{"id":52499,"date":"2025-03-08T13:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T12:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/project\/masquisard\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T09:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T07:52:07","slug":"masquisard","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/project\/masquisard\/","title":{"rendered":"MASQUISARD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In *Masquisard*<\/em> (Masque\/Mask + Maquisard: underground resistance fighters), Toutou Ditchou reignites the resistance against colonial rule in Cameroon. Between 1955 and 1971, many of the independence fighters were beheaded. There is no memorial to commemorate them. \u201cThe Masquisards wanted total independence and fought for it. But those who made deals with the former colonial rulers remained in power\u201d (Toutou Ditchou<\/em>). Before French colonial rule, Cameroon was a German colony. The performance is being adapted thanks to the support of and in cooperation with the RAUTENSTRAUCH-JOEST MUSEUM \u2013 Cultures of the World in Cologne. Masquisard<\/em> is a cathartic experience meant to soothe the souls during a dark chapter in Cameroon\u2019s history and a tribute to the martyrs of the independence struggles. \u201cTo this day, silence reigns\u2014in the past, it was even forbidden to speak of what happened back then,\u201d says Toutou, who advocates for a culture of remembrance. \u201cThere are no answers as to who beheaded the Ind\u00e9pendantistes<\/em>, who were viewed as troublemakers. Even today, fear prevails\u2026,\u201d says Toutou. And this fear dates back to the colonial era and the transition to independence. F\u00e9lix-Roland Moumi\u00e9, leader of the UPC\u2014the first political party that was truly independent\u2014demanded unconditional independence (\u201cind\u00e9pendance sans condition\u201d<\/em>). In 1960, he was poisoned. <\/p>\n\n

Toutou Ditchou<\/strong> | Toutou le conteur (The Storyteller), born in Bangangt\u00e9, is a Cameroonian artist who worked as a storyteller at the University of Dschang while studying oral literature at the D\u00e9partement d’Etudes Africaines until his doctorate. Together with street children in Bafoussam and in collaboration with various orphanages, he has developed numerous performances for public spaces that combine song, dance and fairy tales. Toutou opened the MODAPERF 2023 International Biennale with his latest creation Masquisard. <\/p>\n\n

WITH<\/strong> Toutou Ditchou | SUPPORTED BY<\/strong> MODAPERF (Cameroon) | THE PRODUCTION IN COLOGNE IS FUNDED BY the <\/strong>City of Cologne\u2019s Cultural Development Planning (KEP) program <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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Masquisard<\/em> on 7. + June 8, in connection with the following event:<\/p>\n\n

FROM BANDUNG TO BLM AND BEYOND. A weekend about global freedom struggles from Bandung to Black Lives Matter <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The RJM sheds light on the Bandung Conference, a milestone for the liberation of the global South, at which 29 representatives from Asian and African countries met in Indonesia in April 1955, and shows the connections between the freedom struggles in Africa, South America and Asia, the US civil rights and Black Power movement and the pan-African festivals. All of these were not independent events, but part of a global struggle against racism, colonialism and economic exploitation. <\/p>\n\n

https:\/\/rautenstrauch-joest-museum.de<\/a><\/p>\n\n

MASQUISARD IS SPONSORED BY:<\/p>\n\n

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In *Masquisard* (Masque\/Mask + Maquisard: underground resistance fighters), Toutou Ditchou reignites the resistance against colonial rule in Cameroon. Between 1955 and 1971, many of the independence fighters were beheaded. There is no memorial to commemorate them. \u201cThe Masquisards wanted total independence and fought for it. But those who made deals with the former colonial rulers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":52010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[148,149,135,107,144],"project_tag":[],"class_list":["post-52499","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-07-06-en","project_category-08-06-en","project_category-19-06-en","project_category-2025-en","project_category-21-06-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/52499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52499"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/52499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54892,"href":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/52499\/revisions\/54892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=52499"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africologne-festival.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tag?post=52499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}