Thursday, October 31, 2013

Follow-up: Racial Discrimination and Lynching Conference at Dorothy's Gallery

On September 26, Doria Johnson and Nathalie Loison gave presentations on the topics of racial discrimination and lynching at Dorothy's Gallery.

Both women were moved by the experience. They share their reflections below.

Doria Johnson:

I was more than humbled by my experiences there in Paris. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the cityscape, the architecture, the cobblestone streets, the parks, the river, and even the street-style clothing.

Doria on the Champs de Mars
Photo courtesy of Doria Johnson

Doria and Michael
Photo courtesy of Doria Johnson

Also, I could immediately identify with the urban experience of seeing many folks who looked like me in public spaces. I felt comfortable there, and kept thinking of the Black American intellectuals, artists, and even the proletariat, or working-class folks who preceded my visit, and understood why they felt compelled to stay, or "quit America" as many say.

More than anything, I was struck by the welcoming atmosphere that surrounded our visit. My partner, Michael, kept commenting on the kindness, genuine and warm personality of Nathalie Loison, who facilitated our visit. She was interested in making us feel comfortable, and was very concerned about our desires. She tempered that with pointing out what she loved about Paris. Of course, I had worked with her for a few years, so I sensed her spirit, but I did not expect to connect with her on so many levels. I confirmed what I suspected: women share experiences that transpire cultures and borders, and for those honest conversations I was most grateful. We shared how our mothers lived, and from that, we learned how to survive and live healthy lives.

The talk at Dorothy's Gallery exposed me to the public, albeit those mostly intellectually interested in my take on race in the U.S. The space was intimate, which allowed me the opportunity to visually take in people's responses--unlike an academic lecture hall. The questions that followed my talk were thought-provoking, and pushed back some of my theories such as the legal codification of the murder of Black boys and men based on racial profiling.

Doria addresses the crowd
Photo courtesy of Nathalie Loison

As an example, Romain Sinclair, an undergrad student studying in Paris and Northwestern University in Illinois, thought I went too far. He said he didn't believe that the U.S. actually sanctioned lynching, and this made me question the way I presented my case as well as my own socialization about America. As a result, I agreed to take a look at how I articulate with my analysis, and how I construct it for public consumption.

Speaking with the French press also provided me another avenue to disrupt the sometimes global miscalculated U.S. identity as post-racial--I have an opposite opinion of my home, especially with the confusing backdrop of the Obama presidency. These conversations force me to think more deeply about these issues, and these opportunities can only happen when a historian performs publicly. I treasure those moments, indeed, as I envision expanding my identity as a public historian.

Nathalie Loison:

We were first interviewed by two journalists. Doria started her talk showing and commenting on photos of lynched people. She told us a few facts about the history of lynching, then compared today's situation (Trayvon Martin's case) to the murders of Emmett Till and her great-great grandfather Anthony Crawford. She was asked several questions.

Talking about lynching
Photo courtesy of Nathalie Loison

There was a break, then I talked for half an hour about the way [Jennifer] Beals, [Tiger] Woods and [President] Obama's multiracial identities were depicted in the press (The New York Times, USA Today, US Weekly, The Huffington Post, People, the specialized press - Sports Illustrated, Ebony, Town and Country Mag, Curve Magazine, etc ... - the digital press, the local press - from Chicago, NY, Japan, Canada ..., InStyle, etc ...) from 1997 to 2009.

Nathalie Loison and Dorothy Polley
Photo courtesy of Nathalie Loison

1997 was the year when Woods declared he was multiracial; 2009 was the election of a biracial president; and from 2003 and 2009, Beals played the first openly biracial and gay female character. It appears that they were shown as models, heroes and icons that are perfect because they are mixed-race, but also as "the Other," marginalized and suspicious individuals difficult to categorize. Lastly, they were depicted as "deracialized" personalities (whose racial identity has been "erased" in a way).

Doria and I share a lot because as the daughter of a Cambodian mother (my father was French), I understand how difficult it is for immigrant women (or at least, my late mum) to feel integrated to a foreign society and culture. As a mixed-race person, I also feel close to the multiracial personalities (and anonymous citizens) I mentioned in my talk because I, too, have never fully felt part of a community or another.

