Cultura Nova Festival
Huba de Graaff & Naaz
QAQNASExpected end time: 21:45 hour
Theater Heerlen - Limburgzaal
An energetic all-female Kurdish opera about freedom.
Poetry, rebellious women and extravagant costumes: QAQNAS (phoenix) is an energetic all-female opera about freedom, starring Dutch-Kurdish Naaz. What does freedom mean to women? QAQNAS delves into this question, inspired by the slogan "Woman, life, freedom!" (Kurdish: Jin, Jiyan, Azadî, ژن، ژیان، ئازادی ). The slogan became a rallying cry through the protests in Iran in 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini and has since stood for resistance to oppression and the fight for women's rights.
Loud, proud and uninhibited
Huba de Graaff creates experimental operas. She gave QAQNAS the form of a long poem, based on a 1972 work by Kurdish poet Tarza Jaff about women who dare to leave; who take wings and pay a price for doing so. She places QAQNAS in a kitchen that is simultaneously a music studio. Here, an all-female cast plays themselves on experimental electronics and kitchen equipment. They speak singing in Kurdish; a language banned for centuries and therefore only spoken indoors. Now it sounds loud, proud and uninhibited.
Cultura Nova presents QAQNAS in collaboration with PLT.
Credits
Vocals: Naaz
Composition: Huba de Graaff
Performance/music/operation electronics: Nora Mulder, Katharina Gross, Mei-Yi Lee, Huba de Graaff Direction: Ria Marks
Lighting design: Varja Klosse
Costumes: Leila el Alaoui/Anouk van Kampen Wieling
