As we announced, the 7th edition of the Policoro in swing Festival will be a tribute to the movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola “The Cotton Club”.
Why this tribute?
The motivation is given by the now known passion of the organizers but also a continuous research aimed to give to the Policoro in swing friends unique and unforgettable experiences.
Another reason is the link between the Coppola family from Basilicata.
But the most important motivation is the tribute of F. F. Coppola to the great Jazz era and to the Harlem Renaissance, an era that unites our passions and in which the Cotton Club was one of its symbols.
The nightclub located in Harlem on 142nd street and Lenox Avenue, was owned by Owney Madden, a white gangster. It was actually frequented by black artists such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and other world-famous artists, to entertain a white audience.
Here are some quotes form the F.F. Coppola interview for the BBC (by Christopher Frayling)
(…)”For me, the most interesting part of The Cotton Club was the theme of the black and white, in so far as the club had the most talented black performers of its day and yet it was segregated and black people couldn’t go see the show. It was the hoi polloi. The real high society people who went and I wanted to try something with two worlds, a black world and a white world interweaving between each other and of course meeting at the Cotton Club with the numbers and the shows.”(…)
(…) “But I feel this really is the tenor of the Cotton Club. Maybe it was a little sleazier than I portrayed it, maybe certain people were treated a little more poorly than I showed it, but the themes that are there – of servitude and a desire to use your talent to break out of that servitude into some sort of white world – certainly, that was the truth.” (…)
All you have to do is come to Policoro and find out how the Cotton Club will revive in Policoro in Swing 2019!
Policoro in Swing!
Policoro in Swing is unique, it’s the place where music, dance, sailing, sun and sea are “bouncing to the same tune”…
Bands and Musicians
Teachers
MCs and Djs
A Year in Swing!
“A Year in Swing” is a contest that can be attended by all those who will be present at the 2018 edition of Policoro in Swing and will shoot their photos by any means during the Festival Week.