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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Black Paris Profiles™ II: Elliott Barnes

Through artist/designer Kathie Foley-Meyer, a friend in Los Angeles who follows the Entrée to Black Paris blog and Facebook page, I recently had the pleasure to learn about a long-time African-American resident of Paris, Elliott Barnes. Kathie introduced me to him at the Architectural Digest Intérieurs Métamorphose show in Paris in September.

Elliott is an architect who has embraced interior design and is enjoying great success in this field. We had a bit of time to chat at the show and based on our conversation, I knew immediately that I wanted to write a profile on him. Charming and full of grace, he later granted Entrée to Black Paris the interview that I present below.

Elliott Barnes at 2013 AD Intérieurs Métamorphose
© Discover Paris!

ETBP: What attracted you to the field of architecture?
EB: The simple fact that the craft requires knowledge and orchestration of diverse trades and professions. This corresponds to my interest in many different things and an innate sense of curiosity.

ETBP: You have forsaken designing buildings, bridges, and other structures and focus on interior design instead. Why?
EB: Because interiors participate on a more intimate level in the life experience.

ETBP: Is this a common path for architects working today?
EB: No, nothing is common today! There are architects who make interiors and vice versa.

ETBP: When did you move to France and why?
EB: I moved to France in 1987 to follow a dream, a desire.

ETBP: Tell us more about this desire. Was it simply to move to France? To work in France? Have you fulfilled it?
EB: The desire was to simply live in Paris. Of course, I needed to work, and the move corresponded to a change in my professional orientation from architect to interior designer. Have I fulfilled the desire? I don’t think that is possible!

ETBP: Your Web site indicates that you founded EBI to express your own pure and eclectic vision. What is that vision?
EB: Well my vision is that: Eclectic, with a purist esthetic.

ETBP: Please elaborate on what you consider to be eclectic and purist.
EB: To work without stylistic concerns or boundaries, and to express the work as simply and effortlessly as possible. A friend once described the work as textured minimalism.

ETBP: You work internationally, with projects in Europe and the Far East. Are you solicited for these projects or do you seek them out?
EB: All of my work arrives by word of mouth.

ETBP: Do you prefer corporate or private projects?
EB: I really have no preference. However, I only do projects that demand fresh ideas, where I can try different things. I hate repeating myself. It’s boring to take ideas from a built project and reuse them in another. If I can’t explore and experiment, it’s really not worth the effort;

ETBP: What is your favorite project to date?
EB: The Ritz Carlton Hotel, Wolfsburg, Germany

ETBP: You have not listed projects in the U.S. on your Web site. Are you not working there? If not, why not?
EB: I have not, as yet, done any projects in the US under my own name. However I am open and would love to do a project in the States.

ETBP: You’ve been selected twice by Architectural Digest France as “one of the most talented interior designers of his generation.” What about your work appeals to this publication?
EB: It’s not really for me to say or to imagine. I suppose the best would be to ask them.

ETBP: Tell us the story behind the exquisite family portraits that hung in the room that you designed for the recent AD Intérieur exposition in Paris.
EB: The portraits are the result of a project I commissioned from Kenturah Davis, the artist. I asked her to document all of the men in our family as a gift to my mother. Unfortunately she passed away two weeks before they were finished.

As Kenturah’s work is based upon words and images, I chose the poem “IF” by Rudyard Kipling, because this was a poem that my father had me learn, and I had my son learn; my brother learned it and he will have his son learn it as well. This is thus our family cultural and intellectual legacy, and the most important gift which was ever given to me besides, my son.

Room designed by Elliott Barnes for
AD Intérieurs Métamorphose 2013
© Discover Paris!

Portraits of the Barnes Family Men
© Discover Paris!

ETBP: As a successful designer, I imagine that you could establish a firm just about anywhere. What keeps you in Paris?
EB: I’m not so sure I’m successful because I don’t really know what that means. The work is never finished, and the fun is never over. The laurels of today are the thorns of tomorrow if they are not pushed and coaxed towards new horizons. I’m fortunate to have completed a few projects that have made me happy, and that have made other people happy. As for the rest it’s not really for me to say. I stay in Paris because I love Paris.

ETBP: You mentioned that you are a bass player and that you used to play professionally. Please elaborate on this.
EB: The double bass has always been a passion of mine. Its very essence and the role it plays with in a jazz structure inform how I organize my office. I played a few times professionally, but I kept my day job, if you know what I mean. So I consider myself a contrabass aficionado rather than a bass player.

