The 8th edition of the Mois Kréyol Festival, a flagship event for Creole languages and cultures, will take place in Guadeloupe from January 18 to 25, 2025.
This exceptional event, founded in 2017 by Chantal Loïal and her team, will highlight the richness and diversity of Creole cultural expressions through dance, music, theater, screenings and participatory workshops.
The sponsors of this new edition are:
JEAN-RAYMON PASSARD (GUYANA)
Director of the local mission of Guyana at the regional local mission of Guyana. Former president of the dance league of Guyana and president of the Alinga association
MARIE HÉLENA LAUMNO (GUADELOUPE)
Doctor in Contemporary History. Passionate about the history of Guadeloupe and the history of Gwoka, a cultural practice with African-rooted drums in Guadeloupe, she has written several works on these subjects.
SYLVIE CONDÉ (GUADELOUPE)
Sylvie Anne CONDE, daughter of Maryse Condé, emblematic figure of Caribbean literature, is a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Sciences and President of the KAZA CONDE Association, created in February 2023 and intended to promote the academic and philosophical thought of his mother.
BARST COLLEGE (MARTINQUE)
A nurse by profession, Kolo Barst has developed a musical style of his own. A singer with texts to raise awareness, Kolo Barst seduces with the naturalness of his music, very close to translation: drums, flutes, guitars, percussion… but also with his human warmth, his very particular hoarse voice.
This edition will pay tribute to Maryse Condé, a great Guadeloupean writer and former patron of the festival, who died in 2024. With a particular focus on Gwoka, this intangible cultural heritage listed by UNESCO for 10 years, the festival promises to be a space sharing and discovering traditions inherited from Africa and reinterpreted in the Caribbean.
Among the highlights, shows like Two nights stuck from the Tantak Collective and Kindly please by Daniel Léocadie will offer unique moments of theater and dance. Iconic artists such as Julien Coriatt, Arnaud Dolmen and Christine Salem will accompany this cultural adventure. Masterclasses, workshops and screenings like the film Gwoka the Linesco by Philippe Mugerin will also allow the public to immerse themselves in the history and artistic practices of the region.
The events will take place in several emblematic places in Guadeloupe: the Espace Culturel Courtes Lignes in Baie-Mahault, the Chapiteau Gwada Circus in Vieux-Habitants, and the Karukera Ballet in Pointe-à-Pitre. But also numerous cultural actions in schools and in Ephad such as dance workshops, theater, etc., shows and exchanges around transmission and Creole cultures.
The Mois Kréyol Festival transcends borders by integrating the traditions of the Antilles, Haiti, the Indian Ocean and Africa. He reminds us that these legacies are vectors of unity and celebration in a globalized world.
For culture lovers, this event is an invitation to celebrate Creole roots and to open up to a dialogue between traditions and modernity.
