Wednesday, December 29, 2010

A Few Good Black Men

Each month, our Paris Insights newsletter presents the hidden jewels that comprise the "real" Paris – the people and places that are the true heart and soul of the city.
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The Cité de l’Histoire de l’Immigration at the Palais de la Porte Dorée is hosting an exquisite exposition that explores the history of soccer in France and its introduction into the French colonies. I went to see it because I was living in Paris in 1998 when France won its first World Cup competition. I vividly remember the joy with which the citizens of Paris embraced the “black-blanc-beur” (black-white-Arab) team that brought home the trophy. Though ephemeral, it was a period of racial solidarity that was celebrated in France and widely acclaimed by the press.

Entry to the French Soccer Exposition

One of the topics that the exhibit addresses is the contentious question around the recruitment of foreigners. At the end of World War II, there were calls to limit the number of non-French players on French teams because the presence of foreigners was supposedly obstructing the emergence of French talent in the game. Ironically, francophone African or South American players who were on French teams at that time were not considered foreign because their homelands were “part of the French community” (that is, part of the French colonial empire).

I spent over three hours at the exposition reading, watching various videos, and looking at artifacts and other items—and could have easily spent three more there. Here is information about just a few of the players from Africa or of African descent who are featured there:


Raoul Diagne

Son of Blaise Diagne, the first black African in the French National Assembly (representing Senegal) and the Minister of Colonies, Raoul Diagne was raised as a member of the Paris bourgeoisie. He left the banking industry to take up the game of soccer in 1930. In 1931, he became the first black man to play on France’s national team. He participated in the World Cup match of 1938, and would continue to wear the French jersey until 1940.







Ben Barek: La Perle Noire

Born in Casablanca in 1915, Larbi Ben Barek was the first major soccer star from Morocco. He began his French career on the Olympiade de Marseille team in 1938, and was selected to play for the national team against Italy that same year.
Larbi Ben Barek

He enjoyed tremendous success in France until the Second World War, when he was forced to return to Morocco. He returned after the war and played for three additional seasons before his contract was purchased by Spain. So renowned and appreciated was his talent that a French journalist wrote "Sell the Arc de Triomphe or sell the Eiffel Tower, but don’t sell Ben Barek!"

Salif Keita

This Malian began his French soccer career in Saint-Etienne in 1967. He would play for this team until 1972, when he transferred to the team in Marseille. After a year, he moved on to play for Spain, Portugal, and finally, the New England Tea Men Boston in the United States. He studied business in the U.S. so that he could return to Mali to work for the development of soccer in his home country. He went on to found a soccer training center for youth in Mali that bears his name.


As a member of the Saint-Etienne team, Keita was the first recipient of the African Soccer Player of the Year Award in 1970. The town of Cergy-Pontoise, located northwest of Paris, inaugurated a stadium in September 2009 and named it after Keita.

Joseph-Antoine Bell

Joseph-Antoine Bell

Joseph-Antoine Bell is a native of Cameroun. He played on four soccer teams in France from 1985-1994. In 1989, he was subjected to an overtly racial attack, with spectators throwing bananas at him and calling him a monkey throughout a game played at the stadium in Marseille. This event caused the French soccer club owners to finally take the issue of racism in the game seriously and to take steps to deal with the problem. Bell is currently a commentator for Radio France International 1 (RFI 1).

Marcel Desailly

Marcel Desailly

Born in Accra, Ghana, Marcel Desailly was raised in a bourgeois family in Nantes (his mother married the French Consul of Ghana and his stepfather adopted him). He began his soccer career with the “Football Club of Nantes” in 1986 and went on to be selected for France’s national team numerous times between 1993 and 2004. He was part of the victorious “black-blanc-beur” team of 1998, but did not finish the game due to penalties. He and the entire team were named Chevaliers of the Legion of Honor by Jacques Chirac. Since that time, he has become a media personality in France. He currently splits his time between Accra and Aix-en-Provence.


The Cité de l’Histoire de l’Immigration exhibit closes on January 2, 2011. Fortunately, its sister exhibit at the Musée National du Sport has been extended until March 2, 2011.


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Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.


Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Marmite d'Or Competition

Each month, our Paris Insights newsletter presents the hidden jewels that comprise the "real" Paris – the people and places that are the true heart and soul of the city.  
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Marmite d'Or Trophy
© Discover Paris!

