Gospel at Saint-Sulpice Church for the 2015 Saint-Germain-des-Prés Jazz Festival

Simply sublime.

That's my take on the gospel concert held on Tuesday evening at Saint-Sulpice church that was part of this year's Saint-Germain-des-Prés Jazz Festival.

The church was filled with hundreds of spectators and the music got people on their feet multiple times throughout the performance.

Filling the church
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Church lighting
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This concert featured the inimitable Rhoda Scott on the Hammond organ. She played three songs before the members of the chorus took their places on stage.

Rhoda Scott
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Emmanuel Djob played guitar and was the other headliner for the event, undoubtedly due to the success that he is enjoying after his participation in Season 2 of the French version of the reality singing competition, The Voice.

Emmanuel Djob
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Two Paris expats, Linda Lee Hopkins and Joan Minor, formed part of the chorus and also sang solos during the evening.

Linda Lee Hopkins sings "Amazing Grace"
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Joan Minor sings "Precious Lord"
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The performers regaled the packed house with numerous classic gospel songs and spirituals, including "Going to See the King," "Down by the Riverside," and "When the Saints Come Marching in." The entire list of singers and musicians is as follows:

Rhoda Scott : Hammond organ
Emmanuel Pi Djob : chorus leader, guitar, tenor, baritone
Linda Lee Hopkins : alto
Michaël Robinson : tenor
Joan Minor : soprano, alto
Eva Hakapoka : mezzo-soprano
Fey B (Fabrice Claire) : tenor
Rebecca Phirmis : soprano
Sikaa Sidi : alto
Thomas Derouineau : cajon

Djob sang "A Change Is Gonna Come" as a solo during the first half of the concert and later spoke to the audience in French while the rest of the chorus took a break. He sang a song in French, followed by "Georgia on My Mind" infused with the melody of "Amazing Grace." Djob rocked his head just like Ray Charles as he sang this song.

The concert would have closed with Linda Lee Hopkins' solo renditions of "Glory Hallelujah" and Ben E. King's "Stand by Me" (a departure, along with "A Change Is Gonna Come" and "Georgia on My Mind," from the evening's gospel theme). But the audience demanded an encore, so the chorus returned to sing "Oh Happy Day" and "Amen." Mezzo soprano Eva Hakapoka took the lead on these tunes, belting them out with a vibrancy that shook the audience, before the performers left the altar/stage for good.

Eva Hakapoka sings "Oh Happy Day"
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All performers
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This 15th edition of the jazz festival runs from May 21 through June 1, so there are still a couple of days left to enjoy performances. Check out the schedule here.

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Will There Be an Institute for Black History and Culture in Paris?

During the City of Paris' May 10th commemoration of the slave trade, slavery, and their abolition, two speakers at the ceremony - Claude Ribbe, president of l'Association des Amis du Général Alexandre Dumas, and Louis-Georges Tin, president of the Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires (CRAN) - spoke of a proposal to use a building called Hôtel Gaillard to house an institute for black history and culture and a museum devoted to the remembrance of slavery and colonization. Earlier that day, at the national day of remembrance ceremony at the Luxembourg Garden, Prime Minister Manual Valls expressed the possibility that the building could be used for this purpose.

Banque de France
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CRAN, le Comité d'Organisation 10 mai (Organization Committee for May 10), and two unions - the Union Syndicale Solidaires and the CGT (French unions) - sponsored and distributed a document at the ceremony, which states that the financial origins of the Banque de France are steeped in the slave trade. The document names several original members who were slavers, arms dealers, and shareholders in the slave trading company called Compagnie des Indes, and states that the bank recuperated the funds from the Compagnie des Indes when it was dissolved. Because of this history, the sponsors of the document call specifically for Banque de France to make reparations for slavery.

(French president Francois Hollande has already rejected the call for France to make financial reparations, similar to those made to the orphans of French Jews deported during World War II.)

Owned by Banque de France, Hôtel Gaillard has been empty for several years. Ironically, it is located on place du Général Catroux, the site of the City of Paris' commemoration ceremony.  Place du Général Catroux was formerly known as the place des Trois Dumas due to the statues honoring three generations of Dumas that stand on the square.

Thomas Alexandre-Dumas, the first Afro-Antillean general in France, was born a slave. He served in Napoleon’s army from 1786 to 1801.

Monument to General Thomas-Alexander Dumas
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The monument to General Dumas, erected in 2009, replaces one that was erected in the same spot in 1913 and was melted down during the Nazi occupation of Paris.

Original statue of General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas
Two other statues on the square honor the general’s son, Alexandre Dumas, père, and his grandson, Alexandre Dumas, fils. Both were acclaimed authors.

