The ‘Roaring Twenties’ were strongly marked by jazz bands and an atmosphere of euphoria, which was only to be expected among those who had just come through a world war. Every day was lived without thinking about the next, in a climate of celebration, modernity and freedom.

With the history of jazz as a backdrop, and recreating the ambience of a typical Art Deco sitting room, a character from the period takes us on a journey through the past of this musical genre, which came to epitomise a general attitude to life, marked by irreverence, rupture and mass culture.

Born in the cotton fields of the United States, through the hands and voices of Black slaves, jazz spread all around Europe during this period, thriving alongside dance styles such as the Charleston, the Swing and the Lindy Hop. These sounds provided long evenings of pleasure and escape in a carefree climate that, as we know today, would not last for long.

This year marks the centenary of the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, in Paris, the event that inspired this concert and commentary, which take jazz as a central thread to paint a vivid portrait of a remarkable period in twentieth-century history.

Image at the top: illustration by Vera Kace.