NILA NL

• Date: 01 November
• Time: 20:00
• Location: Theater aan het Spui, Zaal 1

What happens when an everyday material like indigo (blauwsel/nila) becomes a symbol of migration and survival? What can this natural pigment, along with music and traditions, tell us about the ways communities remained connected across continents?

In NILA NL, artist Wissal Aziz takes you on a journey where performance, music, and art installation merge. Indigo is approached as a carrier of memory, loss, and strength. The pigment tells the stories of communities who, despite being separated by colonialism and slavery, maintained connections across continents.

This connection is also expressed through music. NILA NL weaves together Gnawa from Morocco, Tambú from Curaçao, and Apinti from Suriname into a new musical landscape. These traditions, deeply rooted in ritual and resistance, are brought together to form a shared language of sound, rhythm, and spiritual power.

From Senegambia (West Africa), the journey crosses the Atlantic to Suriname, Curaçao, and the United States, and from the Sahel through the Sahara to Morocco and Europe.

The Nila Collective consists of established creators from diaspora communities rooted in the Netherlands. Together, they explore how art, rituals, and music can create new forms of community and connection.

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