A PROFILE
Drawing inspiration from the very soul of African tradition, Ancestral Ambassadors from Africa is a group performing in an artistic invention dubbed ‘Ritualistic Poetry’. It combines poetry (metaphysical), drumming (ritualistic), songs (traditional blues, jazz, and spirituals) and dance (mbaya, makossa, Ngom’a wetuli), in one package, for one purpose, i.e. to unite nations, races and people.
The pioneers of this group include:
- Simon Mol— published Poet, artistic creator, actor, writer and journalist from Cameroon. With one poetry anthology to his credit and a second underway, Simon has been published in Africa, Europe, India and the Americas.
- Ngodi Jeanblack— Inspirational Singer and professional Crier who traces his roots to one of the most popular musical families in Cameroon. He used to play with his maternal uncle— the redoubtable makossa maestro and one of Cameroon’s and Africa’s music giants, Misse Ngoh Fancoise.
- Hope Ngwa— an initiate of African ritualistic drumming, he currently teaches drumming at the Warsaw School of drumming. He is also from the Northwest province of Cameroon where initiates of drum rituals use drumming in healing and foretelling the future.
- Isaac Tanyi— an outstanding animator, Isaac combines drumming and theatre simultaneously on stage through body language while beating the drum.
- Mafiamba Victor— has been school and initiated into the Mbaya dance which is the soul of Cameroon’s national culture. The dance employs gymnastics and acrobatic stunts in one display.
REFERENCES
On March 26. 2003 at Tam Tam in front of a packed hall, The Ancestral Ambassadors in the presence of several ambassadors, including the Nigerian ambassador to Poland and powerful delegations from the South African and Norwegian embassies, left tears in the audience’s eyes after a 70-minute performance which evoked contrasting emotions. The show demonstrated dramatic, thrilling, and tragic elements of life through poetry, singing, dancing, and theatre. The audience reacted with a standing ovation and a call for an encore.
The group can be contacted by telephone at 48 603 434 930 or 48 (22) 839 09 27 or by E-mail.