{"id":468,"date":"2020-03-09T21:37:31","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T02:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/?p=468"},"modified":"2020-03-09T21:37:31","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T02:37:31","slug":"negrophilia-eurocentrism-of-the-exotic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/2020\/03\/09\/negrophilia-eurocentrism-of-the-exotic\/","title":{"rendered":"Negrophilia: Eurocentrism of the Exotic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Negrophilia, as defined by Bernard Gendron<\/a>, was an infatuation with American and \u201cprimitive,\u201d or African culture (1). By using the word primitivism to describe music with African influence, one is already assuming a distinction between a developed versus undeveloped group of people. \u201cPrimitivism\u201d makes reference to primates, dehumanizing African culture and implying it is less civilized than European cultures that are not \u201cprimitive.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Milhaud\u2019s fascination with Harlem<\/a> created a new kind of experience for a French composer, as exposure to Jazz clubs and street music were rare. Milhaud in a way was more inspired by Gershwin, an American inspired by the African American rooted music, making it a blurred line between inspiration from America and inspiration from Africa. Upon Milhaud\u2019s first journey to New York, he described a black female jazz singer\u2019s voice as deep and dramatic (2).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
“Negro” exotic costumes in Milhaud’s La \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Cr\u00e9ation du Monde<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Andre Levinsons\u2019 <\/span>The Negro Dance<\/a>,<\/span><\/i> he acknowledged the most defining aspect of African inspired music was ryhthm. The metric, percussive sounds of so-called \u201cnegro dancing\u201d in contrast to European dancing is what made it so intriguing to French people (3). Josephine Baker, a young African American dancer, became the symbol of \u201cnegro dance\u201d in France, an exotic woman different from women of <\/span>La Ballet Russe <\/span><\/i>and other European dance styles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Levinson points out, all types of folk dance and music, including in western europe, are centered around rhythm and meter, which is ultimately what drove the popularity of African influenced music. He refers to the folk dancer as a \u201csavage dancer,\u201d an idea that had already been drawn upon by Ravel and Debussy when they created Spanish inspired classical music, and when Stravinsky drew upon influences of Russian folk music. All of these efforts to incorporate other cultures really created an othering effect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the debate of whether or not African culture was admired or fetishized, it ultimately comes down to this question:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Would Josephine Baker have been as popular if she were white? If she were French or European?\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clearly, part of Josephine Baker\u2019s fame came from the prospect of her being black, and being seen as an exotic woman made her more famous, even if it was for the wrong reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Josephine Baker dances the “banana dance” in costume<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even in the case of Josephine Baker<\/a>, she did not sing music that represented her culture, but rather an exoticized, white man\u2019s interpretation of what \u201cblack music\u201d meant. This is the same pattern we have seen in most of the \u201cnew\u201d French music, with Brazil, Spain, Russia, and American Jazz (4). The music is a caricature or a version adapted by the French to fit their tastes, instead of actually representing the music. This just furthers the eurocentrism in classical music instead of making awareness for other culture\u2019s music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(1). Gendron, Bernard. Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2002.<\/p>\n

(2). Platt, Russel.l\u00a0“The Music of Darius Milhaud” The New Yorker. 23 Jun. 2017, https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/culture\/culture-desk\/the-indomitable-humanism-of-darius-milhaud<\/a>. Accessed 8 Mar. 2020.<\/p>\n

(3). Levinson, Andr\u00e9, Joan Ross. Acocella, and Lynn Garafola. Andr\u00e9 Levinson on Dance: Writings from Paris in the Twenties<\/em>. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1991.<\/p>\n

(4). Murari , Tim. \u201cThe Enigmatic Josephine Baker – Interview: Archive, 26 August 1974.\u201d The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, August 26, 2015. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/stage\/2015\/aug\/26\/josephine-baker-interview-1974.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Negrophilia, as defined by Bernard Gendron, was an infatuation with American and \u201cprimitive,\u201d or African culture (1). By using the word primitivism to describe music with African influence, one is already assuming a distinction between a developed versus undeveloped group of people. \u201cPrimitivism\u201d makes reference to primates, dehumanizing African culture and implying it is less […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3600"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":489,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions\/489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}