Paris-London. Music Migrations (1962-1989) - mobile exhibition
The mobile exhibition Paris-London. Music Migrations is drawn from the temporary exhibition held at the Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration in 2019. It emphasizes musical movements as spaces of protest over three decades that saw the settlement in France and Great Britain of several hundred thousand men and women coming from the colonies and former colonies of these two countries.
International migrations, particularly post-colonial immigration, are often viewed solely through an economic lens, reduced to labor migration. Even when immigrants settle in a country for economic reasons, they leave a lasting, or sometimes temporary, impact on the society they join, across various spheres: culinary, intellectual, associative, linguistic, religious, urban, political, artisanal, and musical.
Paris and London, capitals of two former colonial empires, are today centers of economic and social power. As hubs of immigration, the cosmopolitanism of these two global cities shapes their identities and their cultural influence worldwide.
La chanteuse ougandaise Constance Mullando, Londres, 1966
© James Barnor / Galerie Clémentine de la Ferronière
From the early 1960s to the late 1980s, a host of music trends associated with migration flows would transform Paris and London into multicultural capitals. This exhibition takes visitors on a journey through these three decisive decades in the musical history of the two cities as they underwent change, showing how a whole new melting pot of musical rhythms echoed social and political changes. From Desmond Dekker’s ska to Rachid Taha’s punk without borders, via Alpha Blondy’s Afro-reggae, Paris-London explores the dense and complex links between migrations, music, the anti-racism movement, and political struggles.
Objectives
- Trace migration journeys to Paris and London within the context of decolonisation, and as they related to the social and political context in the two capitals.
- Present the musical styles brought by these immigrant populations, how they circulated, and their interactions with other music trends.
- Analyse the links between these music trends and protest movements demanding better living conditions for immigrant populations and opposing police discrimination and violence.
In practice :
- 7 roll-up panels, 200 x 200 cm.
- Available in a bilingual English/French version.
In the Paris region
Mobile exhibitions are distributed by the Musée National de l’Histoire de l’Immigration and by several of its distribution partners.
Several of these exhibitions are reserved for players in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, thanks to the support of the CD93, partner of the Museum since 2011.
In the region or abroad
Present across the entire country and abroad, our partners can make their copies of mobile exhibitions available. Find them on our map of travelling exhibitions on the history and memory of immigration in France.
Please email all requests for loans to:
itinerance@palais-portedoree.fr / +33 (0)1 53 59 64 01