On December 16th, over 100 people gathered at the auditorium of the Hôtel de Ville de Paris to discover the winner of the 12th “Marmite d’Or de la Gastronomie Afro Antillaise” competition in Paris / Ile de France. Organized by the Association Internationale Culture Sans Frontières (AICSF), the goal of the competition is to promote Afro-Caribbean cuisine.

Criteria for selection as a candidate for the prize are quite strict; they consist of:

• restaurant accessibility

• appearance and content of the menu

• longevity of the restaurant

• quality of the dishes proposed

• value (quality versus price) of the dishes proposed

• conformity to laws regarding restaurant operation

Once selected as a candidate, each restaurant is judged on its decor, its service, the originality of the presentation and the quality of the competing dish, and the level of hygiene on the premises.

Performers regaled the audience with music, comedy skits, dance, and spoken word in celebration of this culinary heritage. The most powerful performance by far was that of JYB (Jean-Yves Bertogal), who recited an ode to Haïti that evoked the recent earthquake and its aftermath. He received an ovation for his moving performance.
 
JYB (aka Jean-Yves Bertogal)
© Discover Paris!

There were only two finalists in the competition – DouDou Kréyol of Alfortville and Restaurant Loyo of Paris’ 18th arrondissement.  Representatives from both restaurants addressed the audience to explain the origin of the dish that they entered into competition.  DouDou Kréyol presented a “Soupe au Kongo,” while Loyo entered “La Sauce Claire.” A jury of five then retired to a room to taste the dishes and render a decision.

The Jury
© Discover Paris!

This year’s winner is DouDou Kréyol of Alfortville!

Chef Gus Cuistot of DouDou Kréyol
© Discover Paris!

After the winner was announced, the audience was invited to a room adjoining the auditorium to partake of the dishes that were presented for the competition. Judging from the crowd that remained around the table, the food was excellent!

Post-ceremony Buffet
© Discover Paris!

In early 2011, the public will be invited to DouDou Kréyol for a more intimate ceremony, where the trophy will be presented to the restaurant and its chef once again.

DouDou Kréyol
183, rue Paul Vaillant Couturier
94140 Alfortville
Tel : 01.56.29.33.38
Public transportation: RER D Maisons Alfort – Alfortville, then Bus 103 to Mairie d’Alfortville
Internet : http://restaurantdoudoukreyol.skyrock.com/
Hours: Lunch Monday through Saturday 11:45 AM to 2:30 PM
Dinner Tuesday through Saturday 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM

Chez Loyo
18, rue Batchelet
75018 Paris
Tel: 01.42.23.78.18
Metro: Lamarck-Caulaincourt (Line 12), Château Rouge (Line 4)
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 7:00 PM to midnight


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Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.


Thursday, December 16, 2010

Black Women in Europe™: Power List 2010

Each month, our Paris Insights newsletter presents the hidden jewels that comprise the "real" Paris – the people and places that are the true heart and soul of the city. Click here to sign up for our newsletter announcements and to receive our free guide called "Practical Paris”!

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I am proud to be a member of Black Women in Europe™, a dynamic group of women led by Stockholm resident Adrianne George.

When Adrianne saw that Michelle Obama was named the most powerful woman in the world in Forbes "100 Most Powerful Women" list this year, she noted that none of the seven black women on the list live in Europe. She was therefore inspired to create the Black Women in Europe™: Power List 2010, which celebrates the power and influence of black women in Europe. It includes fifty-eight women in six categories: business, lifestyle, media, politics, social entrepreneurs and NGOs.

The women included on this first Black Women in Europe™: Power List were chosen from nominations from the general public and editor Adrianne George and co-editor Mark Derek McCullough, based on their achievements and sphere of influence.  They are seasoned politicians, accomplished performers, and champion athletes as well as social entrepreneurs and rising stars in the business world. “This list will serve as a source of inspiration to black women everywhere,” Adrianne says. “In all arenas we are known to excel.”



Note:  Black Women in Europe™ has an award-winning blog that Adrianne founded in 2006. It aims to celebrate the lives of the ordinary and extraordinary black women living in Europe. To learn more, visit the blog at: http://blog.blackwomenineurope.com.

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Entrée to Black Paris™ is a Discover Paris! blog.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Black Paris Profiles™: Manda Djinn

Each month, our Paris Insights newsletter presents the hidden jewels that comprise the "real" Paris – the people and places that are the true heart and soul of the city.  
Click here to sign up for our newsletter announcements and to receive our free guide called "Practical Paris”!

