NEW African Opera “LÀ-BAS OU ICI…” is on-going

Nice to meet you, my name is Keiko Fujiie. For many decades, as a composer of classical music, I have composed for orchestra, chamber music and choir.

It's been two year and a half, since when, in 2019, I began this original project of creating an opera in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

The creation of a new opera - a collaborative work in Burkina Faso, which is one of the poorest countries in the world. However, there is a rich music culture and earnest, passionate people. Our new opera project talks about Africa's current situation, history, suffering, hope and joy, from an African perspective. I began composing the music when I started living with a traditional musicians family (griots), which initiated a teaching and learning exchange of our different music. In March 2020, with three griots musicians, I started working on new songs of the opera. Since then, more and more people have come to join us, then, finally we premiered the 1st Act of the opera on 23rd April 2021 at Institut Français de Ouagadougou.

We are very happy to offer you the video of our recent performance - the 2nd Act of the opera. It was premieed in Bobo-Dioulasso (the second biggest city of Burkina Faso) on 4th February, 2022.

Our next step is to involve children to sing with us! Please share the dream with us! All my collaborators are proud to immerse themselves in our new creation, in spite of the increasingly severe poverty caused by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, frequent terrorism and Ukrainian war.

Now the project has begun to expand significantly, and I hope that you will join us, along with the other members contributing to the project. Please support the further development of the opera and participate in this project as one of the patrons. Our aim is to complete the whole opera in 2023. We would be most grateful for your support and observation.

BBC Photostory about our opra.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57145383