AM ANFANG
A transcultural, multimedia music performance by Marc Sinan with the Djiguiya Orchestra Bamako, the Marc Sinan Company, the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and choreographer Kettly Noël.
Take the red cape
take the universe
and go naked
–Hamadoun Kassogué, Bamako, 2019
For the production AM ANFANG (“In the Beginning”), Marc Sinan and Kettly Noël explore religious creation myths from West Africa and Europe as well as scientific narratives about the creation of the world. Traditional and religious music from Mali intersects with contemporary European music. Bolstered with singing, performance and video art as narrative devices, AM ANFANG brings together Bamako’s Djiguiya Orchestra with Stuttgart’s Neue Vocalsolisten and the international Marc Sinan Company.
Spanning 150 fragments, documents of reality – from musical to poetic to religious and scientific – form various perspectives, one of which out of a possible 58,112,246,582,005,964,602,127,455,942,367,987,902,050,836,156,499,835,648,504,350,052,842,641,868,750,253,575,074,024,377,378,741,206,663,917,548,775,207,191,034,516,791,665,623,040,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (or 5.811225 times 10 to the power of 169) permutations will be presented, first in a spatial installation, then online, and finally, as a hybrid performance.
AM ANFANG describes our world by reflecting its pluralistic, contradictory nature. Although we may realize that different perspectives can co-exist, we remain in our own indifferent existences, in our own worlds, each shaped by our own perspectives.
Interestingly, stories about the beginning are fundamentally at odds: Some believe that God created the world. Others believe in the scientific theory of the Big Bang. The Dogon people in Western Mali pass on the myth of a fraternal twin impatiently fleeing the womb, with a piece of the placenta falling off and leading to the creation of the Earth. The Dogon have also held astronomical knowledge about the invisible companion of the star Sirius and its course since time immemorial. Astrophysicists were only able to confirm the twin star’s existence at the end of the 20th century.
AM ANFANG aims to show that our knowledge allows us to have only seeming assurances, which only serve to distinguish ourselves from “the other”. But really, every certainty is only a further proof of the limitations of all human perception and insight. We are one in knowing that every worldview represents only a singular, anthropocentric fragment of reality – one small piece of a much greater whole.
For the installation at the festival DIE IRRITIERTE STADT, an oversized video projection combines with an immersive live performance to provide a mythical space in which the audience is surrounded by creation stories of the Dogon and the nomadic Malian Peulh people, sung simultaneously, contrasted by scientific perspectives on the origins of the universe.
“The most interesting productions aim to make cultural knowledge fruitful across historical and geographical divides. For example, the European-African music performance AM ANFANG, which the Armenian-Turkish-German guitarist and composer Marc Sinan presents at the Theaterhaus.”
–Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 23 July 2020
“But it’s not the city as the frame of reference for this multimedia performance featuring five singers, three instrumentalists and even more African musicians, recorded and seen on screen – it’s the entire world, along with its origin.”
–Stuttgarter Zeitung, 23 July 2020
“…There are even more ambitious musical activities happening: Creation myths from Europe and Africa are artistically interpreted by Marc Sinan (composition) and Kettly Noël (choreography/performance) in the production AM ANFANG (22 July), which brings together the Neue Vocalsolisten and the Djiguiya Orchestra from Mali.”
–Recommended Stream in Unübersehbar, 17-23 July 2020

Marc Sinan
Artistic Direction & Composition
Andrea Molino
Musical Direction & Musical Dramaturgy
Kettly Noël
Choreography & Dance
Maike Wetzel, Holger Kuhla
Dramaturgy
Adrian Figueroa
Scenography & Video
Salia Malé
Scientific Consultation
DJIGUIYA ORCHESTRA
Lassine Koné Kamale Ngoni
Habib Sangaré Bolon, Kalebasse
Joel Diarra Balafon
MARC SINAN COMPANY
Oğuz Büyükberber Clarinette
Daniel Eichholz Percussion
Marc Sinan Guitar
NEUE VOCALSOLISTEN STUTTGART
Johanna Vargas Soprano
Truike van der Poel Mezzo-soprano
Martin Nagy Tenor
Guillermo Anzorena Baritone
Andreas Fischer Bass
Bocar Amadou Fanara, Hamadoun Kassogué, Amenophis Imaka Traoré, Salia Malé
Interview Partners
Eric Nikodym
Project Management
Wiebke Wesselmann
Project Assistance
Rokiatou Tessougué, Pierre Dembelé
Project Assistance Bamako
Darius Tschorn
Technical Direction
Volker Greve
Sound
Hans-Peter Eckardt
Camera
Benedict Jancke
Video technician
Abdallah Ag Amano / TADIAZT
Technical supervision Bamako / Video
Special thanks to Dietrich Becker, German ambassador in Mali & Magali Moussa, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Bamako.
A cooperation from the Marc Sinan Company, the Festival DIE IRRITIERTE STADT Stuttgart and the Humboldt Forum Berlin foundation.
Kulturstiftung des Bundes
Berlin Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa
Marc Sinan
Artistic Direction & Composition
Andrea Molino
Musical Direction & Musical Dramaturgy
Kettly Noël
Choreography & Dance
Maike Wetzel, Holger Kuhla
Dramaturgy
Adrian Figueroa
Scenography & Video
Salia Malé
Scientific Consultation
DJIGUIYA ORCHESTRA
Lassine Koné Kamale Ngoni
Habib Sangaré Bolon, Kalebasse
Joel Diarra Balafon
MARC SINAN COMPANY
Oğuz Büyükberber Clarinette
Daniel Eichholz Percussion
Marc Sinan Guitar
NEUE VOCALSOLISTEN STUTTGART
Johanna Vargas Soprano
Truike van der Poel Mezzo-soprano
Martin Nagy Tenor
Guillermo Anzorena Baritone
Andreas Fischer Bass
Bocar Amadou Fanara, Hamadoun Kassogué, Amenophis Imaka Traoré, Salia Malé
Interview Partners
Eric Nikodym
Project Management
Wiebke Wesselmann
Project Assistance
Rokiatou Tessougué, Pierre Dembelé
Project Assistance Bamako
Darius Tschorn
Technical Direction
Volker Greve
Sound
Hans-Peter Eckardt
Camera
Benedict Jancke
Video technician
Abdallah Ag Amano / TADIAZT
Technical supervision Bamako / Video
Special thanks to Dietrich Becker, German ambassador in Mali & Magali Moussa, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Bamako.
A cooperation from the Marc Sinan Company, the Festival DIE IRRITIERTE STADT Stuttgart and the Humboldt Forum Berlin foundation.