JAZZ FEST’S SLAVE-SONG MUSICAL UNDER FIRE

Sparks protests in Montreal

MONTREAL • The musical SLĀV that premièred last week at the Montreal International Jazz Festival is billed as a “tribute to music as a tool for resilience and emancipation.”

But so far it has succeeded in highlighting art as an instrument of division, with protesters gathering outside shows, patrons entering under the protection of police and one festival performer this week cancelling his concert in protest.

SLĀV has run into trouble because it is a show based on slave songs from the American South, conceived by a white director and singer and performed by a predominantly white cast.

The American singer Moses Sumney, who is black, announced on Twitter Monday night that he was pulling out of his festival concert, which had been scheduled for Tuesday night. Instead he chose to play two discounted shows at an offfestival Montreal venue.

Sumney called SL ĀV “hegemonic, appropriative and neo-imperialistic,” in a letter to festival organizers announcing his cancellation, posted to his website Tuesday.

“The point you are missing is that there is no context in which white people performing black slave songs is okay. Especially not while they are dressed like poor field workers or cotton pickers. Especially not while they are directed by a white director and in a theater charging loads of money,” he wrote.

“This kind of black imitation is very reminiscent of blackface minstrel shows. The only thing missing is black paint.”

There had been rumblings of concern since the collaboration between theatre director Robert Lepage and singer Betty Bonifassi — both white — was announced last fall.

But it broke into the open at last week’s première, with protesters gathering outside the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde on Ste. Catherine St.

Bonifassi is the show’s star, backed by a six-member chorus, two of whom are black. At one point the chorus, wearing scarves in their hair and holding baskets, mime picking cotton. At another, Bonifassi plays the role of Harriet Tubman, the American abolitionist who was born into slavery.

In an open letter calling for the cancellation of the show, which had its run extended through July 14 after initial performances quickly sold out, local musicians, artists, academics and community organizers expressed “astonishment and disgust” at the use of slave songs.

“These slave songs were born out of the myriad types of violence established, perpetrated, and maintained by a white power structure,” the letter says. “To now have that violence exploited for profit by white artists and producers both embodies and perpetuates the historical exploitation and marginalization of Black populations in Quebec and the world over.”

The storm of protest appears to have caught the festival off guard. Media spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. In a statement last Wednesday, following the initial protests, the festival defended the production and said it felt lucky to have it as part of its program.

“For 39 years, the festival has been synonymous with the global village, where there was neither race, sex nor religion and where all human beings were equal,” the statement read. “This year is no exception.”

In a statement published on Facebook, Lepage and Bonifassi challenged the notion that their race disqualifies them from exploring the music of slaves.

“Do we have the right to tell these stories? Audience members will have the opportunity to decide after having seen the show,” they wrote. “From our point of view, whether black or white, we all have a responsibility to look at the darkest episodes of our history and try to find some light in them.”

Bonifassi has been performing slave songs for years, and in an interview with the Montreal Gazette, she said her work comes from “a big heart” and detailed research. “I don’t see colour; to me, it doesn’t exist, physically or in music,” she said.

This is not the first time a question of race has stirred controversy in the Quebec theatre world. In 2015, Montreal’s Théâtre du Rideau Vert was criticized for using a white actor in blackface to play the part of professional hockey player P.K. Subban in a year-end review.

So far, there is no sign the jazz festival intends to bend. The show has been dark since June 29 after Bonifassi broke her ankle following a performance. The festival website says performances will resume Wednesday night.