The Legacy of the Lost Generation in Arts and Music

As part of the 3rd edition of the Paris New York Heritage Festival, in partnership with the Fondation des États-Unis and with the support of the Cultural Office of the Embassy of the United States of America, BL Music presents a conference on The Legacy of the Lost Generation in Arts and Music.

Panelists

Bobby Sanabria – Co-Artistic Director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center, drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, educator, 7X Grammy nominated Recording Artist as a leader.

Vincent Bouvet – Historian, Author of the book ” La Génération Perdue. Des Américains à Paris, 1917-1939″.

Cheryl Ann Bolden – Artist / Curator and artistic director of “Museum Precious Cargo”- an educational and artistic traveling museum and atelier dedicated to the history and culture of African Americans.

Moderator

Raina Lampkins-Fielder – Curator, Artistic Director, and Art Historian specialising in contemporary art and performance.

About the Conference

Pre-registration is advised, by following this free-ticket link.

The conference will be held in English and French without interpretation.

During the interwar years, the Lost Generation represented a literary movement of American authors who shared their experiences between a divided America and their arrival in France. This term “Lost Generation” was coined to describe the disillusionment felt by those– particularly the youth– who experienced the First World War. Among this generation, an influential African-American artistic community flourished, with such cultural luminaries as Langston Hughes, Joséphine Baker, Duke Ellington, and the Harlem Hellfighters contributing to the cultural evolution in France, most notably with the arrival of jazz. On this special occasion, Vincent Bouvet, historian and author, will explain the term “Génération Perdue”, which informally brings together these American intellectuals and artists who came to live in Paris during the 1920s. Writers, artists, musicians, all will have lived in Paris experiences of cultural and racial emancipation and on customs that have deeply marked today’s world. Master musician Bobby Sanabria of the Bronx Music Heritage Center will share the unique history of the U.S. Army 369th Harlem Hellfighters Regimental Band directed by Lt. James Europe Reese. This all Black band was the first musical group to expose European audiences in WWI to African American culture and music through their performances of ragtime and early jazz. A little-known fact was that the band had 18 Puerto Rican musicians in it who would greatly influence the music scene in NYC. Amongst them was Rafael Hernandez, who would later become known as Puerto Rico’s greatest and Latin America’s most beloved composer. Finally, Paris-based American artist and curator Cheryl Ann Bolden will share her experiences and her own definition of the Lost Generation. You will have the opportunity to have a discussion with the panelists and curator Raina Lampkins-Fielder, former artistic director of the Mona Bismarck American Center, who will moderate the discussion.

RFI Video : « Les Harlem Hellfighters, des poilus afro-américains dans la Grande Guerre »

Video – Duke Ellington « It don’t mean a thing »

Video – Joséphine Baker in Paris

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