Keskidee Aroha: Translation on the Colonial Stage

In 1979 a Black theatre group from London toured the north island of Aotearoa New Zealand, visiting community centres and marae (traditional Māori meeting places). ¹ The troupe was named after a small Guyanese bird renowned for its resilience – the Keskidee – and consisted of Black British, African-Caribbean, African-American and African performers including a group of Rasta musicians, the Ras Messengers. The New Zealand organizers of the tour called their collective Keskidee Aroha, aroha being the Māori word for compassion and empathy. This article explores the colonial stage upon which Keskidee played and assesses the type of inter-cultural translations that are prompted when (post-)colonized subjects speak to each-other rather than address the colonizer.