ETBP: Might this interest in music be one of the reasons that you redesigned the Duc des Lombards?
EB: Yes, I think one of the reasons that I was chosen to redesign the Duc des Lombards was of course ma affinity for the Jazz genre.

Duc des Lombards Interior
© Didier Delmas

ETBP: Tell us about your teaching experience in the U.S. and in France.
EB: I was a visiting professor at the University of Virginia (UVA) in 1991, and then I taught two years at l’Ecole National Supérieur des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD) from 1993-1995. Since then, I have been a visiting juror at several interior design schools in Paris.

ETBP: Please explain what a “juror” is.
EB: A visiting juror is really a visiting critic on a design review jury.

ETBP: For those who are considering starting a career in architecture or interior design today, would you say that it is important for them to spend time studying or working in Paris? If so, why?
EB: Well Paris is my personal space. People should go where they like and search for what they want. So much is happening all over that there is no one place that gives a person an edge more than another place.

ETBP: You are raising a teenaged son in Paris. Is there anything that you are doing differently because he lives in France as opposed to the U.S.?
EB: I don’t know only because I’ve never raised anyone in the states. We have a good relationship; I try to give him as many opportunities as possible for him to find his way. I’m always available for help and guidance. Standard “Dad-ing” I think!

Portrait of Elliott’s Son
© Discover Paris!

ETBP: Los Angeles is your hometown. It may seem to many that L.A. and Paris are incomparable. Tell us what similarities you find between these cities.
EB: Well they are incomparable. The energy in each place is vastly different. I enjoy Paris because in terms of scale it is somewhere between LA and NYC. It is urban but not overwhelming sophisticated but at the same time a bit casual.

ETBP: What is your favorite place in Paris?
EB: Palais Royale

ETBP: What is your favorite thing to do?
EB: Have ideas and get them built.

ETBP: What advice would you give to someone wanting to move here today?
EB: Identify your passion. Get informed. Get organized. Get focused. Get a one way plane ticket. Have a plan B, and then set that on fire!

elliott barnes interiors
28, rue d'Aboukir
75002 PARIS - France
T + 33 (0) 1 45 08 16 96
F + 33 (0) 1 40 28 91 58



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Thursday, October 17, 2013

AFRoPARISIAN Network – What Is It?


Qudus Onikeku
Image courtesy of Qudus Onikeku

Qudus Onikeku is a professional dancer and a social/cultural entrepreneur. Born and raised in the Surulere district of Lagos, Nigeria, he developed a love for acrobatics at the age of five and for dance at the age of thirteen. He is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieur des Arts du Cirque (2009) and now combines numerous elements to craft a singular and dynamic understanding of dance, art, politics, and “everything in between.” These elements include not only dance and acrobatics, but also traditional Yoruba philosophy, capoeira, and tai chi and other influences. He is passionate about initiating projects that inject “new life into the dynamism of arts and culture in France and beyond through the proactivity of African culture.” As an example, he is the co-founder of NollywoodWeek Paris, which held its first festival in Paris in May/June 2013.

One of Onikeku’s recent projects is AFRoPARISIAN Network, a social and cultural organization that he describes as a “kitchen” where members are invited to “cook” to satisfy their individual hungers and passions. He founded the organization as part of his examination of the influence that social-economic-political conditions have on the aesthetics and culture of people of African descent in the Paris region. The first meeting was held at the co-working venue l’AntiCafé on September 27, 2013 and by all accounts, it was a success!


Thirty people were expected but sixty turned up and no one else could be admitted to the event. The evening began with AKWAABA (a Twi word meaning “welcome”), where everyone got to introduce themselves, followed by a poetry and dance performance by Dagara Dakin and Aurelie Kung. Then the special guest of the month, film maker and writer Newton Aduaka, showed a compilation of some of his past films. There was a break, during which people engaged in casual conversation over tea, coffee, soft drinks and snacks, and then the evening activities resumed with a dance and live music performance by Onikeku and Charles Amblard. Finally, the floor was opened for UBUNTU (“human kindness” in Nguni Bantu) Dialogues, a general conversation based on radical openness and respect. Onikeku reports that “the energy in the room was so inspiring and uplifting for the spirit,” and that “people were totally engaged.”



The theme of this first meet-up was “AfroParisian.” Onikeku describes this concept as embodying “peoples, creativity, and spirit,” with “peoples” being “from the continent, Parisians of Afro-Descendants, or simply Parisians connected or open to ancient or contemporary African aesthetics and reality.” It attracted a wide range of people of different races, genders, and native tongues (French and English), just as he had hoped.

