The musical theater piece is part of the larger project WAX UNITED (AT), which takes a multidisciplinary approach to examining the colonial and postcolonial trade ties between Europe and West Africa.
The history of trade is a history of interconnections—between markets and people, colonial structures, global exploitation, and cultural appropriation. With the musical theater piece WAX TRADERS (AT), GROUP50:50 shifts the focus from numbers and trade balances to the voices of those who
breathed life into textile fabrics.
The narrative spans over two centuries, stretching from the cotton and cloth markets of Europe to the markets, tailors, and streets of today's metropolises in West and Central Africa.
It began as a colonial commodity: European fabrics produced for the African market, such as Indiennes, which were traded for slaves in the 18th century, or wax fabrics, produced in Switzerland and distributed by the Basel Mission trading company. In West African hands, these fabrics became the connecting element of an independent fashion and cultural movement. WAX TRADERS tells the stories of the people behind it: from the legendary female traders who dominated West African markets in the 1960s to those who are holding their own today in an economy flooded with cheap imports.
With its mix of music, performance, and documentary material, WAX TRADERS becomes a musical archive of those who gave the fabrics their value—and often remained invisible. The music draws on the archives of West African pop music, combined with new compositions created in collaboration with musicians from Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Fashion and costumes play a central role:
Wax prints are used, whose patterns can also be interpreted politically – as symbols of power, resistance, and cultural identity.
Premiere April 9
Further performances: April 12 and 14, May 27, 29, and 30, 2026
