Cameroonian architect Sylvain Djache Nzefa is founder and general coordinator of the program La route des chiefdoms, general curator of the Cultural Season of Cameroon in Paris and of the exhibition On the road to the chiefdoms of Cameroon at the Quai Branly Museum. Maintenance.
Franceinfo Africa: what is the framework for this Cameroonian cultural season in France, which starts with the exhibition “On the road to the chiefdoms of Cameroon” at the musée du quai Branly, in Paris?
Sylvain Djache Nzefa: On the road to the chiefdoms of Cameroon. From visible to invisible is an exhibition that celebrates the art of the communities established in the highlands of the Grassfields, in western Cameroon, preserved for centuries by traditional leaders. It was designed by the association La route des chefferies and produced by the musée du quai Branly. Above all, it is a new kind of collaboration between two organizations from the North and the South. This is the first time that the Quai Branly, the first museum of extra-Western arts, has hosted an African curator and that there is a commitment from so many parties for the realization of an exhibition. About twenty traditional chiefs and therefore communities lent their heritage for this event.
The holding of this exhibition led us to want to make a larger event, which could present Cameroon in its entirety but also show other aspects of the country, in particular its rich cultural diversity. Hence this Cameroonian Cultural Season which is carried by the Cameroonian association La route des chiefdoms. It was born from the desire to offer a French and European public a new image of our country and to show the full extent of Cameroonian creative talent. Cameroon, “Africa in miniature” with its 250 peoples, has a cultural richness that we wanted to present to the Parisian public. Our approach is part of our desire to promote the cultural and creative industries of the country and we will find, during this season which lasts four months, events around – among others – dance, music, literature, cinema and fashion.
What is the menu this season?
Four main highlights are planned: the first is this exhibition from April 5 to July 17, 2022 in the largest temporary exhibition space at the Musée du quai Branly, the Garden Gallery. The second is a royal parade of the civilizations of Cameroon scheduled for July 2022. It will travel through the city of Paris passing by the Eiffel Tower, the Musée du quai Branly and will end its race at the Théâtre de la ville. Dancers and musicians will participate in this parade during which there will also be more contemporary performances. The other highlight is La nuit des chiefdoms, from 6 p.m. to midnight, organized at the Théâtre de la ville de Paris which will bring together traditional leaders from all over Cameroon and the public wishing to learn more about this specific world, around a series of meetings and a recital of Ekang songs (the Ekang are a people of the forest known for their epic songs, editor’s note) given by Cameroonian tenor Jacques-Greg Belobo.
Around these highlights, demonstrations will take place in several places in the capital. Carte blanche has been given, for example, to the multidisciplinary artist Blick Bassy who offers a series of events around culture and Cameroon at the Musée du quai Branly. Around the exhibition, there will be days dedicated to highlighting a particular chieftaincy, with a program involving its community. We will also welcome two great Cameroonian writers, Djaïli Amadou Amal and Osvalde Lewat, both rewarded for their latest works. At the Théâtre de la ville, a “Cameroon village” will be set up in the gardens in July.
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More than an exhibition, La route des chiefdoms is above all a vast cultural project. What is it and what are its goals?
The chiefdoms route is a program initiated by the Cameroonian diaspora grouped within the Pays de la Loire Cameroon association in Nantes (APLC) and by the traditional chiefs of the Grassfields wishing to protect and enhance the heritage of which they are the guarantors. Born in 2006 with the development and ratification by the chiefs of the Ethical Charter of La route des chiefdoms, the program has since 2010 become an autonomous association under Cameroonian law. La route des chefferies is both an organization and a concept that supports people in reclaiming their heritage and identity and, recently, has evolved in the development and enhancement of various cultural and creative industries.
Several poles make up the program: conservation, architecture and heritage, cultural development and tourism with the West Cameroon Regional Tourist Office (ORTOC). This allows us to have extensive expertise in heritage as well as the cultural and tourist development of the territories. This program devotes an important part to museography with the creation of exhibitions and museum spaces that meet the needs and specificities of the peoples who welcome them. Among these, the “heritage huts” or “community museums” built in the heart of the chiefdoms which contain the heritage of the chiefdom, a heritage considered as “living”, still used in worship. For the purposes of this exhibition, for example, some of these objects have been, after the agreement of the traditional communities and secret societies, “unloaded”, that is to say they have been the subject of rites allowing them to leave their native land.
The route of chiefdoms is now a network that includes some thirty museums, including the Museum of Civilizations (Dschang), the Water Museum (Yabassi) as well as 15 museums in the Sahel (regions of Adamaoua, North and Far North) who will benefit from support.
The road of chiefdoms begins this year the construction of the City of heritage and cultural and creative industries, with the support of the French Development Agency. It is an innovative place for reflection on heritage, with a training center dedicated to heritage professions and cultural and creative industries. The program has many other projects underway, throughout the territory, and even internationally with in particular this exhibition at the Quai Branly Museum and the concept of the Cultural Season of Cameroon intended to settle in other capitals of the world.
Before being welcomed in France and setting out to conquer the world, La route des chiefdoms was an exhibition that toured Cameroon. How was the event and the project received in your country?
The chieftaincy route is an initiative very well received in Cameroon since we work with traditional authorities and societies, but also with local communities who support us in our many activities. We started our activity in the Grassfields area but we now extend throughout the territory, through the water route (sawa cultural area), the road of the lords of the forest (fang-beti-boulou cultural area) and La route du Sahel (Sudano-Sahelian cultural area) as well as museum and regional development projects.