by henry | Oct 15, 2015 | Music in Paris in the 1920s (2015)
The Parisian infatuation with the pulsing rhythms and gyrating movements of “Negro” dancing in the 1920s was an indication not of deep love and appreciation for the people of the “other” culture, but rather an overindulged fetish of the wild...
by schenk | Oct 15, 2015 | Music in Paris in the 1920s (2015)
“These blacks, who are grotesque caricatures, have rhythm not only in their legs, but in their skin, which shudders from their heels to the roots of their hair. They sing with a very sure sense of harmony, making us think that they remember their native...
by hex | Oct 14, 2015 | Music in Paris in the 1920s (2015)
Reading and studying about Negrophilia keep reminding me about the idea of Orientalism and that to what extent Parisian’s Negrophilia bears similarities to Orientalism, another aesthetic wave of appreciating the Other happened some decades ago before 1920s. An...
by harikian | Oct 14, 2015 | Music in Paris in the 1920s (2015)
Upon first reading about “Negrophilia”, I didn’t find it particularly problematic. If anything, it seemed to me that the French were embracing African culture, a refreshing idea given the racism happening in US and other areas on Europe....
by Andrew Horton | Oct 14, 2015 | Music in Paris in the 1920s (2015)
André Levinson’s opinion on the influence of African art in Parisian society is generally favorable, but chock-full of patronizing back-handed compliments. Josephine Baker’s dancing is repeatedly referred to as primitive. In fact, in Levinson’s writing on “Negro...
