Yaya Coulibaly

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Yaya Coulibaly
Born (1993-01-02) January 2, 1993 (age 28)
Nationality Malian
Education
OccupationPuppeter and storyteller

Youssouf Coulibaly (born 2 January 1993) is a Malian puppet designer, puppeteer and storyteller from Mali.

Contents

Early life

Born into a family of puppeteers, with roots in the Bamana, he began his initiation in the puppet and masquerade figures at the age of ten as an apprentice to his father. Later he studied art at the Institut National des Arts de Bamako, and puppet theatre at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mézières, France.

Career

In 1980 he formed his own puppet company, the Sogolon Puppet Troupe, [1] and has since become the leading custodian of the Bambara puppetry tradition, the oldest and richest of Africa's surviving puppetry traditions. Coulibaly is the custodian of a vast collection of puppets, many of which have come down to him through his family. Speaking of his passion, Coulibaly said: [1]

I depend on puppets, my family lives only for this. This is my bank, this is my territory, this is my book, this is all my domain and every day that God gives us.

Coulibaly has created a new and dynamic puppet theatre that draws from the ancient traditions of puppetry in West Africa. His performances incorporate traditional folk tales and legends and episodes from Mali's great epics, as well as colonial history and commentary on contemporary life in Mali. The techniques in his performances include hand puppets, rod puppets, marionettes, masks and live music. Sogolon has performed in Europe and the USA. [2] [3] [4] A selection of this puppetry collection was exhibited in Germany, South Africa and USA. [5]

Related Research Articles

Puppeteer

A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or her own hands placed inside the puppet or holding it externally or any other part of the body- such as the legs. Some puppet styles require two or more puppeteers to work together to create a single puppet character.

Puppetry

Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performance is also known as a puppet production. The script for a puppet production is called a puppet play. Puppeteers use movements from hands and arms to control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer sometimes speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, while at other times they perform to a recorded soundtrack.

Marionette

A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms of theatres or entertainment venues. They have also been used in films and on television. The attachment of the strings varies according to its character or purpose.

<i>Bunraku</i> Traditional Japanese puppet theatre

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Paul Zaloom

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Charleville-Mézières Prefecture and commune in Grand Est, France

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Shadow play

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UNIMA

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Margareta Niculescu

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Institut National des Arts de Bamako Art school in Bamako, Mali

The Institut National des Arts de Bamako (INA) is a national school for the arts in Bamako, Mali. It was the only school of its kind in Mali until 2004. Originally set up to train Sudanese artisans, it now offers courses in jewellery making and design, illustration, painting, sculpture, photography, music, and theatre. It has produced many of Mali’s most well-known artists and has hosted numerous exhibitions, workshops, and performances.

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References

  1. 1 2 Xue, Qin (19 October 2012). "Mali puppet theater stuns audiences". China Central Television. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  2. "Le Figaro - Actualité en direct et informations en continu" . Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  3. Greskovic, Robert (13 October 2005). "Puppets and Polemics" . Retrieved 18 September 2018 via www.wsj.com.
  4. Isherwood, Charles. "Long-Necked, but All the Rage in Paris" . Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  5. "Tall Horse". Handspring Puppet Company. 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2016.