This has been a tumultuous year across the globe. One of the low points for me has been watching police targeting young Black musicians, especially drill artists in Australia and the UK, for whom making music remains a way out of poverty and gang life.
Despite this bleak state of affairs, there is a kind of hope that can keep us grounded in compassion, solidarity and excellence. For me, that hope is music. This year, my passion for classical music was taken to another level while participating in the Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges in Guadeloupe.
The festival pays homage to Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, an extraordinary violinist, conductor, composer, master fencer and a general during the French revolution. Bologne was born in Baillif, Basse-Terre in Guadeloupe, the son of a woman of African descent and a French slave trader. I did not learn about him until I was 20 years old.
When I grew up in France, classical music permeated the society I lived in. One of my earliest memories is torturing the flute trying to play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for an exam. Others include watching a television ad that used Ravel’s Bolero, and hearing the voice of “La Callas”, as the opera singer Maria Callas was called. I later learned to love Faure and Debussy, and even to tolerate Rachmaninov.
As my taste in classical music expanded, both at home and through my own curiosity, I realised that I didn’t know any classical musician who remotely looked like me. So I started a journey that took several years, at a time when the internet was not available, to try to find one. I was delighted when I discovered Chevalier de Saint-Georges, after a friend’s grandmother, who was a violinist, invited me to a concert where they played his music. I was astounded by its intensity. I did not at the time consider the complexity of his composition; his music appealed to me at an emotional level. It called to my soul in a way that provided both peace and restlessness.
Recently, my work has brought me into closer contact with Bologne. In 2020 I published a book, African Europeans, that narrated his trajectory, among others; and in 2022 I worked as a consultant for the Hollywood movie, Chevalier. In October this year I was invited to the 10th anniversary of Festival Monde en Vues, a renowned festival of film and human rights, and was introduced to a conductor called Marlon Daniel. We shared a passion for music and for the chevalier, and he invited me to the Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges the following month. Daniel and I kept talking and communicating, even though he was based in the US.
Attending the festival brought me moments of joy. I shared a hotel with about 20 musicians; we swam, drank, talked, lived and shared intense moments based on our love of music. The demands of organising a festival, running the logistics and finding desperately needed funds to pay world-renowned musicians did not temper Daniel and his team’s passion for their craft.
In spectacular venues around Guadeloupe – the Notre-Dame-de-Guadeloupe Cathedral, the Mémorial ACTe museum and the Église Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul in Pointe-à-Pitre – musicians representing 13 different countries provided a soul- and heart-elevating series of concerts. There were masterclasses and conferences during the day. My role was to tell the audience what life was like for people of African descent in mid-18th century Paris – that they were not all enslaved people accompanying their owners. There were free men and women making a living as blacksmiths, barbers, maids and so on. Others even had small shops and inns. As exceptional as he was, Bologne was part of a community of Black people.
I was blown away by the talent of those involved – the magnificent violinist Caitlin Edwards; the harpist Megan Sesma; Tylor Thomas on bassoon; clarinetists Gocho Prakov and Pamela Coats; and the glamorous oboe player Esther Williams (who is a member of the UK-based Chineke! Orchestra).
Bologne has often been referred to as “the Black Mozart”. But based on the dates and composition, it is more likely that his work inspired some of Mozart’s, according to Marcos Balter, a professor of musical composition. Bologne was also responsible for commissioning Franz Joseph Haydn’s famous Paris symphonies.
Beyond influences and acknowledgments, the festival was also about bridging gaps and facilitating access to classical music for deprived communities. The audience from all walks of life gave a standing ovation to the amazing soprano Léïla Brédent, also known as the daughter of Guadeloupe.
This year is ending on a note of hope for me, thanks to that time at the Festival Saint-Georges. I’ll go into 2024 hoping it will attract sponsors from across the globe, so people from all backgrounds can learn more about the chevalier, or continue to enjoy the music of a man who opened the door to European classical music for people of African descent 300 years ago.
Olivette Otele is distinguished professor of the legacies and memory of slavery at Soas University of London