Onikeku has chosen the motto "Unity in Diversity" for the group, based on the Yoruba philosophy of democracy – “all hands must be on the desk, every voice matters equally regardless your age, sex, profession etc.” He targets a wide range of “Afro-Descendants” but does not close the doors to others who are interested in the AFRoPARISIAN Network philosophy, saying “my father's house has no gate and no lock.”

With regard to outreach to the public via the Web, Onikeku acknowledges his challenges – he thinks first in Yoruba and simultaneously translates his ideas into English. It takes considerable effort for him to transcribe them into French, but he recognizes that because he lives in a French-speaking land, he has to make the effort to be bilingual. He says that this work to his advantage because it automatically emphasizes the international component of his network’s activities.
Regarding the “spirit” element of AfroParisian, Onikeku says that:
It is very African to know that no human person can be alien to another…We belong to the human family, and humanism itself has its proper abode within Africanist philosophy. To date, Africa is the only continent where people can be Black, Arab, Indian, Asiatic, White etc and still claim to be African without any further discussion. It is in the context of this basic philosophy, which you'll find in various cultures in Africa, that we have devised the AFRoPARISIAN Network.
The element of “creativity” was evident in the poetry, dance, film, and music that were shared during this first event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnE9FteYA-A.


Onikeku’s Web site, YK Projects, describes AFRoPARISIAN Network as a “think tank.” It also says that the network has “chosen arts, creativity and dialogue as our navigating compass, because art and creation speaks the language of sharing and community.” When asked to reconcile the concept of a think tank with the group’s focus on creativity, he said the following:
…through art, dialogue, and social networking, we've created an almost invisible Social think tank, where the participants are at the same time performer and audience, producer and
consumer of the moment that we are creating together in the here and now. I think this gives people the ability to be completely engrossed in the present, without any thoughts or prejudice whatsoever…being completely in the moment is something relatively new to experience in this super fast-paced world.

AFRoPARISIAN Network meets once a month. The next meet-up is scheduled for October 18th from 7 – 11 PM. It will be held at:

DojoCréa
41, Boulevard Saint Martin
75003 Paris
Metro: Strasbourg Saint Denis (Line 4)

To keep abreast of the activities of the network, visit ykprojects.com, the AFRoParisian Facebook page, Twitter @afroparisian, or Onikeku’s personal website (in French and English) at qudusonikeku.com.

Photos by Estelle Fromentin and Hajarat Alli.


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Thursday, October 10, 2013

James Emanuel Interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery

On October 4, 2013, funeral services for James A. Emanuel were held in a chapel at the Père Lachaise cemetery Colombarium. Friends gathered outside while waiting to be ushered to the chapel.

Gathering at the Colombarium
© Discover Paris!

Wendy Johnson and Gary Lee Kraut
© Discover Paris!

Jim Haynes
© Discover Paris!

Kim Powell
© Discover Paris!

Tom McKenzie and Bobby Few
© Discover Paris!

Nicole Mathieu, Chansse Evans, Bobby Few, and Wendy Johnson
© Discover Paris!

Chansse Evanns
© Discover Paris!

The ceremony was led by Gary Lee Kraut, who read a poem written by James' nephew, Jim Smith. Later during the program, he read James' poem "Lovelook Back."

Gary Lee Kraut
© Discover Paris!

Chansse Evanns performed a saxophone solo.

Chansse Evanns plays a saxophone solo
© Discover Paris!

Several additional poems by James were read by Ricki Stevenson ("The Treehouse"), Wendy Johnson ("Emmett Till"), Brandyn Barbara Artis ("Jazzanatomy"), and Ariane Selassie Crochet ("L'Artiste à Ma Fenêtre" - French translation by Godelieve Simon of "Artist at My Window").

Ricki Stevenson
© Discover Paris!

Wendy Johnson (standing)
© Discover Paris!

Brandyn Barbara Artis
© Discover Paris!

Ariane Selassie Crochet
© Discover Paris!

Julia Wright was unable to attend the ceremony. She has graciously allowed me to reprint the tribute that she wanted to make that day:

Welcome, here, dear Brother James, to the diaspora Pantheon of Expatriate African-American Writers. Richard Wright, my father, is a few yards away* to greet you. I imagine both of you story-telling and haiku-spinning through time. Ancestors now.

