Amadou8+
In praise of the art of storytelling

Discover a place where time is no longer in charge.
Hang your haste on a hook
and cast your cares aside until tomorrow.
Open the gates of your ears,
step into a world
of long ago, but also of today,
and listen to the rhythm and melody of stories old and new.

People have always told each other stories. So as to understand the world and not forget, and also to impart life lessons.

Aminata Demba follows in the footsteps of the West-African storytellers – the griots.

She puts herself in the shoes of a child, whose head is bursting with big and little questions. Her search for answers turns into an adventure, during which she also discovers herself.

Join her on a journey to the depths of time. A journey packed with miraculous encounters with a stressed-out hippopotamus and an elephant with an itch, hospitable aunts, a love-struck billy goat and an untrustworthy crow. A musical trip, with nothing in your pocket other than a fistful of courage and a real zest for life. 

Amadou is an ode to the art of telling stories through incantatory music.

This tale was inspired by the work of the Malian author Amadou Hampâté Bâ, who collected and wrote down the mythical, oral stories from the memory of the Fula people.  

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Laika  |  COPRODUCED WITH THE SUPPORT OF the Flemish Community & the Federal Belgian Government's Tax Shelter scheme | CONCEPT & ACTING Aminata Demba SCRIPT Aminata Demba DIRECTOR Jo Roets LIVE MUSIC Sam Gysel & Issa Ndour DRAMATURGY & TEXT COACHING Mieke Versyp SCENOGRAPHY Peter De Bie COSTUME DESIGN Leentje Kerremans LIGHT DESIGN Thomas Stevens SOUND Tom Van Den Brande COORDINATION PRODUCTION & TECHNICAL ASPECTS Pieter Smet TECHNICIANS Rik Van Gysegem, Anton Van Haver, Frederic Veugelen INTERNSHIP Lina Bernaerts
Trailer
Tour dates
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February 2025
Hasselt
Th27/0210:30, 13:30
Fr28/0210:30
March 2025
Hasselt
Sa01/0314:00, 19:00 Premiere
Su02/0315:00
Gent
Ha Concerts (Handelsbeurs)
Ha Concerts (Handelsbeurs)
Th06/0314:00
Leuven
30CC
Minnepoort 016 300 900
Fr07/0314:00, 17:00
Antwerpen
De Studio
Grote Zaal 03 202 46 46
Su09/0315:00
Mo10/0310:00, 13:30
Tu11/0310:00, 13:30
We12/0315:00
Dilbeek
CC Westrand 02 466 20 30
Sa15/0315:00, 19:30
Brussel
Bronks 02 219 99 21
Su16/0315:00
Mo17/0310:30, 13:30
Willebroek
CC De Ster 03 866 92 00
Tu18/0314:00
Genk
C-mine Cultuurcentrum Genk
Grote zaal 089 65 44 90
Th20/0313:30
Fr21/0310:00, 13:30
Torhout
Cultuurcentrum de Brouckere
Theaterzaal 050 22 11 50
Tu25/0310:00, 14:00
Menen
Cultuurcentrum De Steiger
CC De Steiger studio 056 51 58 91
Th27/0310:00, 14:00
Fr28/0310:00, 13:30
April 2025
Brugge
Cultuurcentrum Brugge
Theaterzaal Biekorf 050 44 30 60
Tu01/0410:00, 14:00
Bornem
Cultuurcentrum Ter Dilft
Schouwburg 03 890 69 30
Th24/0410:00, 14:00
September 2025
Het Theaterfestival
Kopergietery Rabot
Sa06/0911:00, 15:00
Su07/0911:00, 15:00
December 2025
Antwerpen
hetpaleis
Love at First Sight (Kleine zaal) 03/202.83.60
Sa13/1219:15
Su14/1215:15
Press
26/03/2025
Amadou – a West African fairy tale at sunset
"His (Jo Roets) more than 30 years’ experience is clear to see in the care and skill that goes into Amadou."
21/03/2025
Generous theatre under the orange sun
"Demba miraculously manages to play child and adult, to be attentive to her audience and yet also draw them into her story, into her world. "
06/03/2025
Grappling with enrooting and uprooting: ‘Amadou’ and ‘Ghurba’ show eight-year-olds the way
"“Here no one is imprisoned by time”, were Demba’s words as she welcomed us to a circle of benches around an orangey-brown set. Her vivid narration steeped in serenity and vistas combined with Issa Ndour and Sam Gysel’s live music, soon whisks you away in your imagination and you find yourself on a seat under a baobab in a sandy village in Mali in the light of the setting sun."
06/03/2025
Aminata Demba follows in the footsteps of West-African storytellers
"Being sucked into a story – what bliss! Particularly when it is told live by someone who invites you in, draws you into the words, into the rhythm, while allowing the musicality to be amplified by the sounds of extraordinary instruments. The story becomes even more powerful when narrated in an intimate, safe place. Aminata Demba and Laika manage to achieve all this, giving their visitors, young and old, an hour’s worth of pure happiness. Even days later, they are still relishing the memory."
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