Listening and hearing Carmen: Sonic cartographies of struggle in U-Carmen eKhayelitsha (2005)

Abstract

Situating U-Carmen eKhayelitsha (2005) within a diasporic genealogy of black opera that privileges black sonic/aural epistemologies, I am interested in how these knowledges 'disidentify' racialized and gendered hermeneutics of sounding and listening. Through the lens of Katherine McKittrick's Demonic Grounds (2006), I centre black women's cartographies, imagining the black singing voice as, not only soundscape, but a uniquely embodied black geography. Identifying Carmen's singing voice as an embodied black geography, I discuss the sonic cartographies in U-Carmen through close readings of the film's opening and finale, as well as 'La Habanera'/ 'Lwaz'Uthando'. Embracing isiXhosa with Georges Bizet's score, the film struggles against the sonic colour line, challenging and recalibrating our listening ear. Within this soundscape, U-Carmen responds to the patriarchally imagined femme fatale, presenting a Carmen who struggles against gender-based violence.