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South Sudan's stand-up comedians: 'When I'm on stage, I feel like I'm helping to build this country'
Kilkilu Ana Comedy Show regulars Christine Simon, Sarah Simon and Diana Helen attend the show on Thursday, November 17, 2022 (FLORENCE MIETTAUX)

 

The popcorn vendors turned on their machines long before the first audience members arrived. Every Thursday in the late afternoon, between 1,500 and 2,000 people from all over the Southern Sudanese capital, Juba, flock to the large amphitheater at the Nyakuron Cultural Center to watch the Kilkilu Ana Comedy Show, the weekly meeting place for Southern Sudanese stand-up comics.

Kilkilu Ana, which means "tickle me" in the local Arabic dialect, has become a hotbed of laughter in South Sudan. "There was absolutely nothing like it when we created it," said its founder, Isaac Lumori, 43, a musician known as Mclumoex and an entertainment pioneer in the world's youngest nation. The adventure began in 2014, a few months after the December 2013 fighting that had devastated Juba and marked the beginning of a civil war in South Sudan. "We wanted to try to make those who had lost loved ones in the violence smile," recalled the man who finances his artistic activities through his job as a telecommunications engineer.

'I'd rather be hungry than miss the show'

"At first, no one understood what we wanted to do and why we were asking people to pay for laughter," he recalled with obvious emotion, sitting on a banquette in the outdoor bar of the Nyakuron Cultural Center, which overlooks the grounds of this unique Juba performance venue, built in the 1970s. "Sometimes bottles were thrown at me, people shouted 'We don't want to laugh, we want to dance!'" said Emmanuel Dulley, whose stage name is Lotole, one of the comedians who has emerged thanks to Kilkilu Ana.

To attract the audience, Mclumoex had the idea of inserting skits between performances of another show he launched: the contemporary dance competition Alabu Dance, which was created in 2016 and has become a huge popular success. Gradually, the public's taste for comedy and this new kind of performance grew. "We've spotted and trained about 20 stand-up comedians over the years, and some of them are now making a very good living from this profession. We are building the entertainment industry in South Sudan from scratch," Mclumoex said.

Sequined garments, shining necklaces, big sunglasses: For some of the young audience members, coming to the Kilkilu Ana Comedy Show is an opportunity to dress up in their most extravagant outfits. Others come more incognito, like Christine Simon, her sister Sarah and their friend Diana Helen, all fans of Kilkilu Ana. "We've been coming every Thursday for two years, nothing can make us miss it!" said Simon, sporting an afro haircut and a happy, toothy grin. "I put aside my lunch money to pay for my transportation and entrance to the show. In all it costs me 2,000 South Sudanese pounds [€3.30]," she said. "I'd rather be hungry than miss the show, because life outside is very difficult. When I come here, I know I will get rid of all my stress! We're all together, we're united, we feel good."

Isaac Lumori aka McLumoex, the founder of the Kilkilu Ana Comedy Show, the weekly meeting place for South Sudanese stand-up comedians, attends the show on Thursday 17 November 2022. FLORENCE MIETTAUX

The atmosphere, once the show started, was electric, unbridled and good-natured. The social mix was obvious. Everyone laughed, danced and shouted when a joke was too funny or too provocative, as when the comedian Lodiong, a tall thin guy, wearing a long wig and high heels, made fun of the suggestive dance style of girls from the suburbs of Juba... backed up by a demonstration. Another comic, named Talento, recalled his childhood years in a village, under the orders of an authoritarian mother who forced him to do farm work. Another, Comedian Fly, ironically alluded to "the pastors who preach peace in South Sudan" while their followers do the opposite, in a country where violence continues despite the signing of a peace agreement in 2018.

Read more Subscribers only Letter from Juba: The rise of South Sudanese models[1]

'Laughter can change society'

The show provides a space of freedom. "Today we can talk about politicians, corruption, domestic violence or different tribes and how their members behave," said Lumori, aka Mclumoex, conceding, however, that some topics remain off limits. "The killings, the events that we can read in the newspapers, we can't laugh about them, but we can refer to them before going on to make a joke," he said.

Wokil Jesh Commando, whose real name is Kuech Deng Atem, is a popular stand-up comic in Juba who was discovered by Kilkilu Ana. "I used to make jokes at school about what I saw of the behavior of soldiers in the barracks," he said. Since then, he has made a specialty of jokes aimed at law enforcement. "It got me into trouble before," he said. "But now people have realized that I'm not doing anything wrong, I'm talking about things that are happening and that need to change."

He is convinced of it: "Laughter can change society. When I'm on stage, I feel like I'm helping to build this country." According to him, the proof is in the fact that "before, people used to get angry and could become violent" when they didn't like a joke or felt targeted by one, "but now they are happier," he pointed out. It's a sign for him that "South Sudan is changing, slowly healing."

Read more Sudanese military shoot tear gas at pro-democracy protesters on coup anniversary[2]

Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr[3]; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.

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