Poku fu Kenki
Olivia Cunha
52 min
2015

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At the end of the 1980s, a bauxite town, built in 1916 in the middle of flooded forest in Eastern Suriname, was transformed into the epicenter of the Binnenlanse Oorlog. This so-called ‘War of the Interior’ forced thousands of Maroons, mostly Cottica Ndyuka from local villages, to flee from the death and destruction, bombing of villages, rivers and plantations, and the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Army and the Republic of Suriname. This is the town where Marcel Pinas, a Ndyuka artist, has been promoting cultural projects involving visual arts, music, theater, education and art performances. The Moengo Music Festival, held 20-23 September 2013, was an encounter involving some of these experiences of transformation (kenki) in which young Ndyuka demonstrated their involvement with local and foreign styles of music (poku). Poku fu Kenki.