Monologue Festival marks World Theatre Day for artists from Maputo neighbourhoods
France bestows “Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters” on Quito Tembe
3:05 CAT | 15 Jun 2022
Photo: Twitter / @izzo_d
The French government has bestowed the award of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) on renowned Mozambican dance curator Quito Tembe.
The Ambassador of France to Mozambique David Izzo on Tuesday bestowed upon Quito Tembe the award of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on behalf of the French Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak at the French Residence in Maputo.
The award ceremony was attended by Mozambique’s Minister of Culture, Eldevina Materula.
Director of Mozambique-based International Contemporary Dance Platform KINANI, Quito Abrão Tembe, is an associate curators of the International Tanzmesse, a leading contemporary dance platform known as one of the largest forums for exchange, knowledge transfer and networking in the dance world.
Très heureux de remettre, au nom de @RimaAbdulMalak et en présence de la Ministre de la Culture du #Mozambique 🇲🇿, les insignes de chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres à #QuitoTembe grande figure de la biennale de danse #Kinani de Maputo et de Danse l’Afrique danse 👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/Gsy4J49XYy
— David Izzo (@izzo_d) June 15, 2022
David Izzo said on the occasion:
“Your Excellency Minister of Culture and Tourism, Dear Eldevina Materula, guests and friends
Dear Quito Tembe, we are all here today to honour your contribution, over many years, to the development of culture in Mozambique, but also your connection with France.
It is a great moment for us, because it has been a long time since we organised a ceremony of this type, due to the health crisis.
Dear Quito, who, since 2015 has been the face and soul of the KINANI contemporary dance biennial. His work has made Maputo a stronghold of contemporary dance not only in the Indian Ocean area, but also on the mainland.
In this regard, Quito was able to forge relationships of trust with the French Institute of Paris, one of the main partners of KINANI, but also with many artists from Metropolitan France and Réunion Island.
Since 2021, he has been a member of the artistic committee of the Festival “Danse l’Afrique Danse”, proof of his commitment and of the work he has been carrying out for over 20 years.
But if we are here, dear Quito, it is also to discover some facets of your history and personality. So let’s go back in time…
Since he was 13/14 years old, Quito has been sensitive to the arts, frequenting the “Casa Velha de Maputo”.
His passion was such that one day he even fell asleep in “Casa Velha”, after having helped all night to set up a stage for a play!!
His parents looked all over town for him. Finally, they remembered that they were supposed to go there.
His father, upon discovering him asleep on the stage of “Casa Velha”, was relieved, let him sleep and left.
I take this anecdote to greet the family, namely his mother and father, present in memory, his sisters Naíta, Greve and Helena Tembe, his wife Nelly Honwana and their children Tualy, Tembe, and Thandy, their in-laws, Luis Honwana and Suzette Honwana who share with us the honour of being by his side and to whom he owes so much, as Quito likes to recall.
O Embaixador🇫🇷 na presença da Ministra da Cultura🇲🇿, condecorou com as👏🏅insígnias de Cavaleiro da Ordem das Artes e Letras🇫🇷 ao Quito Tembe, figura e a alma da bienal do #KINANI 🩰🕺💃, membro Danse l’Afrique Danse,🇫🇷 📈 da dança entre a África Francofona,🇲🇿🇫🇷❗️ pic.twitter.com/Q9LceL1hEm
— La France au Mozambique (@FranceMaputo) June 15, 2022
He then continued his career, graduating in stage technique, scenography and lighting in Portugal and also in Mozambique, at ISARC, and I know that many remember his time at this prestigious institute.
Dear Quito,
We all know the strong connection you have had, for nearly 20 years, with France and the French-speaking world. You were very recently with our Canadian friends.
That’s why we are delighted to be part of our French and French-speaking community!
Quito is really part of our family and honours us with his creativity and his love for our country. In this, Quito is one of the symbols of our beautiful Franco-Mozambican friendship.
This friendship is precious and, as the artist and writer Marguerite Yourcenar said, “I believe that friendship, like love, of which it is a particular kind, requires nearly as much art as a successful choreography”.
This relationship began in the early 2000s with the Franco-Mozambican Cultural Centre where, between 2001 and 2007, he worked as a technical director. However, legend has it that Quito didn’t want to work for Franco!
During a discussion with the then director, he said that CCFM’s technical material was insufficient and obsolete. The director took him at his word and replied: “Very well, tell me what I should buy, but only come work here, with us!”
Quito made his ideal list, and the director accepted it. Quito couldn’t refuse his proposal! And that was how he spent seven years at the CCFM Centro Cultural Franco-Mozambino taking care of lighting creations, the scenography of the performances, but also training generations of young Mozambicans, to whom he transmitted his love and passion of the arts.
His journey has taken him to visit numerous French-speaking countries, such as France, Mali, Senegal, but the list is too long to mention them all.
Dear Quito,
In addition to his professional qualities, what characterises him is his personality, his ability to be a driving force for the Mozambican artistic community and to bring together transcending generations.
The friends present here can testify to this, your concern for others and your willingness to do anything to help them.
Like that time at a dance festival in Chalon-sur-Saone, where his friend Idio Chichava had to put on a show under scorching heat that made the stage impractical.
Quito decided to water the stage several times, but the stage was still burning.
He then had the idea of the century, not the most aesthetic one, of course, to perform the entire piece in socks!
I think that Idio, here with us, keeps the fondest memories!
This deep dedication of his can be illustrated by the words of Albert Einstein, who said: “We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams.”
Quito has this predisposition to give all of him to provide the spectator with all these feelings, to make them dream, through the performance, and in particular through dance.
Dear Quito
In 2023, we will celebrate the 10th edition of the KINANI Dance Biennial and this 10th edition is part of the “Dança a África Dança!”, an important event presented by the French Institute, which highlights the work carried out by “Visa for creation / visa pour la création”, which, for more than 20 years, has made it possible to follow the development and structuring of an entire sector and inscribe it in international dissemination circuits.
This is recognition for the set of work that Quito has carried out for the development of dance in Mozambique and cultural and artistic exchanges with French-speaking Africa and France.
And we all know that culture, whatever its form, not only transcends borders. More than that, it is an engine of union and positive feelings among people. In this regard, Nelson Mandela said: “It is music and dance that make me at peace with the world.”
A world today so disturbed in which culture and the arts are and will forever be the vectors of our reconciliation.
Dear Quito, by virtue of the powers conferred upon me, I have the honour to bestow upon you the insignia of Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic.
Source: Ambassade de France au Mozambique
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