song of the Pharaoh is his most ambitious play. It explores the life of the eighteenth dynasty Pharaoh Akhnaten and is a timeless story of love, politics, and religious intrigue set in ancient Egypt. The play brings together decades of formal theatrical experiments with a lustrous and spectacular Pan-African aesthetic combining Ghanaian traditional music and dance forms with an eclectic, creative blend of styles from Egypt and across Africa. 

The book was ceremonially unveiled by the author Mohammed Ibn-Abdallah in line with The Africa Institute’s second edition of the country-focused season with the focus on ‘Global Ghana,’ an annual initiative exploring one African country or African diaspora community through a range of scholarly and public programs.

To further engage and stimulate audiences, the event hosted a panel discussion, music performance and showcased an ensemble that included some original and new cast members who performed excerpts from Song of the Pharaoh serving as a tribute and celebrating the launch of the publication of the play in English and Arabic.

“This book, Song of the Pharaoh is the first bilingual publication as part of The Africa Institute series, Writing Africa, making it accessible to Arabic readers across the globe. This represents our commitment of The Africa Institute to translation in order to familiarize readers with the diversity and complexities of African creative expressions and as an important form of bringing different cultures into a fruitful dialogue of ideas, interpretation, and presentation of African cultural forms and norms,” said Salah Hassan, Director, The Africa Institute.

Introducing the book, ethnographer and artist Jesse Weaver Shipley, spoke of Abdullah’s seamless technique of incorporating music, dance, and reflexive reflections on the performance itself into the dramatic narrative, forcefully and playfully pulling audiences into the story itself. 

“It is important to say that Abdallah’s work in theatre and the arts have opened critical dialogues among artists and audiences in our evolving cosmopolitan world. As a writer, director, and politician working on culture, his work tries to rebalance the power dynamics that lie just below the surface and to tell stories that reshape how people remember and forget,” said Shipley.

This publication was made possible by the generous support and leadership of Hoor Al Qasimi, President, The Africa Institute; Awo Asiedu, Acting Dean of the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon for her guidance and to the entire faculty, staff, and students at the School of Performing Arts and lastly all the highly skilled translators.

Song of the Pharaoh first premiered at Ghana’s National Theatre in September 2013 with a cast that included the National Theatre Company, the National Dance Ensemble, and the National Symphony Orchestra. Musicians blended the akpaloo and kora genres into a modern original musical score. The dance choreography blended various movement styles from around the continent, incorporating staccato aggressive war dances, celebratory sweeping wedding movements, and somber funerary marches rendered in slow-motion.

The Africa Institute, Sharjah launches renowned Ghanaian avant-garde artist Mohammed Ibn-Abdallah’s play, Song of the Pharaoh at Base Lounge in Accra, Ghana on July 16, 2022. 

The Africa Institute, Sharjah launches renowned Ghanaian avant-garde artist Mohammed Ibn-Abdallah’s play, Song of the Pharaoh at Base Lounge in Accra, Ghana on July 16, 2022. 

Coming from a long line of pan-African activists and Islamic thinkers, Abdallah is the major Ghanaian playwright of his generation, and Song of the Pharaoh is his most ambitious play. It explores the life of the eighteenth dynasty Pharaoh Akhnaten and is a timeless story of love, politics, and religious intrigue set in ancient Egypt. The play brings together decades of formal theatrical experiments with a lustrous and spectacular Pan-African aesthetic combining Ghanaian traditional music and dance forms with an eclectic, creative blend of styles from Egypt and across Africa. 

The book was ceremonially unveiled by the author Mohammed Ibn-Abdallah in line with The Africa Institute’s second edition of the country-focused season with the focus on ‘Global Ghana,’ an annual initiative exploring one African country or African diaspora community through a range of scholarly and public programs.

To further engage and stimulate audiences, the event hosted a panel discussion, music performance and showcased an ensemble that included some original and new cast members who performed excerpts from Song of the Pharaoh serving as a tribute and celebrating the launch of the publication of the play in English and Arabic.

“This book, Song of the Pharaoh is the first bilingual publication as part of The Africa Institute series, Writing Africa, making it accessible to Arabic readers across the globe. This represents our commitment of The Africa Institute to translation in order to familiarize readers with the diversity and complexities of African creative expressions and as an important form of bringing different cultures into a fruitful dialogue of ideas, interpretation, and presentation of African cultural forms and norms,” said Salah Hassan, Director, The Africa Institute.

Introducing the book, ethnographer and artist Jesse Weaver Shipley, spoke of Abdullah’s seamless technique of incorporating music, dance, and reflexive reflections on the performance itself into the dramatic narrative, forcefully and playfully pulling audiences into the story itself. 

“It is important to say that Abdallah’s work in theatre and the arts have opened critical dialogues among artists and audiences in our evolving cosmopolitan world. As a writer, director, and politician working on culture, his work tries to rebalance the power dynamics that lie just below the surface and to tell stories that reshape how people remember and forget,” said Shipley.

This publication was made possible by the generous support and leadership of Hoor Al Qasimi, President, The Africa Institute; Awo Asiedu, Acting Dean of the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon for her guidance and to the entire faculty, staff, and students at the School of Performing Arts and lastly all the highly skilled translators.

Song of the Pharaoh first premiered at Ghana’s National Theatre in September 2013 with a cast that included the National Theatre Company, the National Dance Ensemble, and the National Symphony Orchestra. Musicians blended the akpaloo and kora genres into a modern original musical score. The dance choreography blended various movement styles from around the continent, incorporating staccato aggressive war dances, celebratory sweeping wedding movements, and somber funerary marches rendered in slow-motion.

STAY IN TOUCH

Subscribe to our mailing list and get the latest news from The Africa Institute

FOLLOW US