CASTLE HILL LIBRARY
Thursday 11 August 6.30pm- 7.30pm | Tickets $8.20pp
Join author and historian, Deirdre O’Connell, as she tells the untold story of Australia’s Jazz Age. The 1920s were a time of wonder and flux. American movies, music and dance brought together what racial lines kept apart. African American jazz represented the type of modernism that cosmopolitan Australians craved and the champions of White Australia feared.
Enter the jazz band Sonny Clay’s Colored Idea. Snuck in under the wire by an astute promoter, the Harlem-style revue broke from the usual blackface minstrel fare, delivering sophisticated, liberating rhythms. The story of their Australian tour is a tale of conspiracy — a secret plan to kick out and keep out ‘undesirable’ expressions of modernism, music and race. In this talk, Deirdre will bring into focus a vibrant cast of characters from Australia’s Jazz Age. add text to your template.
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