You are the last of the generation of our fathers who chose expatriation to live, write, love and die on their own terms. That is what you did, a discrete jeweler of our blues, a giant amongst giants. And now an ancestor like Richard Wright, Stretch Johnson, Nina Simone and the others who knew how to create an intersection between their personal pain as black men and black women - and the larger History with a capital "H." Between our literary history and McCarthyism for instance. I remember our laughing to tears at your favorite café as we exchanged Black List stories....

My father and you were both African-American literature pioneers, the first to transpose the Haiku form into the language of back home. You are home now.

You also shared another sensitivity in common with Richard, who had saved the life of an African-American musician scheduled to die on the electric chair back in the forties. So when I approached you fifty years later and asked you to help us save Mumia's life, you did not hesitate. You lived long enough to hear that through an international movement buttressed by your own generosity, Mumia has escaped the death sentence. Stretch helped us put ten thousand French people in the streets of the City of Lights and you sent Mumia a Haiku of Hope every month beautifully illustrated by Godelieve, a gesture of such beauty and constance that the prison administration tried to put an end to it.

Thanks on behalf of Mumia, my Brother.

Meanwhile you are at last meeting up with your own son, your son lost when he was so young at the mercy of a violence so unnameable that only your poetry could redeem a lifetime mourning.

You are now reunited. Bless both of you.

Love,
Julia

Barbara Chase-Riboud read her poem "Requiem."

Barbara Chase-Riboud
© Discover Paris!

Attendees were then invited to recount their stories about James or otherwise remember him.

Finally, Wendy Johnson read James' poem "'We Shall Overcome': A Smile for the 1960s".

Wendy Johnson
© Discover Paris!

The ceremony ended with the song "We Shall Overcome" by Joan Baez.

After the service, the casket was taken away and James' remains were cremated.

The disposition of the remains took place on Monday, October 7, 2013. James' remains were placed in Niche 16412** in Corridor K on the second underground level (2ème sous-sol) of the Colombarium. Flowers were laid.

Niche 16412
© Discover Paris!

Jake Lamar spoke a few words of remembrance and then read James' poem "Deadly James."

Jake Lamar reads "Deadly James"
© Discover Paris!

The ashes were then sealed into the niche.

Plaque for James A. Emanuel
© Discover Paris!

The quotation on the stone comes from James' poem "Mysteries, I," published in The Force and the Reckoning (reprinted with permission by Jim Smith):

She slipped me a kiss:
for years my fresh secret. Why
do I tell you this?

No plant lover,      yet
I water it, give it sun.
What risk do I run?

Inside a smooth stone,
without smashing it open
I found this. Just think.

*Richard Wright's remains are in Niche 848; it is found on the western wall of the Colombarium arcade.
**James Emanuel's niche is directly beneath the niche of Darling Légitimus, the famed Martinican actress, and Gérard Légitimus.

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Thursday, October 3, 2013

In Memoriam: James A. Emanuel (1921-2013)


James A. Emanuel
Photo credit: www.SophiaPagan.com

On September 28, 2013, James Emanuel left this world to meet his maker. An acclaimed poet, scholar, critic, and the last of the great Harlem Renaissance writers, he was 92 years old. He died at Hôpital Léopold Bellan in the 14th arrondissement, five days after he suffered a massive stroke at his Montparnasse apartment.

James' nephew, Jim Smith, is a native of Denver, Colorado and the son of James' sister Gladys. James was the last living relative that Jim had on his mother's side of the family. Jim has shared photos and information about his uncle that I am pleased and privileged to present here:

The only way I could spend time with my uncle was to meet him in different places outside the US. Some of the places we gathered were in Mexico City, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Amsterdam, Belgium and Frankfort just to name a few.

Jim Smith, Godelieve Simons, and James Emanuel at La Petite Rotonde
Photo courtesy of Jim Smith

Because of American racism and the death of my cousin (his son), he would never set foot again on U.S. soil. He writes about this in his book The Force and the Reckoning. Have your readers check it out. [It is] A book that deserves to be heard around the world. He [James] was The Elder, “the oldest living major African-American poet” and THE most neglected published poet of the 20th century!!

He was a fascinating/unforgettable person. Having had the privilege to hold many conversations with him and just being in his presence was overwhelming at times. He was a man of his word and said what he meant and meant what he said. As the old saying goes, a man is only as good as his word and he was a great man.

