The Epic of Black Music

Gentlemen, the censors...

Marian Anderson on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the Easter Sunday outdoor concert in 1939. © GettyImages/Bettmann/Contributor

By: Joe Farmer Follow

4 mins

At all times, misunderstanding and distrust have led authoritarian powers to censor works and muzzle artists.

The Frémeaux & Associés label released an exciting triple album this spring, the mere listening of which alerts us to the excesses of narrow cultural policies.

Philippe Lesage, one of the project managers with Teca Calazans of this edifying anthology, tells us, this week, the "Epopee" of musicians banished, rejected, gagged, for not having followed the rules of a society intolerant.

Advertisement

If the censorship concerns creators from all walks of life, the African-American community was more durably and brutally reduced to silence.

It took a lot of courage to dare to challenge the authorities and denounce the abuses.

At the risk of their lives, musicians and performers of black culture resisted and generated an irresistible wave of protest.

When Billie Holiday allowed herself to sing

, a protest poem by Abel Meeropol, in 1939 at the Cafe Society in New York, she was fully aware that she was drawing the wrath of the members of the Ku Klux Klan, but she did not shrink from the danger and made this work an anthem rebellious and rebellious.

In this same year 1939, another queen of the vocal art obtained a victory against the reactionary outbursts of a prudish America.

Faced with intimidation from a section of the population, she managed to perform, with the support of the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln in Washington in the presence of 75,000 spectators!

Philippe Lesage, author of "La Censure, the musicians facing political power".

© Joe Farmer/RFI

In the early 1950s, her male alter ego, singer, actor, athlete and activist, Paul Robeson, also faced censorship attempts by those in power.

Judged too complacent with the communist ideology, his passport will be confiscated and this sentence will prohibit him from traveling beyond the American borders.

His works will no longer be broadcast on the major national media and his image will be abused by his opponents, first and foremost, Senator Joseph McCarthy.

The pressure of the American administration on the population of African origin was intense and massive.

However, the fight for social justice was not in vain.

Many examples, over the decades,

Singer Paul Robeson in front of a piano during a discussion about his role as 'Othello' in Shakespeare's play of the same name, in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, July 22, 1958. © Keystone Features/Hulton Archive/Getty Pictures

Whites and blacks have, for a long time, exchanged, conversed, sympathized, despite prohibitions, bullying and humiliation.

The reckless conductor and clarinetist, Benny Goodman, dared to present, in 1938, a multicolored formation in the prestigious room of Carnegie Hall, in New York.

A feat and a major risk at a time when segregation was still sadly the norm.

Remember that the civil rights movement will not begin until 20 years later!

Each artist, whose identity roots did not suit the descendants of European settlers, was singled out and marginalized from so-called "free" American society.

Immersing ourselves in this inglorious story reminds us how much the temptation to silence an adversary or an opponent is an easy solution that only engenders mistrust,

dissension, misunderstanding and, ultimately, visceral and unfounded hatred.

As the world seems to be fracturing again, re-listening to the soundtrack of an imperfect past is a lesson we should all learn from.

La Censure – Musicians facing political power – 1929/1962

 is published by

.

Box 3 CDs "Censorship, musicians facing political power".

© Fremeaux & Associates

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• Culture

• Musics

On the same subject

The Epic of Black Music

Billie Holiday revealed…

The Epic of Black Music

George Floyd Blues

The Epic of Black Music

Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall