Exhibition: Paris-Londres Music Migrations - Museum of Migration

Exhibition: Paris-Londres Music Migrations at Museum of Migration, Paris

12 March 2019 to 5 January 2020 

The exhibition

Between the early 1960s and the late 1980s, a wealth of musical styles linked with successive waves of immigration transformed Paris and London into multicultural capitals. Paris-London. Music Migrations is an immersive, chronological exploration of three pivotal decades in the musical history of Paris and London.

In the late 20th century, in Paris and London more than anywhere else, music embodied the way in which migration was profoundly reshaping the identity of these two former capitals of colonial empires. From the independence of Jamaica and Algeria in 1962 through to the late 1980s, this exhibition explores three decades which saw Paris and London metamorphose into multicultural capitals. Generations of postcolonial immigrants and their children expressed their joys, hopes and aspirations through music. Focusing on the production, dissemination and reception of popular musical forms such as rock, reggae, punk, ska, raï, afrobeat and rap, this show traces a parallel history of Paris and London with special emphasis on individual experiences and youth culture. Although the experience of immigration to Britain and France was shaped by the countries’ different national contexts, newcomers to both countries faced many of the same issues, particularly in terms of the fight against racism. In both Paris and London, music was instrumental in raising the profile of ideas which had a profound effect on social mentalities.

And of course, London wouldn’t be London and Paris wouldn’t be Paris without the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti, the makossa of Manu Dibango, the R&B of Soul II Soul, the vintage raï of Cheikha Rimitti, the ska of Desmond Dekker, the blue beat of Millie Small, the Algerian crossover of Noura, the punk without borders of Rachid Taha, the Asian underground sounds of Asian Dub Foundation, the chaâbi of Dahmane El Harrachi, the dub petry of Linton Kwesi Johnson, the zouk de Kassav’, the house of A Guy Called Gerald, the ghiwani of Nass El Ghiwane, the Oriental yéyé of Jacqueline Taïeb, the afro-jazz of Ray Lema, the militant reggae of Steel Pulse, the politicised rap of Passi, the kadans of Vikings de la Guadeloupe, the hip hop of Sidney, the legendary reggae of Bob Marley, the modern raï of Khaled, the hybrid rock of Négresses Vertes, the rhythm’n’blues of Vigon, or the juju music of King Sunny Ade…

Rhythms from Africa, the Caribbean, the Antilles and India played a decisive role in shaping the future of pop music as we know it. Above and beyond the current dominance of grime, dubstep, afro-trap and afro-punk, the global dimension of modern music was forged more than thirty years ago in the heat of social and political change, in an era marked by urban transformation and successive waves of migration.

Exhibition curators

• Stéphane Malfettes: is head curator of this exhibition and director of cultural events at the Palais de la Porte Dorée
• Angéline Escafré-Dublet: is scientific curator, a historian specialising in immigration and a lecturer in political science at Université Lyon 2.
• Martin Evans: is a curator, a professor of modern European history at the University of Sussex and a specialist in colonial and post-colonial history viewed from a global and comparative perspective.
• Hedia Yelles-Chaouche : is a project manager and coordinator of the special exhibitions held at the National Museum of the History of Immigration (with help from Pauline Coste)

https://www.histoire-immigration.fr/exhibition-paris-londres