1The exhibition
From the early 1960s to the late 1980s, numerous musical movements shaped by migration flows transformed Paris and London into multicultural capitals. Paris–London. Music Migrations offers an immersive and chronological journey through these three pivotal decades in the musical history of Paris and London.
© Hervé Di Rosa, Londres
At the end of the 20th century, music revealed in Paris and London, like nowhere else, how migration movements shaped the identity of these two former colonial capitals. From the independence of Jamaica and Algeria in 1962 to the late 1980s, the exhibition explores three decades during which Paris and London became multicultural capitals. Through music, generations of postcolonial immigrants expressed their hopes and aspirations.
Through the production, dissemination, and reception of popular music genres such as rock, reggae, punk, ska, raï, afrobeat, and rap, a parallel history of Paris and London is presented, with a focus on individual experiences and youth. Although the British and French national contexts differ significantly regarding immigration issues, the demands can be similar, particularly in the fight against racism. In both Paris and London, music enabled the wide circulation of ideas that profoundly transformed mindsets.
And of course, London would not be London and Paris would not be Paris without Fela Kuti’s afrobeat, Manu Dibango’s makossa, Soul II Soul’s R&B, Cheikha Rimitti’s vintage raï, Desmond Dekker’s ska, Millie Small’s blue beat, Noura’s Algerian songs, Rachid Taha’s borderless punk, Asian Dub Foundation’s Asian underground, Dahmane El Harrachi’s chaâbi, Linton Kwesi Johnson’s dub poetry, Kassav’ zouk, A Guy Called Gerald’s house, Nass El Ghiwane’s ghiwani, Jacqueline Taïeb’s oriental yéyé, Ray Lema’s afro-jazz, Steel Pulse’s militant reggae, Passi’s politically engaged rap, the kadans of the Guadeloupean Vikings, Sidney’s hip hop, Bob Marley’s legendary reggae, Khaled’s modern raï, Les Négresses Vertes’ mixed rock, Vigon’s rhythm and blues, and King Sunny Ade’s juju music…
© Hervé Di Rosa, Paris
These rhythms from Africa, the Caribbean, the Antilles, and India have had a decisive influence on today’s music. Beyond the current success of grime, dubstep, afro-trap, and other forms of afro-punk, it is the global dimension of music that was forged over thirty years ago, resonating with social and political changes, urban transformations, and successive migration flows that marked the era.
Exhibition Curators
Stéphane Malfettes, Artistic Curator, Head of Cultural Programming at the Palais de la Porte Dorée.
Angéline Escafré-Dublet, Scientific Curator, historian of immigration and Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Lyon 2.
Martin Evans, Scientific Curator, Professor of Modern European History at the University of Sussex, specialist in colonial and postcolonial history from a global and comparative perspective.
Hedia Yelles-Chaouche, Project Manager, responsible for temporary exhibitions at the National Museum of Immigration History (assisted by Pauline Coste).
