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8 Kykunkor, or the Witch Woman: An African Opera in America, 1934 Maureen Needham Versatile, multitalented as an opera and concert singer, dancer, choreographer, composer, and teacher of African culture, the great but virtually forgotten Asadata Dafora made a huge contribution to the birth of African dance and musical drama in the United States. Kykunkor, or the Witch Woman, the work that first brought him fame, premiered in a tiny New York City studio theater in 1934. It was the first opera presented in the United States with authentic African dances and music, performed in an African tongue by a mainly African-born cast. To the surprise of everyone involved except Dafora, who confidently believed that his offspring was destined for the bright lights of Broadway, Kykunkor became not only a hit but also one of the top ten theatrical productions of the year. Austin Dafora Horton was born on 4 August 1890 to John Warner M. Horton and his wife, residents of Freetown, Sierra Leone (present-day Mali). The Hortons were members of the Temeni ethnic group, but their name came from the Nova Scotia family to which the artist’s great-grandfather had been attached before settling in Sierra Leone as a freed slave. Dafora came from an educated and accomplished family: his father was city treasurer and his mother a concert pianist who had studied in Vienna and Paris.1 Dafora, the name he preferred to be known by, reminisced how he used to run away from home for days at a time, in order to observe festivals far from urban Freetown. Before leaving Sierra 233 234 /  3:  Leone, he toured throughout West Africa. ‘‘I never missed an opportunity to see the native dances even though my main interest in life at that time was singing. I wanted to sing opera . . . . But you never know what the future will bring.’’ His firsthand observations of ritual ceremonies were put to good use in his later career as a teacher and specialist in the African performing arts.2 Dafora attended the Wesleyan Boys’ High School but left to continue his studies in Europe. He spent some time in England and Russia, then went to Milan where he studied voice at La Scala for two years. There he sang a tenor role in an unknown opera, possibly Verdi’s Aïda or Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine, both of which were in his repertory. While at La Scala, he met a fellow singer from the United States who suggested that he pursue his career in America. It would be nearly twenty years before he did go. In the interim, he concertized in Germany, France, Italy, and England.3 At a certain point, Dafora shifted his primary focus from song to dance. He became a dance teacher while in Berlin. He recounted once how he had attended a performance of African songs in a German nightclub one night in 1910. Overcome with homesickness, he began to dance. The audience was so impressed that the nightclub manager asked him to teach the dances to a troupe engaged to celebrate the completion of the Kiel Canal. Dafora’s career from 1912, when he is known to have toured Europe, to 1929, when he made his first appearance in New York City, is a blank, although he may have been involved with a dance troupe toward the end of that period. During World War II, he served with the West African Frontier Force of the British army.4 Dafora arrived in New York City sometime in 1929 on tour with a group of African dancers who, like him, were members of the Temeni ethnic group.Ten years later, he told interviewer Waring Cuney that this company had appeared in France and England as well as elsewhere in the United States.5 In New York, Dafora attempted to establish himself as a singer.The Depression was not a kind environment for expatriate African performers, so he decided to create his own vehicles to introduce Americans to the rich variety of the African arts. A poster dated 13 April 1933 appears to be the earliest record of the ASADATA African Opera & Dramatic Company, head- : ,     / 235 Advertisement flyer for Zoonga, 1933 (Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the New York Public Library–Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; reproduced with permission) quartered at 238 West 123rd Street. The poster proclaimed ‘‘Something New in New York—A Night in Africa.’’ ‘‘Asadata Dafora Horton...

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