«Sugar Hill Dialogues»
Aegle Katsiki - spoken word
James Wylie - saxophone
Τhe 1920s and 30s Sugar Hill gave birth to the Harlem Renaissance and proved to be a turning point in which African American culture first gained serious artistic recognition outside its own community. “The rest is history”, as they say, and today the contributions of African American artists are felt worldwide - it’s hard to imagine a world without Blues, Jazz and Rock and Roll, for example.
Lesser know perhaps but equally important are the works of Langston Hughes who was central to the Harlem Renaissance and an early literary figure in the black community to speak of the struggle faced by everyday coloured families.
In this performance reimaginings of jazz repertoire by Sugar Hill residents such as Duke Ellington, Sonny Rollins, Billie Holiday and Coleman Hawkins meet the poetry of Langston Hughes creating a dialogue between music and text, memory and interpretation.