On Thursday 18th April, at 7.30 pm, members of coro Elikya, in traditional African costume, will interpret a selection of ancestral songs of varied provenance, some of which inspired by the objects in the Museum’s collection. The Elikya choir arose out of the experience of the COE, Centro Orientamento Educativo, a non-governmental organization founded by Don Francesco Pedretti, which promotes cultural exchange and personal development amongst people from many countries around the world, through the provision of intercultural educational activities.
The choir is currently composed of 35 singers accompanied by violin, flute, percussion, xylophone, guitar, keyboard and double bass and is directed by Raymond Bahati of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Made up prevalently of young people from Italy, Congo, Cameroon, Togo, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Zambia, Guinea-Bissau, Colombia, Ecuador and Russia, the choir is a laboratory in which to research and experiment with creativity, drawing strongly on different musical traditions, in particular on the cultures of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The aim is to give life to new tableaux of sound generated by the weaving of tonalities and the multiplicity of combinations of rhythms and melodies.
The choir’s repertoire currently features mainly religious songs arranged by African and Italian musicians and strongly flavoured by Afro rhythms.
In the Lingala language “Elikya” means “hope”, to emphasize the fact that in spite of the contrasts and contradictions of our society, young people want to get to know each other and strive for a future of relations fostering cultural exchange, because it is this exchange, this encounter that gives rise to the possible. After two full years of activity, on 8th July 2012 the choir constituted itself as an association operating exclusively for the promotion of human, cultural, social and religious relations. Among its many performances in the Milan area we may recall that given, in 2012, on the occasion of the Pope’s pastoral visit to Bresso for the World Meeting of Families, and their concerts in the Milan Cathedral, the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, and the Rosetum theatre in 2011.
The Elikya choir invites you to listen, participate and also enjoy yourselves, because their rhythm captivates even the most unexcitable souls and you won’t be able to resist accompanying them with hand-clapping.