negotiations (chapter 1-i, dualaland-paris )
“Walking pass a street in the neighborhood of Château Rouge, street vendors negotiating with their clients left me with a feeling of displacement and nostalgia — a sense of familiar sounds struggling in a Parisian architectural setting. The rhythmic currency, negotiation codes to product names, all perculiar to open markets public spaces across central and west Africa and the nuances inbetween.”
« Fumbua ! carton à 10 euros,
bobolo ! 3 pour 2 euros,
Safou, 8 à 5 euros, ceintures, arachide frais…. »
For his experiment, negotiations, chapter 1-i, Em’kal Eyongakpa composes a fragmented narrative from sounds recorded in Paris and Douala, in selected informal market settings, transport routes with excerpts from spaces where the objects of these negotiations are extracted. In these spaces of negotiations, identities are in constant mutation as the ancient confronts set urban codes. The dynamics of these spaces usually tend to mirror “maximalist” urban variants of ethnic music; like Bikutsi, Asiko in Cameroun, Congotronics in RDC or even Juju in Nigeria.
In negotiations, chapter 1-i, the artist plays with undertones of negotiations and creolization of these highly political spaces. He attempts a dialogue between the intense anthrophony of these spaces in and with a “white cube”.
« How could one capture the beautiful essence or energies of these spaces of constant negotiations without over-altering the « maximalist » nature of the loud and seemingly chaotic environments. »
exhibition view at Kadist art Foundation: may 22nd – july 26th 2015
http://kadist.org/en/programs/all/2023
Photos : Aurélien Mole & Em’kal Eyongakpa — Courtesy of the artist & Kadist Art Foundation
Room 1: multi channel sound installation (not available online…)
Room 2: Reference room (soundscapes/ poetry/ text reading/ vocals…)
Notes on orchestrated field recordings—by Amal Alhaag (view/download Negotiations Chapter 1-i —Emʼkal Eyongakpa)
conversation : Amal Alhaag and Em’kal Eyongakpa (view/download conversation_Amal&Emkal excerpt)
emkaleyongakpa 