Faced with the outcry aroused by her appointment as spokesperson for the Festival international Nuits d’Afrique last May, Mélissa Lavergne has chosen to withdraw. The percussionist and co-host of beautiful and bum publishes this Tuesday a first novel where, in watermark, it is question of cultural appropriation.
Posted at 8:15 a.m.
“Shameful”, “deplorable”, “unacceptable”, the reactions to the decision of the International Festival Nuits d’Afrique to entrust the role of spokesperson to Mélissa Lavergne were strong last spring. She quickly made the choice to withdraw, to “honor” the anger that was expressed, she wrote, but without wanting to “get out of the discussion”.
The event so deeply moved the musician and co-host of beautiful and bum that she went so far as to wonder if she could continue to play African percussion. She took the time to sit down, reflect and even do some diversity training to better understand the storm that had just swept over her.
What happened [ce printemps], it is because there is no fairness. Racialized communities are fighting to be recognized, to see each other, to have decision-making space, and there is a context that makes nuance not possible at this time.
Melissa Lavergne
This “context” to which she refers is after George Floyd, who died below the knee of a police officer in Minnesota in the spring of 2020. “It’s like the #metoo for women, she illustrates: after that, nothing more happens. »
No, Mélissa Lavergne does not believe that she was the victim of “anti-white racism”, as we have heard. She found it difficult “to have served as a lightning rod” in this story, but understands “the real suffering that was expressed behind all this”.
“I really hope that the social conversation will move things forward, that there will be more fairness,” she says. Not just in media representation, but in society. »
Culture shocks
Ironically, the percussionist had been interested in cultural appropriation for a while when the event with Nuits d’Afrique occurred. She had already been refining the manuscript of the irokohis first novel, which appears this Wednesday at Quebec America.
Inspired by her own musical training trips abroad, particularly in West Africa, her story recounts the stay in Guinea of Martine, a young percussionist from Quebec who flees a heartbreak by going to discover a culture that makes her heart beat faster, and also a bit of self-discovery.
She frankly addresses the culture shock, which begins as soon as she leaves the plane, and a feeling of exclusion that will hardly leave her throughout her stay. It also tells of the unifying power of music.
What I wanted to say, on the strength of all my study trips — I’ve done several, including the one to Guinea — is that even if we’re very open and speak the same language , we don’t necessarily manage to understand each other, but that even if we don’t understand each other, we come together through music.
Melissa Lavergne
Martine indeed feels isolated: White in Guinea, West in Africa, the only woman among the men sometimes. The distance she feels is perfectly captured in a meal scene where the family who welcomes her prepares her own plate, while all the other guests eat from the dish placed in the center of the table.
Mélissa Lavergne did not experience this scene, but this feeling of exclusion, she felt it more than once. “At the same time, it was normal because I wasn’t like the others and I was just passing through,” she says. There was a richness in the bonds that developed, but I was never going to become one of them. It is a mourning to live. “And it’s also a way to get to know each other, she judges today.
This authentic connection, she felt it when she played the drums. “Music has always been a lifesaver in my personal journey. This book is a love letter to music, a tribute to Mandinka cultures that have brought me a lot and to good teachers”, she summarizes.
To the mix of cultures too, one is tempted to add. Martine left for Guinea with a sincere desire to learn African percussion. To appropriate, yes, a little of this culture and this art that make her vibrate.
“We have the right to be inspired by each other, to appropriate things, believes Mélissa Lavergne. When we say of a singer that she has appropriated such and such a song, it’s a compliment. We can do it, but we have to know why we are doing it, and be respectful and sensitive in the way we do it. »
the iroko
Melissa Lavergne
Quebec America
144 pages