L'Europe noire

She travels by train from Brussels to Lisbon and from Lisbon to Graz, then back to Breda, and finally back to Brussels. She goes in search of the African diaspora on the European continent. Who are we? Where are we? And where do we come from? Questions that touch upon concepts of home, family, intergenerational history, love, life, Europe and Africa, asking not only herself but also the people with African roots she meets on the train. The known and the unknown. 

During her journey, Lisette writes new poems and numbers, and documents her conversations in sounds and images. The performance brings all facets of the Afro-European story together in a mixture of art forms: music, poetry, fragments of images and sounds. Lisette Ma Neza fills our evening with poetry. She slams and sings accompanied by her four-piece band: Michelle Samba, Neil Akenzua, Orville Breeveld and Peter Somuah. She takes us into her world, into her feelings, into her story and ours. We experience her journey, together.

Lisette Ma Neza (Leiderdorp NL, 1998) studied film at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels. She rose as the voice of a new literary generation when she won the Belgian Poetry Slam Championship in 2017 as the first Dutch speaker, first woman and first poet of colour ever. In 2018 she became vice-World Champion Slam Poetry in Rio de Janeiro. She has only published her work on stage so far, both solo and with her backing band. VRT called her ‘our own Amanda Gorman’.