Becoming a star – “Je voudrais devenir star” Apprenons à les comprendre Dans mon quartier Humanity on fire – “Les cieux ont brulé” Je voudrais porter un casque Je suis du sud, Je suis du nord
Croquemort
Allahissem, Bruno. 2015. “Pratiques et Perceptions Du Hip-Hop Dans Le Quartier Chagoua.” MA in Anthropology, University of N’djaména. Bakker, Vera. n.d. “Demonstrations in Cameroon: Anglophones Response to Their Marginalization.” Voice4Thought. ———. “Festival N’djam s’enflamme en slam, N’djamena 2016”. Voice4Thought. 13 June 2017 Branch, Adam, and Zachariah Cherian Mampilly. 2015. Africa […]
Reference list
Itineraries of serendipity in an unreported Chad Didier/Croquemort is a big fan of The Simpsons. Every time he has some free time he watches some TV episodes about this crazy family, whose life is a strong comment on the outside world and the ways we organize ourselves. On his laptop, […]
Does the scenario ever end?
Je suis du sud, je suis de l’est / Je viens du nord, je viens de l’ouest Mais me sentir vraiment chez moi / C’est me chausser et me pointer à tous les endroits C’est aller me balader où je peux, Où je veux, / Faire des voeux sur cette […]
Je suis du sud, Je suis du nord
Je voudrais porter un casque Qui me protège contre les coupures d’électricité Des rues lugubres de mon quartier Pour qu’on puisse regarder la télé, Qui protège contre nos ordis décharges Et nos petits commerces fermés. Je voudrais d’un casque Celui qui lutte contre les exactions policières Et les violences […]
Je voudrais porter un casque
Croquemort -Les Cieux Ont Brule Live from Connecting in Times of Duress on Vimeo. Le monstre enchainé de l’Apocalypse s’est libéré / Regarde comment il s’est déchainé / S’est emparé des missiles balistiques / Et pique des virées sur l’Atlantique. / Les puissants ont décidé / Que les faibles […]
Humanity on fire – “Les cieux ont brulé”
Dans mon quartier, c’est parfois triste mais y a pas que des pleurs / Dans mon quartier, c’est parfois gai, mais y a pas que du bonheur. Mais on continue croire car rien d’est impossible / Nos pinceaux sont idylliques même s’ils sont invisibles. / […] On rêve […]
Dans mon quartier
Apprenons à les comprendre, ces êtres incertains / Apres tout, ce ne sont que des humains […] Ils vivent en troupeaux qu’ils appellent pays / Ils se divisent des terres où chacun vit sa vie / Ils ont des bouts de papiers avec des images / Et des chiffres sur […]
Apprenons à les comprendre
Je voudrais devenir star / Aller loin d’ici curer mes tares / Savoir effacer tous mes retards dans l’art, / Illuminer mes ennemies / Rassembler tous mes amis / Voila ce dont je rêve depuis. C’est pas une illusion / C’est juste une rêve d’enfance. / C’est pas une […]
Becoming a star – “Je voudrais devenir star”
By Annigje van Dijk* This post was published on Facebook on 9 June 2016, about five weeks after I had returned from my fieldwork in N’Djaména, the capital of Chad, where I stayed from 6 February to 30 April 2016. Didier addresses with irony the country’s ‘problem’ […]
Alcohol consumption and alcohol narratives in Chad
It is important to note that from 10 April 2016 until the end of November 2016, Chad was partially deprived of Internet services. The government closed down Facebook, WhatsApp, and other specific websites, with the explanation that there were technical problems. None of my informants believed this explanation. These young […]
Internet connectivity in Chad
In recent years, the slogan about N’Djaména becoming the ‘vitrine de l’Afrique’ has been a central theme in the propaganda of Déby for assuring his position in Central Africa. The transformation, modernization, and beautification of the city have been among the priorities of the government, which seeks to transform the […]
Youth protest in Chad: the anger behind the vitrine
On 8 August 2016, Idriss Déby Itno was installed as president for his fifth term. The electoral victory was celebrated exuberantly and was well attended by international guests. Present, inter alia, were the presidents of Mali, Niger, Mauritania, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso, the Minister of Defence of France, and several […]
Anger and désespoir: the inescapable crisis of present Chad
N’Djaména livelihood I returned from Chad on 1 March 2015, where I had shared life with the N’Djamenakois—a daily life that is fed by hidden emotions that have to do with anger and the wish to live a decent life, one that is so blatantly denied to the population. I […]
Chad and la peur: a painful path
The Dawa Mobile-Health project After he went to Pala, capital of the Mayo-Dallah department in south-western Chad, to give a concert in 2013, Didier/Croquemort discovered his ‘home’ region anew and was shocked by its poverty and need for development. Being a medical doctor, he recognized the high child mortality caused […]
Medicine and entrepreneurship
Didier is always on his phone. He assured me that this phone is, in fact, his livelihood. He does not use it for making phone calls but rather as a tool for accessing the Internet and social media. The networks on Facebook and WhatsApp keep him always on the move; […]
Internet and the android youth in Chad
>> Read the full biography >> Read about Croquemort, slam artist Although his songs appeal in the first place to the Chadian public, Croquemort is one of the few artists in Chad who are connected to an international network and able to reach a wider audience. Today he is an important […]
An international voice
>> Read the full biography Didier and Croquemort have a deep feeling for justice, in contrast to injustice—and especially to a particular aspect of injustice: betrayal (trahison). Trahison is a word that comes up regularly in our discussions. In a society where daily life has to deal with oppression and constant […]
Justice?
>> Read the full biography >> Read about Croquemort, slam artist Inspired by political events and everyday life, Croquemort’s songs deal with socio-political themes from both a personal and collective perspective. His texts refer to the daily life of Chadians, a life that is recognizable in other African countries and, of […]
“En colère”: to illustrate N’djamena in slam
>> Read the full biography Until the last century in Belgium, the word croquemort (lit. ‘corpse biter’) designated the gravediggers who, fearing to bury a person alive, used to bite the corpses’ little fingers in order to wake up those that only seemed to be dead. Inspired by this metaphor, Croquemort […]