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Senegalese 1973 classic film Touki Bouki inspires Beyoncé & Jay-Z tour art

Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s announcement of a joint tour called On The Run II features promotional art inspired by Senegalese filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty.
The image features the pair sitting on a motorbike with a cow skull on the handlebars, echoing Mambéty’s 1973 film Touki Bouki.

Social media users have been pointing out the reference and

https://twitter.com/ajindey/status/973278296401240069

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgOxeW1hqMT/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgOzjqBB0XD/

Djibril Diop Mambéty was a Senegalese film director, actor, orator, composer and poet.

Mambety’s films received international acclaim for their original and experimental cinematic technique and non-linear, unconventional narrative style.

Touki Bouki (The Hyena’s Journey) is considered by many to be his most important film.

It tells the story of two lovers, Mory and Anta, who fantasize about fleeing Dakar for a mythic and romanticized France. The film follows them as they mobilise the required funds for travel. They both make it to the steamliner that would transport them to Paris, but before it disembarks, Mory is drawn back to Dakar and cannot succumb to the seduction of the West.

Touki Bouki won the Special Jury Award at the Moscow film Festival, the International Critics Award at Cannes and was ranked #52 in Empire magazines “The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema” in 2010.

While the globally acclaimed power couple are yet to officially explain the reference as used on the promotional poster, Beyoncé has in the past referenced a number of African cultures including Yoruba deities during her performance at last year’s Grammy awards in the US.

– AfricaNews