Partly inspired by Patti Smith and her anthem Rock N Roll Nigger, these controversial titles were meant to honor Africans for their importance in the history of building the American economy and constitute one of the singularities of his work.īuddha (1984), a piece whose graphic score suggests a plurality of possible interpretations.įemenine (1974), a piece written for the S.E.M. Since the beginning of the 2010s, his work has been rediscovered and is attracting growing interest.Īfrican-American, Eastman used his art throughout his life as a shield against the racial tensions dividing the United States, selecting titles for his compositions ( Evil Nigger Crazy Nigger) to shake up morals. Gay Guerrilla: L’histoire de Julius Eastman is the first French-language book devoted to the artist. In 1990, after seven years of "voluntary martyrdom" amidst psychotropic drugs and homeless wanderings, Eastman died and fell into obscurity. Braving adversity penniless, yet with a few compositions in hand, in the 1970s he joined the experimental downtown New York music scene, collaborating with John Cage, Arthur Russell, Meredith Monk and Peter Maxwell Davies. His professional journey began at Ithaca College in New York State. This program celebrating Eastman's work was conceived by Devonté Hynes on the occasion of the release of the book Gay Guerrilla: l’histoire de Julius Eastman (Editions 1989, 2022), the first book in French dedicated to the late composer for which he wrote the foreword.Ī well-known figure of the New York musical avant-garde, Julius Eastman is a composer, pianist and singer born in 1940. By looking at Eastman's scores, he chooses one of the many ways to read the American composer's work and delivers a personal, sensitive and powerful interpretation. With this renewed gesture, he amplifies this highlighting of the abundant musical creation of the 1970s in New York. Like Stan Douglas' jazz musicians re-enacting a key moment in music history, Devonté Hynes performs pieces by Julius Eastman that have already been performed on the Auditorium stage in the fall of 2021, under the artistic direction of Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc and Jean-Christophe Marti. This program resonates with Luanda-Kinshsa (2013), a work by Stan Douglas on view in the Museum's Studio that recreates a fictional recording session in the legendary Columbia Records studio - known as The Church - as it was in the 1970s. He is accompanied on stage by pianist Adam Tendler, percussionist Jonathan Hepfer and seven string players. Following a two-night tribute to Julius Eastman in the fall of 2021, the Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection and the publishing house Éditions 1989 invite British composer Devonté Hynes to perform several pieces by Julius Eastman.
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