The main objective of the international group Classic in Black in Germany, initiated by Frenchman Harry Louiserre in collaboration with African-American Professor Donald Griffith, Director of the Fountainhead Tanz Theater Berlin, is to promote the traditional and classical music of the Black Diaspora and to foster intercultural exchange between the classical music of the Diaspora and Europe.
Since the 17th century to the present day, Black artists around the world have made significant contributions through their work. These include singers such as Leontyne Price, Jessye Norman, and Christiane Eda-Pierre, as well as composers such as the French Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the African Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and the African-American William Grant Still. However, their works have often remained unknown to a wider audience or have fallen into obscurity.
For many years, Classic in Black, in cooperation with the Fountainhead Tanz Theater, has pursued this goal through various activities, including the production of radio and television programs on Offener Kanal Berlin (97.2 FM), as well as concerts and workshops addressing these themes.
The Classic in Black group also produces new musical projects and documentaries. Recent productions include “Letter to Mr. Johann Sebastian Bach,” a musical encounter between Johann Sebastian Bach and an African man of the 18th century, performed by the African polyphony “Griot” Njamy Sitson; “Aida’s Sisters,” an intercultural program featuring three sopranos; “Tribute to Female Composers from Germany and France”; and “Voix des Mers,” a rhapsody about the history of Mother Africa.
Classic in Black collaborates with institutions and organizations from the United States, France, and Germany, including the Center for Black Music Research in Chicago, the AfriClassical association in New York City, the Afrikahaus in Berlin, and, more recently, the Salons France-Amériques in Paris, the Paris City Hall (Mairie de Paris), the Institut Français in Berlin, the Maison Heinrich Heine in Paris, the Conservatoire Musicale de Sarcelles in France, and many others.
