Artist: Yaya Coulibaly
Yaya Coulibaly at the Cartier Foundation on December 12, 2017.
Yaya Coulibaly is a Malian puppeteer, storyteller, magician, and musician, born on April 26, 1959, in Koula, in the Koulikoro district. The day of his birth was a special one, as it coincided with the Jo ceremony. On that occasion, the power of the ancestors was transmitted to him, even though he was not the eldest son, as tradition would normally require.
A direct descendant of Biton Coulibaly, King of Ségou, he was initiated at a very early age into mystical knowledge and inherited from his father an extensive education in puppet theatre, which occupies a central place in the initiation rites of secret societies.
Later, Yaya Coulibaly joined the National Institute of the Arts (INA) in Bamako, where he received a basic classical training. He subsequently pursued further studies in France, notably at the International Puppet Institute, followed by training at the National Higher School of Puppet Arts (ESNAM) in Charleville-Mézières.
During his years as a student in Europe, he associated with ethnologists and played an active role in the construction of Western knowledge about the traditional societies of West Africa. He also took part in scientific research related to their cultural objects.
For several decades now, Yaya Coulibaly, heir to a very ancient collection of puppets, has become a devoted guardian of the Bamanan tradition, one of the oldest and richest in Africa. His collection, which currently comprises nearly 25,000 puppets, continues to grow daily with new creations of various kinds.
Thanks to his deep traditional initiation, Yaya Coulibaly has been able to create a new, dynamic, and contemporary form of puppet theatre, with which he travels all over the world.
Indeed, in 1980 he founded the Sogolon troupe, named in reference to the mother of Emperor Soundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire. The first of its kind in Mali, the company has, since its inception, worked to promote theatrical creation influenced by the Bamanan, Somono, and Bozo traditions through the art of puppetry, in Mali, across Africa, and beyond. It creates performances, tours them internationally, takes part in major festivals, and trains practitioners from Mali, Africa, Europe, the Americas, and Asia, whether artists or academics.
In 2006, his collection was exhibited at the African Gold Museum in Cape Town, South Africa. This exhibition featured a range of ancient and contemporary puppets of different types (glove puppets, string puppets, shadow puppets, as well as masks and statues). That same year, he participated, together with the Handspring Puppet Company, in the exhibition At Arms Length – The Art of African Puppetry at the Africa Center in New York. Many other prestigious events and venues around the world have consistently hosted his work, including the Écomusée in Paris’s 18th arrondissement, the Halles Schaerbeek in Brussels, Documenta in Germany, the Manège Gallery in Dakar, the Rotonde des Arts Gallery and MASA in Abidjan, MAPAS in Spain, and the Carthage Theatre Days.
Drawing inspiration from folktales and moral lessons rooted in African oral tradition, Yaya Coulibaly highlights the values most dear to him: courage, love, and prosperity. A man of strong convictions and a staunch defender of individual and collective freedom, he tirelessly condemns war and extremism, which he describes as the gangrenes of the contemporary world.
An eternal child and an indefatigable traveler, he attributes a thousand and one roles to puppeteers: scientists, historians, therapists, geomancers, sorcerers, healers, trainers, and teachers of life in the service of life.
A family man, this magician of puppets has also devoted time to passing on his knowledge to his children in order to ensure continuity: “I consider puppets as objects of value that must be passed on to younger generations,” he confided.
After several decades devoted to the art of puppetry, Yaya Coulibaly deemed it necessary to establish a festival that would become an annual gathering dedicated to this art: the Sogobô International Festival of Bamako, whose first edition will take place in May 2024, and of which he is the honorary president of the steering committee.