Asaari Bibang: "I'll tell you something nice about Catalonia and the Catalan language, and now I'm going to start a long discussion."

BarcelonaHe Hilaria festival It remains firm in its founding principles of programming comedy in Catalan and even reveals to us that Our favorite comedians also speak CatalanLast year it was Yunez Chaib, and this year it is Asaari Bibang (Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, 1985) from Hospitale who will offer Just one night, a 100% Catalan improvisation show this Thursday at El Molino.

Your monologues mostly deal with the effects of racism. Is comedy a space where the audience lets its guard down to talk about topics that, in a more serious format, might bore them?

— The thing is, interestingly, I don't talk about racism; I talk about my life and about very general issues that occur in very particular ways in the lives of people of color. And yes, comedy is a very special, interesting, and effective form of communication, I would say, because the messages come from a more comfortable, more magical place, which is less tedious, as you say.

Being a woman and Black probably gives you plenty of ammunition, but do you feel it also limits you? Because perhaps it forces you to address these issues and makes you carry a responsibility you wouldn't want...

— What limits me is not being a Black woman, but how others perceive it. When you work on a project, everyone gets asked how they wrote the script, how they created the character, what their backstory is, and now they ask me if it's been difficult being a Black woman, blah, blah, blah, and it's always the same topic. And the problem isn't that we're talking about it, it's that these are our lives. But why is it that when I talk about the specificities of love as a Black woman, suddenly you're not interested anymore? It seems that being Black means you can only be Black, but you can be a woman, a teacher, an expert on gender violence, whatever, and want to talk about these issues. But the moment you include the intersectionality of race, some people disappear, even though these are issues that concern everyone.

There are people who tune out when you talk about feminism, which fights discrimination against half the population.

— The problem is that they It's everyone but they It's just us. When you consider more than half the population a niche, everything is a niche. Only the hegemonic male experience matters, and everything else is always labeled with adjectives.

Now you have a new touring show. What is it? Bibang Theory?

— I wanted it to be really badass. I wanted it to be very much me. I wanted people to know me, to know what I think about things.

How do you do it on Instagram?

— Yes, like the kitchen monologues from Instagram, but an hour and a half dropping factsYou know what? I've turned 40 and I'm in a very rebellious phase. I feel like acting silly and saying whatever comes to mind without any shame or embarrassment.

You started out as an actress and then moved into comedy. More recently, you've returned to acting in the film NoiseIs it difficult for racialized actresses to break out of the immigrant niche?

— Man, it's so hard to break out of that niche that I went fourteen years without doing fiction because all I got offered was playing prostitutes over and over again. I quit because I was always playing the same characters, and that kind of acting wasn't helping me grow. Even if we put aside the whole racial issue, the prejudices, and the stereotypes, just looking at it from a professional standpoint, I decided it was time to put it aside until something came along that interested me a bit more. What I didn't know was that fourteen years would pass! Otherwise, maybe I would have said yes, I'll tell you that! Because it's something I genuinely enjoy doing, and I've trained for it.

Do you think anything has changed in that time?

— Yes, it's important to say that progress is being made. But it's 2025, and I think we've been patient enough. Because we're not asking for anything unreasonable, just to reflect what the world is like right now: global, diverse, multicultural. The moment you don't represent this in Barcelona, ​​it means you have a vested interest in perpetuating an unrealistic ideal.

Can you give away spoilers about what you're going to do in Hilaria?

— No, because I have no idea what's going to happen, I'm serious, I haven't prepared anything, it'll be an impromptu show with whoever shows up. It really will be Just one nightI really want to.

Although you have performed your career in Spanish, here you will perform in Catalan.

— I've been living in Madrid for many years, because I started working here on some films and really juggling all the logistics that this entailed was very complicated – now perhaps it would be different with networks and video conferences – but I feel like I'm from Barcelona.

You arrived in Hospitalet de Llobregat when you were very young. What is your relationship with the Catalan language?

— I lived in Catalonia from age 6 to 24, I received all my education in Barcelona, ​​and a large part of my family is Catalan. I feel that Catalan is the language of my home; it's what I speak with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. My family languages ​​are Catalan because I'm Catalan and Spanish because I'm from Guinea. This also has a lot to do with prejudice. If I were to do a series that required a Catalan actress, why couldn't I do it? There are Black Catalans! And the assumption that I learned the language or that I experience it from the outside is a prejudice. There are still people who tell me to go back to my country even though I've lived here since I was six.

Of course, this is your country.

— I think it's a positive thing, an added value, to live in Madrid, to be Catalan, but also to be Equatorial Guinean. I don't see the need to choose, because all these things are part of my identity and allow me to see the world from many different perspectives.

You'll probably find that, because of your skin color, few people in Barcelona will speak to you in Catalan at first.

— This happens a lot. But look, I'll tell you something beautiful that Catalonia and this language have in common, and now I'm going to open a can of worms. One of the differences is that when I sit down with someone and we speak Catalan, it makes us connect, it makes us recognize each other, it makes people stop taking you for granted, it makes you feel at home. This doesn't happen with Spanish. No matter how much you speak Spanish, it doesn't mean people consider you Spanish, never, no matter how much you have the language or the feeling. On the other hand, having developed your own identity in Catalonia, there's a point where you do feel like you belong here. It's not always the case that just because you speak Catalan you're perceived as Catalan; many Black friends still have to defend their Catalan identity, and in fact, speaking Catalan doesn't make you more or less human or deserve more or less respect, but there is a difference.

There is a sense of belonging.

— Yes. That's why, despite the years I've lived in Madrid, it's like an inheritance I've never wanted to lose because it's a part of me that helps me recognize myself. And don't think—because I have thought it before—"I don't speak Catalan anymore."

Because?

— There's always someone who tells you, "It's because you have an accent."

Wow! Don't let yourself get insecure!

— Yes, this happens. I've experienced it. I understand, if you have to present the news on TV3. But listen to me, you're not doing anyone any good if you tell people who say "I love your language" "you speak it badly." And I used to think, "Well, I'll just stop speaking it." But no: it's part of my identity.

But you were the official announcer for the spring festivities in L'Hospitalet!

— Oh yes, how cool, it was wonderful. Just the fact that they asked me, that they recognized me as a resident of Hospitalet, was beautiful, I was so grateful. It was an honor for me, seriously, it's one of the most wonderful things that has ever happened to me. I never would have imagined I could be the town crier!