Chansse Evans (left), James Emanuel, and Marie-France Plissard (right, seated)
2005 poetry reading
Photo courtesy of Jim Smith


I last saw James at the 3rd Annual Brothers Spring Gala and 1st Annual Tannie Awards on May 31st. That evening, he was honored with the first Tannie Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature and Writers.

Sulaiman Hakim and James Emanuel at The Brothers Gala
© SAMBG MYA Photography - Paris

James Emanuel with his Tannie Award
© SAMBG MYA Photography - Paris

James Emanuel speaking after accepting Tannie Award
© SAMBG MYA Photography - Paris

James Emanuel
© SAMBG MYA Photography - Paris


Another Tannie Award winner, writer Jake Lamar, was a dear friend of James.

Jake paid tribute to James at a party for James' 90th birthday in 2011, held at the home of Jim Haynes. He has graciously provided the text of that tribute for us here:

Unknown person, James Emanuel, Jake Lamar and Jim Haynes
at the 2003 Shakespeare and Company tribute to Ted Joans
© Discover Paris!

December 1993. I had been living in Paris for only a few weeks when I met the great Beat poet Ted Joans at a reading at the Tea and Tattered Pages Bookshop. Ted told me to come by the Café Le Rouquet the next day. I didn't realize at the time that Ted showed up at that café on the Boulevard Saint-Germain every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, between four and six o'clock and, basically, held court at a corner table on the terrace.

When I arrived at Le Rouquet on a gray, drizzly Wednesday afternoon, I found Ted sitting with two other African-American men. One, a gravel-voiced fellow sporting a green fedora, was introduced to me as Hart Leroy Bibbs. The third man exuded elegance and intelligence. I'd heard of him before: James Emanuel. While Ted Joans had the switched-on energy of the eternal hipster and Leroy Bibbs seemed the very essence of cool, James had an aura of dignity and wisdom about him. Knowing these three men would change my life. They opened my mind to all sorts of possibilities, showed me how a black artist could thrive: traveling, exploring, always learning and, of course, getting the work done.

That first day at Le Rouquet, I'd brought along my first book, Bourgeois Blues. Ted turned to the epigraph, saw that it was from Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. "Play the game, but don't believe in it," Ted began to read. Then, to my utter astonishment, James Emanuel, who was not looking at the book, quoted the rest of the passage from memory. "That much you owe yourself," James said in his silken baritone. "Even if it lands you in a strait jacket or a padded cell. Play the game but play it your own way---part of the time at least. Play the game, but raise the ante, my boy."

Café Le Rouquet
© Discover Paris!

A strange and powerful feeling came over me. I was thirty-two years old and had felt, up until then, very isolated in my situation as an African-American author. Suddenly, listening to James recite Ellison, I felt that I had somehow found my true place, my real community, right there at that café table. I was honored when, in February 1994, Ted, James and Leroy invited me to join them in two readings in celebration of Langston Hughes, first at Shakespeare and Co., later at the Sorbonne. And when the three of them showed up at my first solo reading in Paris the following month, I was touched beyond words.

I could go on and on about James's writing, the brilliance and profound depth of feeling in his work. But let me concentrate on one particular set of poems, the Jazz Haiku. There is nothing else like them, that I know of, in world literature. Using the strict Japanese form to evoke such freeform music was, in itself, a stroke of genius. But what is truly magnificent is the way James makes you hear the artists he writes about. I cannot grasp by what alchemy James manages to evoke, in words, the sound of Miles Davis's trumpet, John Coltrane's saxophone, Billie Holiday's voice. The haikus are imbued with the combination of discipline and play, improvisation and exactitude, inspiration and perspiration that defines the music James so beautifully describes. This is the work of a master artist. It has been one of the great privileges of my life to know him.

Gary Lee Kraut, creator of the blog France Revisited, published a profile on James in 2011 on the occasion of James' 90th birthday. This exquisite, exclusive article was written by Janet Halstrand. It features several photos of James in his Montparnasse apartment. Read it here:

James A. Emanuel, a Great American Poet, Turns 90 in Paris

Joseph Langley captured James on video in 2011. To my knowledge, it is the last representation of James on camera:

James Emanuel - A Conversation with James Emanuel

Funeral services are to be held at Père Lachaise cemetery on Friday, October 4th at 10 A.M.

Goodbye and God bless, James. We will miss you.

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