Accra, Ghana, August 31, 2019/-In 1324 the ancient African King, Mansa Musa left Mali with a caravan of 60,000 people on a pilgrimage to Mecca.
His was probably one of the most—if not the most—ostentatious caravans in history; an entire city on the move comprising of court attendants, soldiers, servants and slaves.
He carried with him an enormous amount of gold which he gave out in charity on his journey. He flooded cities like Cairo and Mecca with so much gold that the price of the commodity dropped for several years.
Mansa Musa did not just control so much gold he also presided over what we can describe, arguably, as the golden years of West African civilization. Ancient Mali was a melting pot of culture, architecture, education, art and science.
Long before the great centers of learning emerged in Europe, Mali was already attracting scholars around the world learning at the University of Sankore in Timbuktu. The standard of living in the Malian Empire was so high that many states voluntarily joined the empire.
Mansa Musa’s fame spread across the world. Tales of splendor and gold reached the ears of European merchants and Kings. And thus, unfortunately, began the dawn of European exploration and exploitation of Africa.
It is important to note that the Europeans did not come to Africa out of the goodness of their hearts to “civilize” savage tribes.
They came because they heard stories of Mansa Musa and the great wealth of Africa. And it was the gold ( and other resources) from Africa and the people—through the slave trade—that would eventually build the Europe, and North America, of today.
Through my Heritage Theatre Series project my team and I have been working to bring the story of Mansa Musa to the big stage. We seek to create the world’s biggest and most ostentatious theatre production about the richest man to have ever lived.
We intend for the Mansa Musa show to be a colourful and edifying showpiece of rich African heritage. We seek to create a theatre project that would tour Africa and across the world for many decades, raising millions of dollars in revenue.
At the Chale Wote street art festival 2019, we took our first steps towards this ambitious project by curating a Mansa Musa procession which caught the attention of the thousands in attendance.
Just about 25 of us were involved in the procession, but when the original Mansa Musa show opens here in Accra, soon enough, it will be with an absolutely breathtaking and jaw dropping spectacle with 600 performers—singers, dancers, actors, poets, instrumentalists among others.
But before then, we would tease our the project with small performances. Watch out!
By Chief Moomen
