‘Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea’: Afro-Danish jazz band Harlem Kiddies and discourses of race and resistance in 1940s Denmark

‘Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea’: Afro-Danish jazz band Harlem Kiddies and discourses of race and resistance in 1940s Denmark

Author: 
Dvinge, Anne
Publisher: 
Taylor & Francis
Date published: 
2014
Record type: 
Journal article
Region: 
Africa
Journal Title: 
African and Black Diaspora: an international journal
Source: 
African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1, January 2014, pp. 10-21
Subject: 
DENMARK,
JAZZ,
RACE,
GERMAN OCCUPATION,
CULTURAL IDENTITY,
PERFORMANCE
ISSN: 
1752-8631
Abstract: 

In 1940, three young Afro-Danes came together to form what was to become one of the most popular swing bands in Scandinavia, the Harlem Kiddies. This essay seeks to investigate the performance and reception history of the orchestra, especially during the years of the German occupation. This essay argues that the Harlem Kiddies became double signifiers of resistance, and their performance strategies complicate and contradict essentialist notions of race, nation, and cultural identity.

Language: 
English
Catagory URL: 
http://www.tandfonline.com

CITATION: Dvinge, Anne. ‘Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea’: Afro-Danish jazz band Harlem Kiddies and discourses of race and resistance in 1940s Denmark . : Taylor & Francis , 2014. African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1, January 2014, pp. 10-21 - Available at: https://library.au.int/‘between-devil-and-deep-blue-sea’-afro-danish-jazz-band-harlem-kiddies-and-discourses-race-and-3