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00:00The cast of this rare Beninese musical pour their hearts into passionately bringing the
00:06story of the greatest ruler of the historical kingdom of Dahomey to life.
00:14Playing Berzin, a musical, is a great honor for me, and it's a pleasure as well.
00:18It comes with a lot of responsibility, but we've committed ourselves to this, and we've
00:23worked hard for it.
00:26Dahomey existed from about 1600 to 1904.
00:30Its 11th king, Berzin, ruled from 1889.
00:33But outside of Benin, few know about his courageous fight against French colonization.
00:41In order for our story to be accessible to everyone and easy to share and enjoy, we need
00:45to demystify it.
00:47Certainly not everything should be publicly disclosed, but I believe we need to share
00:52the vibrant revolutionary thoughts and the pride of Dahomey.
01:00The idea came from a fairly simple observation.
01:02Benin is rich in many treasures rooted in our culture and heritage.
01:07Unfortunately, we haven't taken full advantage of these riches.
01:11Films like Woman King and even Black Panther draw a lot from our history.
01:14In any case, Hollywood in general makes a significant amount of money from our culture,
01:19and ultimately, Benin does not benefit from it directly.
01:26The musical is called The Throne of Berzin and features many historical figures such
01:32as the progressive king Adon Dozan and the Agoti, a group of women who chose to forgo
01:38love and dedicate their lives to the kingdom.
01:47I'm very proud and very happy as a female choreographer to be able to once again reveal
01:53the story of the Amazons through the history of our revealed King Berzin.
02:00The musical is a first for Benin and has gone down well with audiences here.
02:05Producers plan to take the show on an international tour next year.
02:10The show plays an important part in Benin's soft power push as it tries to attract more
02:16visitors to the country by promoting its rich cultural heritage.