The Comorian people have not forgotten the massacre in 1976 at Majunga, Madagascar, not the thousands of survivors now called the “Sabenas”, named after the airline that organised their emergency repatriation.  This tragedy is still raw in the memory of Ahamada Smis, who returns to it in music, images and dance. Accompanied by three musicians and four dancers, he declaims his sensitive, poetic slam. Staying close to the tragic events without illustrating them, so that they remain intact and lose nothing of their power, the show cleverly uses symbols to talk about pain, trauma, forgiveness, healing and renewal. This long path to resilience finds a special resonance in contemporary dance and animated video based on drawings made where the tragedy took place, and in the way traditional music from the Indian Ocean—where Ahamada Smis is from—is combined with rap from his adoptive home, Marseille.

MEETING with the author Hadidja Mohamed and Dr. Ibrahim Said on Thursday, June 30 after the performance