Statue of Alexandre Dumas, père
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Statue of Alexandre Dumas, fils
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The question of reparations was broached in a recent article in the French newspaper Le Monde, which discussed the inauguration of the first site on French territory dedicated to the history of slavery. Called Le Memorial ACTe, it is located in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. President François Hollande presided over the ceremony on May 10, 2015 and was therefore not available for the national remembrance ceremony in Paris. This is why Prime Minister Valls spoke at the Luxembourg Garden ceremony that day.

The article poses the following question with regard to the placement of Le Memorial ACTe in Guadeloupe:

If the memorial is to symbolically compensate for a wrong, shouldn't it have been constructed at the place where the crime originated and on the soil of those who profited from it - in other words, in metropolitan France?

It goes on to quote Myriam Cottias, president of France's National Committee for the Remembrance and History of Slavery (Comité National pour la Mémoire et l'Histoire de l'Esclavage - CNMHE) as saying:

We cannot be content to act as though this history concerns only the descendants of slaves. It is not an epiphenomenon; it is a very important episode of the history of all of France. Beginning in the 17th century, the wealth of the country was built upon it.

The article refers to the memorial to the abolition of slavery, which was inaugurated in Nantes in 2012, as "opening the way" for the site in Guadeloupe. In addition to the memorial, Nantes has devoted twelve of the thirty-two rooms of its municipal history museum to information and artifacts pertaining to the slave trade; seven of these twelve rooms are completely devoted to the subject. Along the 1.5 km (0.9 mile) route between the museum and the memorial, the city has erected eleven illustrated panels that present the history of Nantes’ slave trade.

A proposal is currently being considered for the conversion of Hôtel Gaillard into a Cité d'Economie et de la Monnaie, the mission of which would be to educate the French public about economics, money, and finance. The document that was distributed at the City of Paris commemoration ceremony submits that Banque de France should cede the building and finance its conversion into a center for black history and culture.

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May 10, 2015 - France Remembers the Slave Trade, Slavery, and Their Abolition

Last Sunday, May 10, 2015, marked the sixth commemoration ceremony for the slave trade, slavery, and their abolition held by the City of Paris. It took place at place du Général Catroux in the 17th arrondissement. The City of Paris and the French non-profit association, Les Amis du Général Dumas, extended invitations to the general public to attend the event.

The weather was splendid and hundreds gathered at the square for a brief official ceremony, followed by several passionate speeches and musical entertainment.

Invitees at the commemoration ceremony
Place du Général Catroux, 17th arrondissement
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A military band took its place on the lawn near the podium.

Military band takes its place on the lawn
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The official ceremony was attended by Manuel Valls, Prime Minister of France; Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, French Minister of Education; Myriam El Khomri, Secretary of State of the City of Paris; and Harlem Désir, Secretary of State of European Affairs. They were welcomed by Claude Ribbe, president of Les Amis du Général Dumas, and Brigitte Kuster, Mayor of the 17th arrondissement. All took a place on the podium.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls (center) and dignitaries
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Other notable attendees included Philip Frayne, Minister Counselor of Public Affairs for the U. S. Embassy; Henri Lopes, Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo in France; Lisette Malidor, performance artist; and Valérie Pécresse, French politician and current candidate for the presidency of the Regional Council of Ile de France.

Lisette Malidor
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Edouard Montoute, a French actor born in Cayenne, French Guiana, read an ascerbic description of the atrocities perpetrated during the French slave trade and the profits gained through its conduct as recounted in Alexandre Dumas père's 1863 novel, Ingénue.

Edouard Montoute reads from Dumas père's Ingénue
Background: Claude Ribbe
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Flower arrangements (gerbes) were then placed on the lawn in front of the monument to General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas – a sculpture of iron shackles created by Driss Sans-Arcidet. Deputy Chief of Mission for the U. S. Embassy Uzra Zeya laid an arrangement for the United States alongside those of Prime Minister Valls, the Mayor of Paris, and the Mayor and elected officials of the 17th arrondissement.

Invitees from the public were then invited to place a rose at the base of the sculpture.

Monique places a commemorative rose
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All flower arrangements in place
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The official ceremony ended with Leïla Bredent, a Guadeloupan singer with a glorious voice, who sang the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise."

Leïla Bredent sings "La Marseillaise"
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After the prime minister and some of the other dignitaries of the official ceremony departed, Claude Ribbe spoke forcefully and eloquently about the lack of formal education in the French system about slavery, the slave trade, and the racist and Negrophobic ideology that underpinned these institutions. He spoke of the need for reparations, similar to those accorded to slave traders who complained to the government about their loss of revenue (equivalent to roughly 4 billion euros today) and the ransom of 150 million French francs (equivalent to roughly $21 billion today) imposed on the fledgling nation of Haïti in 1825 in exchange for diplomatic recognition by France.

