Guinea-born Cardiff resident Idrissa Camara’s latest piece Spirit of Nimba is an absolute joy: an hour of music and dance that left the audience at Chapter Arts in Cardiff feeling that they had just been reset, recharged and sent off home with a tonic in their soul.
A series of vignettes based upon Camara’s struggles during the tough times of lockdown, and how he found solace in playing his bolon: a Guinean bass harp, and an instrument which also became a connection and lifeline to his past, something it turned out he needed. It obviously worked, because these short blasts of both physical and aural beauty are a remedy to any tired being.
I have seen a few of Camara’s shows over the years and they have always been high quality acts, mainly drawing on his Guinean heritage and full of athletic dance and high-impact percussive music. This show seems a little more introspective and thoughtful. Dancers Edward Amoateng Manu, Ofelia Omoyele Balogun and Kim Noble join Camara for beautifully choreographed pieces: distinctly West African, but with a Western contemporary dance influence apparent too, they’re graceful and delicate in their rhythms, movements and syncopations.
There is subtleness and restraint at play: cool beauty, rather than just athleticism, is its power. At several moments I found myself gasping with joy at a movement or interpretation. As solo artists, all four dancers shine; as a group the eye can pass from one to another as they execute the same move as one. Each illuminate the space with palpable joy that I found myself reflecting back.
Were you to just listen to the music, without the dance element, it would still work wonderfully. A mix of West African tradition and Welsh folk, it feels natural and mutual, not an arranged marriage as can often be the way with fusions. Violin and voice from Lucy Rivers works perfectly with Suntou Souso’s kora, and Mark O’Connor is supreme on drums, supporting everything that happens. Of course there’s djembe, too, and the dancers even come forward and play an intricate percussion piece on dunduns – but there is a new dynamic here that offers soft and hard, in your face then reflective.
Spirit of Nimba finishes with an invitation for us to join the performers onstage, and by this time we’re so amped up and in tune people don’t wait to be dragged up. We fill the space willingly and the final five minutes is a release of something in us all – something that leaves us feeling lighter, happier and better than when we sat down.
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Fri 20 May
words TIM TYSON SHORT
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