Date: September 29, 2022
Time: 7 - 10PM
Venue: Dewey's Jazz Lounge, 232 Worthington St, Springfield, MA
Tickets: FREE, Make Reservations at: www.deweyslounge.com
MIFA Victory Theatre presents Direct from France, “Angela Davis” Stars,
Rapper, singer, beatboxer, and international musician Blade MC AliMBaye with guest singer Astrid Bayiha
Live at
Dewey's Jazz Lounge in Springfield, MA.
This Special FREE Music Event is in conjunction with MIFA’s presentation of French theater company Compagnie L'Héliotrope’s performance of “Angela Davis, A History of the United States,” September 30 – October 2, 2022, at the Rooke Theatre at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. Tickets are $20.00 General Admission and $15.00 for Students on sale now! Friday, September 30, 2022, at 7:30 pm French performance is FREE for all Students with reservation and I.D. required (high school or college I.D., unless under age 13). Get tickets now at www.mifafestival.org.
Blade MC AliMBaye
Normandy-born Franco-Senegalese artist Blade MC Alimbaye was already impressing his peers as a young child with his writing skills. He very early decided to fully focus on art in its various forms, from poetry and music to theatre, dance and cinema. He’s now a rapper, beatboxer, slammer, composer and self-taught author. He discovered the world of hip-hop through dance and graffiti in the city of Le Havre in 1993. He proved particularly apt at writing and beatboxing. Following a stint touring the various venues of the region, he arrived in Paris, took part in battles, open mic events and slam nights, and built a solid reputation on the underground scene. He then joined the company Montalvo-Hervieu in On Dan Feet La Bossa. Fataka de Rameau, the Compagnie Checco, the Cie R.I.P.O.S.T.E in Contesmarrons. He also collaborated with D’de Kabal, the Cie 0,10 in Troyennes, Laetitia Guedon in Les morts se moquent des beaux enterrements, and in 2016 in Samo, A Tribute to Basquiat. In 2016, he released his first album, Bleu. Point Zero, the first part of the Bleu Blanc Sang trilogy, which questions his relationship with France and includes collaborations by cellist Vincent Ségal, actor Jean-Michel Martial and musician Ousmane Kouyaté. For more info visit www.bladealimbaye.com
Astrid Bayiha
Actress, author, and theatre director, Bayiha was trained at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris. In 2007, she trained under the likes of Andrzej Seweryn, Guillaume Gallienne, Mario Gonzalez, Michel Fau, Yves Boisset and Sandy Ouvrier… After leaving the Academy in 2010, she worked with New York-based performer Eric Wallach and played the title role of Apollinaire’s Breasts of Tiresias, adapted into English at the Théâtre de la Reine Blanche. This proved to be the start of a number of collaborations in different theatres (Théâtre Nationaux, CDN, Scènes Nationales…) with directors such as Catherine Riboli, Gerty Dambury, Irène Bonnaud, Eva Doumbia, Paul Desveaux, Mounya Boudiaf, Hassane Kassi Kouyaté and Bob Wilson, whose production of Jean Genet’s The Blacks she performed in at the Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe in 2014. In 2015, she staged JAZ by Koffi Kwahulé, a show she created with the help of Ayouba Ali who directed it, at the Seuls en Scène-Princeton French Theater Festival at Princeton University. The show was performed again in 2016 in Avignon as part of the Belle Scène Saint-Denis, a twinning program between the Théâtre Gérard Philippe-CDN de Saint-Denis and the Théâtre Louis Aragon in Avignon. For Full Bio, visit www.facebook.com/astrid.bayiha/about_details