Ribbe also evoked the controversial subject of a proposal for the creation of a center of education, culture, and remembrance, to be named after Général Dumas, at the Hôtel Gaillard as a means of "taking back 380 years of Negrophobia that has been supported, or at least tolerated, by France." Find his discourse in its entirety (in French) here.

Claude Ribbe addresses the crowd
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Following Ribbe's speech, appeals were made by Franco-Cameroonian singer BAMS; the president of SOS Racisme, Ibrahim Sorel Keita; and the president of CRAN (Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires), Louis-Georges Tin, for solidarity, self-determination, and the establishment of a cultural center and museum at the Hôtel Gaillard* that would be focused on black history and culture in the Francophone world.

From left to right: BAMS, Ibrahim Sorel Keita, Louis-Georges Tin
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Deputy Chief of Mission Zeya was present for all the festivities.

U. S. Deputy Chief of Mission Uzra Zeya
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The evening ended with a lively musical interlude by two groups – Miyo and Balkouta – led by Dominique Tauliaut.

Gwoka music rounds out the evening
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*Next week, the ETBP blog will further explore the call to have the Hôtel Gaillard, a mansion owned by Banque de France that stands on place du Général Catroux, become the home of an institute dedicated to black history and culture and a museum dedicated to the history of slavery and colonization.

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Connie Fredericks-Malone: Passion and Talent in Paris

In 2001, at age 49, singer Carole Denise Fredericks died of a massive heart attack following a benefit concert at Club Med World in Dakar. She was buried in Montmartre Cemetery in Paris (in perpetuity, upon the invitation of the French Minister of Culture and Communication of the Chirac administration). Her legacy consists not only of a long list of enormously popular music recordings, but also a body of work that has been transformed into innovative French lessons for American and Canadian students of all ages, from kindergarten to college.

Screenshot from CDF Foundation Web site
The work of preserving Carole’s legacy has fallen largely to her sister, Connie Fredericks-Malone.

Connie Fredericks-Malone
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Connie has served as the director for Carole D. Fredericks Foundation Inc. and the official spokesperson for the Fredericks family since 2006. On behalf of the estate, she has successfully negotiated with SONY Music/France, BMG/France, M6 Interaction, and JRG Editions Musicales to bring French language music videos, recordings, and materials to the United States for educational purposes. In 2013, she negotiated license agreements with French producers and publishers for the entire catalog of French-language and English-language songs Carole recorded between 1989 and 1999. She frequently speaks about Carole’s life and legacy at international, national, and regional foreign language conferences.

Because of the work that she does for the foundation, Connie and her husband, James Malone, come to France every year. They spend part of their time in Carole’s apartment at 91bis, rue du Mont Cenis in the 18th arrondissement, where they organized the installation of a plaque in Carole's honor.

Crowd gathered for plaque installation ceremony - June 2012
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Connie speaking at the ceremony
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Taj Mahal (brother of Connie and Carole) and Connie standing beneath the plaque
Photo of Carole D. Fredericks in the foreground
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Carole D. Fredericks memorial plaque
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In June 2014, Connie spoke about the foundation in an exclusive interview with Femmes au Pluriel, a magazine for and about women around the world.

Connie is not a stranger to the stage and screen. She spent 20 years performing in musical theater, day-time and prime-time television, commercials and cabaret/night club venues. She also knows her way around behind the scenes, having served as a television writer and producer for KGO-TV in San Francisco, CA. She competed in the AARP Boomer singing competition in 2014 and made it to the Top 30 Semifinalist level out of 1200 participants.

Connie has made forays into singing on this side of the Atlantic during her last two visits to France. Last year, she sang gospel at the Journée Histoire et Renaissance (Day of History and Rebirth), a festival of African culture that was held in the Paris suburb of Achères.

This year, Connie made her professional singing debut in Paris at Club Rayé, an ultra chic New York-style piano bar in the 2nd arrondissement, on May 1, 2015.

Club Rayé
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A packed house was enraptured as she sang renditions of classics such as “Crazy He Calls Me” and “God Bless the Child.” She even included a few French language classics such as “La Vie en Rose” by Edith Piaf and “J’ai Deux Amours” by Josephine Baker.

Connie sings at Club Rayé
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The performance was such a success that Connie and Club Rayé proprietor, Kein Cross, are discussing having her headline at the club each time that she returns to Paris. Indeed, Connie is considering coming back to Paris more frequently precisely for that reason.

To learn more about the Carole D. Fredericks Foundation, visit http://www.cdfmusiclegacy.com/.

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