lions will roar, swans will fly, angels will wrestle heaven, rains will break: gukurahundi

A multi-media performance featuring choreography by rising Zimbabwean star Nora Chipaumire, large-screen projections, and live music by legendary Zimbabwean musicians Thomas Mapfumo and The Blacks Unlimited, lions will roar explores the migrant experience within and outside of Africa and examines how Africa is portrayed to a western, globalized world. Painstakingly designed and quietly performed, the piece obliquely addresses the Matabeleland Massacres, also known as Gukurahundi, of the early 1980s, in which Robert Mugabe’s infamous Fifth Brigade, trained by North Korean military officers, executed tens of thousands of innocent people during a period of political unrest. Chipaumire and Mapfumo’s performances ring clear with vitality and hope; like a pocket-size Fela!—Bill T. Jones’ tribute to Afrobeat icon Fela Kuti on Broadway —lions will roar is packed with music and dance.

lions… is dedicated to the visual, aural and kinesthetic equivalent of Africa’s great cities – cities full of life, contradictions, grace, defiance, vulgarity, and power. Danced to the music of the legendary Thomas Mapfumo and The Blacks Unlimited, lions… features lush video by animator Romain Tardy of Belgium.

This performance is made possible in part by the W. Ford Schumann ‘50 Endowment for the Arts, the Lipp Family Fund for Performing Artists.

“Change (in Zimbabwe, in Africa) is happening, but it’s a process, the same as decolonization and independence were. I’m interested in showing the beauty of the Zimbabwean people and our love for life. We can’t just focus on the death and the dying—we’re a smart, elegant people with a ridiculous sense of humor. We love to dance, laugh, and make beautiful music… I’m trying to regain the emotional power, the sheer visceral and physical power that connects one human being to another, because if we can make that connection then we’re able to have a conversation.” Nora Chipaumire