Theodore Bah Profile
Theodore was born in N'zerekore the central city of the forest region of Guinea.
His mother is ethnic Kono and his father is ethnic Fula (His family name Bah is a Fula name). He was brought up in a Kono community.
Theodore became a dancer after an incident he experienced when he was small.
In the village where Theodore was brought up, there was a small shrine which
kept sacred articles for protecting the village such as masks, tools and
other articles people were not supposed to look at. Ordinary people were
strictly prohibited from going inside. Theodore somehow went inside alone
and slept there.
A villager who saw Theodore going into the shrine called other villagers and
waited outside. (Since it was a sacred, off-limits place, people just had to
wait) Theodore is a decedent of an ancient king of the village, and what
stored in the shrine were family treasures.
The two masks Theodore currently has, Nyam Nea and、Mask Nyam nyelenpoa, are both in heritance of the family and handed down from his grandfather as he was designated to be the successor.
Theodore Bah wearing Nyam Nea mask.
When Theodore was sleeping, he had a mysterious dream which he is not
supposed to tell anyone.
He suddenly got up, broke into dance, left the shrine and run quite a
distance to a fountain near a river where he wake up. Villagers followed
Theodore, who was running and dancing, clapping their hands and singing an
improvised song, all the way to the fountain. The song created on the spot
is still sang in the village. (This is not a myth you would often find, but
a genuinely true story. His mother vouches for that) Theodore has a strong
genetic background of artistic ancestors and his uncle is a Kakilambe
dancer, who dances on stilts, in Ballet Africans.
Theodore had never learned how to dance until then, but his body moved
freely. After the incident, he started to dance easily and skillfully.
Whenever there was a need for a mask dance in the village, he was called to passed on a message of a mask to the people and danced.
He was able to dance without learning from anyone. Later, his family moved
to Conakry. When he was a bit older, he started to live in Simbaya, near the
house of Famoudou Konate, where Hamanah Sabunyuma, Famoudou Konate's group comprised
of his sons and daughters , was practicing. Theodore was always there and
imitating their dance. Then, the children of Famoudou thought he was a good
dancer and asked him to join their group.
In the group Hamanah, he taught traditional dance of the forest region to
other members and he learned ballet style dance from them. After a while, he
became the top dancer of Hamanah. He was very popular and many people asked
him to come and dance when there was a celebration or a douudnunba Party. Various
ballet groups asked him to join their groups.
In doundunba party, men were not able to dance after Theodore and only women were
able to dance, because dance of Theodore was so magnificent that other male
dancers were too ashamed to dance after him. When he was the member of
Hamana Sabunyuma, he also practiced with other groups such as Fareta、Bolonta、Gbassikolo、Oiseaux-blanc ,Les Merveilles de Guinee etc.
Late Kemoko Sano, the founder as well as the director of Les Merveilles de Guinee
often asked Theodore to become an exclusive member to Les Merveilles de Guinee.
Thanks to Theodore's popularity, Hamanah Sabunyuma became a well-known, very
popular group. Fode Konate, Billy Konate, Diarra Konate and Ibro Konate
played the drum and Famoudou's daughters danced for the group. Nansady
Keita, who moved from the village to Conakry, later joined the group.
The group had fine musicians and many of them have been successfully
pursuing their careers outside of Guinea.
After Theodore became famous as the top dancer of Hamanah, he met Mamady Keita. Theodore assisted Mamady invarious ways at his home. Theodore's mother went to Mamady's house and offered Theodore saying Mamady was great as a musician as well as a person.
(This kind of offering happens often in Guinea)
Mamady was very pleased to hear that and decided to keep Theodore as his son
in his family describing Theodore as a hardworking man as well as a
wonderful dancer. Theodore started to live in Mamady's house in Matoto and
he prepared Mamady's djembe, changed djmebe skins, and sold djembes to
students who came to Guinea to participate in the workshop. Then Mamady
recommended Theodore to join Ballet Joliba.
You may think that Theodore joined Ballet Joliba thanks to Mamady Keita, but
it was not the case. Ballet National Joliba and Ballet Africans both knew
that Theodore was a great dancer and were hoping to bring him to their
companies. They even had a fight over which company should take Theodore.
Before he moved to Japan, he was invited to Europe and gave dance classes and
performed in concerts.
In Belgium, he gave a dance class with Mamady Keita.