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Manda Djinn
© 2010 Discover Paris!

I had the pleasure of meeting Manda Djinn several years ago, when she was preparing one of her plays for the Paris stage. Her career is awe-inspiring, beginning at the age of eleven with tap dancing as the opening act for the likes of Bo Diddley and Sonny Till. She subsequently developed a routine involving Latin, Calypso and African rhythms, and danced to this music until the 1960s, when an injury ended this phase of her career. She then began singing the music to which she once danced.

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Black Paris Profiles is now available on Kindle.  Only excerpts are available on this blog.
To get your copy of Black Paris Profiles, click HERE.

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Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.



Thursday, December 2, 2010

In Memoriam: James Baldwin's Paris

Each month, our Paris Insights newsletter presents the hidden jewels that comprise the "real" Paris – the people and places that are the true heart and soul of the city.
Click here to sign up for our newsletter announcements and to receive our free guide called "Practical Paris”!

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James Arthur Baldwin
(August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987)
1982 © MDCArchives

James Baldwin and Richard Wright were the two most famous African-American expatriates to have lived in Paris in the post-World War II era. Though they both critically examined social issues in the U.S. and abroad from France, their lives in the French capital were quite dissimilar. Wright was a central figure in the African-American community in Paris, while Baldwin was peripheral to it. Wright achieved fame prior to moving to Paris while Baldwin did so afterward. Wright became increasingly cynical and embittered during his years in Paris, while Baldwin evolved as a writer and a man in embracing aspects of his nationality and sexuality that eluded him in America. And while Wright maintained a self-imposed exile from the U.S. during the civil rights era, Baldwin returned home to experience firsthand those turbulent times and to chronicle them.

Baldwin moved to Paris in the winter of 1948 at the age of 24. Never swayed by the myth of a colorblind France that attracted many African-American expatriates of that time, his life and his writing were profoundly influenced by his experiences there nonetheless. Upon his arrival, he spoke almost no French and had few friends and very little money. His first acquaintances (besides Wright) were white American students and artists. He befriended African students and frequented Arab cafés before he enlarged his circle of African-American acquaintances and wrote essays invoking these encounters to earn money to support both himself and his New York family. He reworked his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), in the upper room of the Café de Flore – one of Paris’ most famous literary cafés. And he transformed the ground floor apartment of a French friend into the suffocating abode that he describes in Giovanni’s Room (1956).


Café de Flore
© Discover Paris!


Wright’s Café Tournon crowd overlapped little with Baldwin’s entourage. Baldwin’s friends included painter Beauford Delaney, composer Howard Swanson, dancer Bernard Hassell, and writer Ernest Charles “Dixie” Nimmo. Their favorite nightspots were the Montana on rue Saint-Benoît, Gordon Heath’s L’Abbaye on rue Jacob, and Inez Cavanaugh’s Chez Inez on rue Champollion.

Invitation Card for Gordon Heath’s L’Abbaye

Another preferred spot was Johnny Romero’s Les Nuages on rue Bernard Palissy in Saint Germain des Prés.

Beauford Delaney (left), James Baldwin, Johnny Romero (center), and friend
at Les Nuages
© Discover Paris!

Baldwin’s coverage of the 1st Congress of Black Writers and Artists for Encounter magazine in 1956 was a watershed moment in his career – it inspired him to return to the U.S. to contribute to the struggle for racial equality. He became a passionate and eloquent spokesperson for the movement, roused by the injustices that he witnessed firsthand in his travels throughout the South. He brought this passion back to France, staging a march on the American Embassy in Paris in support of the March on Washington just one week prior to Dr. King’s historic event. He filled the void created by Richard Wright’s untimely demise, achieving renown as the leading African American that the French press sought out for comment on racial issues around the world.

Though Baldwin was often critical of the French in his prose, he frequently depicted their land – and particularly their capital – romantically in his fiction. Giovanni’s Room (1956), Another Country (1962), and Just above My Head (1979) among other works, all feature Paris as a setting. Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Montparnasse, and Les Halles figured prominently in Baldwin’s own life, so it is not surprising that many of his characters find themselves in these localities as they grapple with the issues Baldwin gave them to resolve.

Giovanni’s Room, Another Country, and Just above My Head are perhaps the best tributes that Baldwin left to the City of Light.

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Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.