{"id":553,"date":"2020-03-10T09:10:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T14:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/?p=553"},"modified":"2020-03-10T09:10:14","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T14:10:14","slug":"the-duality-of-cutting-edge-modernity-versus-primitivism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/performinghistory\/2020\/03\/10\/the-duality-of-cutting-edge-modernity-versus-primitivism\/","title":{"rendered":"The duality of cutting edge modernity versus primitivism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Negrophilia in Paris in the 1920\u2019s did not reflect a deep admiration that the French public had for Africans and African-Americans, but rather reflected the long running practice of exoticisim and appropiation, long established in France. Specifically, writer\u2019s use of Jazz at the time was highly problematic. When primitivism was a style popular in the works of Stravinsky, Auric, and others, Jazz offered a deep well of inspiration to draw from.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jordan 1<\/sup><\/a> talks about the frenetic expression that jazz presented and how many composers and writers of jazz in France latched on to American jazz writers’ use of rhythm. This type of musical element borrowing reminds me strongly of how Debussy “borrowed\u201d the whole tone scale and counterpoint writing of a Javenese Gamelan orchestra. Jordan discusses how several writers of the day described the \u201cnatural rhythm\u201d of blacks and how it presented itself in their dance and their music.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dichotomy that France struggled the most with, was the portrayed primitivism of Jazz, endowed with a sense of american modernism. Jordan states \u201cOnce more, the revue\u2019s modern sensibility clashed with fixed ideas about primitive <\/span>negre<\/span><\/i>, creating dissonance and tension\u201d (108). Although the music may have been respect and adored for it\u2019s cutting edge modernity, it was still used to supplement \u201cexotic\u201d characters of primitivism.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"This practice reminds me of America\u2019s own Cotton Club in New York. The Cotton Club<\/a> featured artists like Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway but would only admit white audiences to watch. Often, jazz would be played as \u201cjungle music\u201d to accompany shows with dancers in \u201cjungle garb.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n