When he was in Famoudou's group, he was taking care of Famoudou's drums, and he also took care of Mamady's drums in his house. That's why he knows quite a lot about drums,
such as how to select a good drum, how to mount a skin, and so on, although
he is a dancer.
After staying in Europe, he went to Japan and lived therefor 10 years. He was engaged in a wide range of activities in Japan such as teaching African dance, performing on stage, modelling, management of BLEUMLA, an African select shop, tatami making and so on.
Emporio Armani's Live For Africa in Tokyo Japan
Theodore had a role of Kunlun in the mask performance, Shingigaku, produced
by late Mannojo Nomura. Dancers and musicians of various nationalities
performed in Shingigaku and the group toured in Tokyo, Shizuoka, Nara and
South Korea.
Theodore moved back to Guinea in 2010 and is currently being engaged in
artistic activities as well as trading of djembe and other instruments.
Concert with Les Merveilles de Guinee
This mask appears in a postcard in Guinea.
- 2012/01/21(土) 11:18:25|
- In English
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The school of African dance, drum and tradition musical instruments opens.
Guinea in West Africa is the birthplace of djembe and has an amazingly vibrant music formed by so many superb artists many of whom are also active outside of Guinea.
In this country of great music tradition, we are opening a school of African dance, drum and other traditional instruments at our house where you can also stay.
Please join our course starting
on March 12, 2012 for 2 to 4 weeks.
Theodore Bah ,Artist of Ballet National Djoliba, who stayed in Japan
teaching and performing African dance for 10 years, is now based in Guinea.
Theodore will organize classes Yumiko Bah will be assisting participants.
Both the traditional village style and contemporary ballet style will be taught by
finest artists including veterans of national ballet. Don't miss this great
opportunity to directly learn from true masters.
2-week course starting on March 12,2012 (Any time between March 12 and April 9)
4-week course (March 12 to April 9)
We will have a briefing session on March 11, before the official start of the course,
and answer your questions.
* Cost:
2-week course: 130,000 Japanese yen
4-week course: 170.000 Japanese yen
* Schedule:
Dance students (Two dance classes and one drum class per day. The drum class will help you understand rhythms. )
Drum students (three drum classes per day)
Classes will be held from Monday to Friday, with Saturday and Sunday off.
*Trip to Kindia!
In the final week, we will travel to Kindia and stay there for three days to see the festival and hold special classes.
Kindia is about four hours by car from Conakry, the capital of Guinea, and it is famous for the water fall called Bride's Veil.
The members of Ballet Africans and Ballet Joliba will come along with us.
Theodore's brother is an artist of a ballet based in Kindia and the villagers will hold
a festival and doundounba with the ballet.
* Accomodation:
You will stay at our house
in Lambanyi, Conakry. Lambanyi is a well-developed and safe neighbourhood.
You will be staying in beautiful rooms in a new house we built last year. A few students will be sharing each room (men and women will be separated). Each room has mosquito nets and an electric fan.
* Meal: 3 meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Traditional African dishes will be served.
* Visiting ballets:
Let's go to see the practice of famous groups, such as Ballet National Djoliba, Les Merveilles de Guinee, etc.
* Doundounba party
We will hold a doundounba party inviting prominent artists from national ballet and other groups.
* Concert:
We will invite groups which give breathtaking performances, such as Ballets Africans, Ballet Djoliba, Les Merveilles de Guinee, and so on.
* To and from Conakry airport
We will pick you up at the airport when you arrive and bring you to the airport when you go home. Everyone, regardless of whether you come here for the first time or not,
will be able to feel safe and secure with us.
★★The services mentioned above are all included in the course fee★★
* We can arrange fun activities with an additional fee.
Private lessons for learning traditional instruments are available:
balaphone,kulin, bolon, kora, flute, kamerengoni,gongoma, you name it. We will find an excellent teacher for you.
* Language classes
You can learn the language of different ethnic groups, such as malinke, susu, fula, forestere, and so on.
* Let's go out to see doundounba parties ,concerts and festivals in different places as well.
* Shopping and fashion
Let us help you find items of good value,such as djembe, African fabric, and other
items which could cost so much more in your country.
★Please feel free to ask any question！！★★
★Contact Us
E-mail angel@inuwali.com(in French,English,Japanese!We can understand!!)
facebook Theodore Bah facebook Yumiko Bah Inuwali Blog You can see many pictures in Guinea!
Theodore Bah（mask Gnyamu)and his uncle Papa Aidara(mask Djogbo-kakiranbe)
- 2012/01/17(火) 20:22:38|
- In English
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