Events

Harlem in Montmartre, A Paris Jazz Story

Created by Audrey Cruz-Mermy (See other events)
  • Aug 12, 2009 from 3:00pm to 5:00pm
  • Location: cultural service French Embassy
  • Latest Activity: Aug 21, 2019
Special Preview Screening6pm : APERITIF7pm : SCREENING@ Embassy of France, cultural serviceKindly reply by August 7th (seating limited) to hingoraniJ@wnet.org or at 212 560 6609During the years between the world wars, a small but dynamic community of African American jazz musicians left the United States and settled in Paris, creating a vibrant expatriate musical scene and introducing jazz to the French. While the Harlem Renaissance was taking off across the Atlantic, entertainers in Montmartre, the epicenter of the Parisian scene, contributed enthusiastically to a culture that thrived for two decades, until the occupation of the city by German troops on June 18, 1940. In Harlem in Montmartre, William Shack takes a fascinating look at this extraordinary cultural moment, one in which African American musicians could flee the racism of the United States to pursue their lives and art in the relatively free context of bohemian Europe. His book is the first comprehensive treatment of the rise and decline of the African American music community in Paris; in it, he considers the international dimensions of black experience in the modern era and explores the similarities and differences of Harlem-style jazz and culture in Europe and America.
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