Chin / composition et direction musicale, Jean-Luc Trulès ; livret et mise en scène, Emmanuel Genvrin ; production, Marie-Pierre Bousquet ; réalisation, Greg Germain.

Paris, France : Windrose SAS, 2011.

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Mr. Roger, a former Petain supporter, appeals to the 'Reds' and to the son of Doctor Papa, Chin (pronounced like "Chine" in French) to help save his Bel Air sugar factory. The factory is saved but the Roger family, in the grip of a curse, breaks apart and Chin has to take refuge in the mountains ... The libretto is inspired by a true story : the 1955 alliance of the communist Paul Vergès and the sugar producer René Payet to save the Quartier Français factory. "Chin" or "Le Chinois (Chinese man)" was Paul Verges's nickname as a youth because his mother was Asian. The title also calls to mind the Maoist sympathies of the decolonisation movements, as well as the presence on Reunion Island of an influential Chinese community. This theme has already been the object of a 2002 play by Vollard Theatre, as well as a TV film screenplay with Yves Boisset. A remarkable opera due to its historical libretto, Chin deals with a little-known part of French overseas départements' history : the important post-war decolonisation movement in the islands which gave rise to independentist, autonomist and Maoist-friendly tendencies. It created a tropical communism, a sugar-cane communism whose imagery found its models in Che Guevara or Fidel Castro. A contemporary opera with a hybrid musical colour, Asian sounds, and Indian Ocean rhythms, Chin's score opens up interesting and unexplored perspectives by integrating Indian, Chinese and Malagasy trends into Western classicism. The performers reflect this cultural mix, originating both from Reunion Island and other overseas French départements (Martinique, Guadeloupe), and from mainland France, Madagascar and China.

ASP-AVON OCLC KB.

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