Amadou8+
An ode to storytellers

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
August 2026
Heerlen
Cultura Nova +31 45 5716607
Su30/0815:00, 19:00
Mo31/0810:00, 13:00
September 2026
Berchem
corso 03 286 88 20
Su20/0915:00
Mo21/0910:30, 13:45
Harelbeke
CC het Spoor
CC Het Spoor 056 733 420
Th24/0910:00, 14:00
Fr25/0910:00, 13:30
Antwerpen
De Studio 03 202 46 46
Mo28/0913:30
Tu29/0910:00, 13:30
October 2026
Lommel
CC De Adelberg
Schouwburg 011 55 35 11
Sa03/1019:00
Brugge
CC Brugge
Theaterzaal Biekorf 050 44 30 60
Su04/1015:00, 17:00
Heusden-Zolder
CC MUZE
CC Muze 011 80 80 98
Tu06/1010:00, 13:30
Deinze
Leietheater
Kleine Zaal 09 381 95 00
Th08/1013:30
Mol
Cultuurcentrum Mol
Schouwburg Rex 014 33 09 00
Sa10/1019:00
Maasmechelen
CC Maasmechelen
Schouwburg 089 76 97 97
Tu13/1010:30, 13:30
Lokeren
CC Lokeren
Theaterzaal 09 340 50 56
Th15/1010:00, 13:45
Dendermonde
Cultuurcentrum Belgica
Belgica Theater 052 20 26 26
Fr16/1013:30, 19:00
Tielt
Cultuurcentrum Gildhof
Schouwburg 051 42 82 20
Su18/1015:00
Mo19/1010:00, 14:00
Geel
CC De Werft
Schouwburg 014 56 66 66
Fr23/1013:45
Aarschot
CC Het Gasthuis
Theaterzaal 016 56 48 24
Sa24/1019:00
Brussel
N22 Brusselse Gemeenschapscentra
Gemeenschapscentrum de Kriekelaar
Mo26/1010:00, 13:30
Tu27/1010:00, 13:30
Wevelgem
Cultuurcentrum Guldenberg
OC De Stekke 056 43 34 95
Fr30/1010:00, 13:30
Wetteren
cc Nova
Theaterzaal Nova 09 365 20 20
Sa31/1019:00
November 2026
Evry cedex
Scène nationale de l'Essonne, Agora - Desnos
Centre Culturel Robert Desnos +33 160 91 65 60
Th05/1110:00, 14:30
Fr06/1110:00, 14:30
Evry cedex
Scène nationale de l'Essonne, Agora - Desnos
Scène nationale de l'Essonne +33 160 91 65 60
Sa07/1110:30
Bruxelles
Mo23/1110:00, 13:30
Tu24/1110:00, 13:30
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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