BackChat: History in our midst

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Below hear from our Artistic Director Dominique Le Gendre and what she got up to in March this year.

Over the past two weeks, four separate events that tangibly and in very singular ways, presented the relevance of history to the present, seized my attention.

1. The first of these was the Regenerate series of discussions organised and hosted online by Orchestras Live on March 4th.
The theme of 2021’s first Regenerate conversation was: Civic Purpose, what role do orchestras have to play in Society…. with contributions from Grace Bremner, senior Programme co-ordinator, Local Trust; Lucy Farant Director, Young Norfolk Arts and Kully Thiarai Creative Director, Leeds 2023. The key link between the past and present here of course is the orchestra, elitist symbol of Western Europe’s “High Art” now facing a reckoning with its own historical lack of representation and relevance.

All three contributors offered valuable reflections on the sort of things that projects need to focus on to be relevant to communities. These reflections while obvious are worth framing as golden rules of engagement. Simple things such as creating a meaningful role for communities and their members, focusing on the process more than the outcomes, awareness of power imbalances, identifying talent and opportunities in communities where these qualities struggle to thrive, finding common ground in an individual’s single experience of the art form opens the way to dialogue, the importance of representation i.e. seeing yourself in a specific role and most important of all, sharing food, tea and socialising time.

2. The online launch on the evening of March 4th- very busy day- of Professor Christine Ganglehoff and Cathleen LeGrand’s book, Tour de Force was an opportunity to celebrate this valuable and comprehensive exploration of lesser-known art-music in the English, French and Dutch speaking Caribbean. Professor Ganglehoff who is based at the University of the Bahamas, is one of a group of Caribbean based academics who instigated the symposia on Caribbean Art Music, creating a much needed and valued network of Caribbean and Caribbean based composers, academics and classically trained musicians. The launch heard from Haitian/Bahamian composer Christian Justilien, Jamaican composer Peter Ashbourne and Garrett McQueen, American bassoonist, Executive Producer and co-host of Trilloquy, the online arts podcast that affirms the “classic” aspects from all cultures. You can find out more about Trilloquy here.

Alongside the authors’ first book, Art Music in the Caribbean- the first comprehensive bibliography of art music composers and musicians of the Caribbean region- the new book Tour de Force provides a gateway to the wider world of Classical music for composers and musicians of the Caribbean region.

3.Journeys to Freedom: Jewish Book Week welcomed authors Joanna Newman and Rosie Whitehouse in conversation with Julia Neuberger.

Joanna Newman’s book, Nearly The New World: The British West Indies and the Flight from Nazism 1933-1945, sheds light on the stories of displacement, rescue and refuge in unexpected places, notably the New World and especially Trinidad where by 1939, 600 Jewish refugees had found a place to live.

The relevance of this book is that in telling these stories, a wider story of survival is communicated, one that includes those who helped them and how their arrival also impacted the new lands.
In Trinidad, Calypsos were written about the arrival of the refugees alluding to Trinidad becoming the new Jerusalem. The local population felt a kinship with their plight given their own dire straits under colonialism. The newly arrived refugees quickly settled in setting up businesses, cafes and restaurants akin to those they had owned or frequented in their European homelands. NB* There has been a Jewish presence in the Caribbean ever since the 16th and 17th centuries.

Two points in particular in the discussion held my attention in light of StrongBack’s recent collaboration with the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants to create the Windrush Winter Emergency Appeal:

The discussion pointed at historic immigration policy, the language of communication about migrants and refugees and how this is directly connected to the failure of the UK to adequately acknowledge the ties that formerly bound us all across the Empire. The negation of this history is a negation of the hugely complex, interwoven and enriched lives that we all now lead as a result of Empire.
Hostile environment immigration policy is predicated on denying that we have long been globalized societies and are based on simplistic nationalistic ideas.

4.The fourth item that held my interest was an essay by British historian, ottoman scholar and writer Caroline Finkel that has so far found just one Turkish online publication This is a real shame as it concerns us all. Her essay, The Suppression of History focuses on the ever present and reinvigorated danger of manipulating and suppressing the vast tracts of history that are unpalatable to the accepted discourse. An attack from government that targets cultural institutions such as Museums and the National Trust who wish to inform the public about the hidden histories; that foments cultural wars against the ‘woke’ by reacting with outrage to the toppling of long-contested statues; that seeks to use history to invoke a sense of patriotism.

When historians become targets of abuse and twitter generated campaigns of hate and their professional integrity is called into question, and undermines research and discussion, what is at stake is genuine social cohesion. Caroline Finkel’s essay is a rallying cry of support to all those brave enough to reveal truth- historians and journalists alike- with diligence and patience.

BackChat
What we’ve been watching: Today (26th March) is the last day to watch any of the films from the 2021 Human Rights Film Festival.
What we’ve been reading: I recently finished Caleb Femi’s Poor and then I immediately turned it back over, got a pencil and read it again line by line. Femi’s poems are truly extraordinary, the sense of place, the vivid style, so much is offered and there is so much to learn from him.
What we’ve been listening to: Over on social media (@strongbackprod) our focus has been on CUBAN composers. In case you missed it here’s a wonderful interview with composer and classical guitarist Leo Brouwer and don’t forget to check out ESTEBAN SALAS, hailed as the first Cuban composer of classical music.

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