In the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom in February the "Black History Month" is a very heartfelt appointment, celebrates the contribution of all African Americans to the history of civil rights in America: from slaves first brought overseas from Africa in the early XNUMXth centuryor, to the black people who live today in the country of "stars and stripes". Why February? It coincides with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, two crucial figures to end slavery: Lincoln, the sixteenth American president, paved the way with his Emancipation Proclamation, while Douglass, a former slave who escaped from Maryland, was a great activist, author and prominent leader in Boston in the abolitionist movement. In Italy the "Black History Month" is coming celebrated in Florence with a festival dedicated to Afro-American history and culture involving about 40 places within the Tuscan city, from cinema to cuisine, from theater to art.
In Rome the ministry of culture organizes guided visits to the Museum of Civilizations of the Middle Passage exhibition. The transatlantic trade in human beings to discuss and reason on a crucial global history event for millions of people of African origin. The artistic-musical aspect will instead be faced by theElegance Cafè Jazz Club, the "black" heart of the culinary and musical scene of Ostiense in Rome which has promoted a month of events during which the flavors of Afro-American cuisine revisited in a contemporary key marry the jazz sounds that pay homage to the great artists of the vital "black" scene of the XNUMXth century, from Indiana to Louisiana, from Missouri to New Jersey.
The tribute of chef Marco Rosselli of the Elegance Cafè Jazz Club to Creole, Cajun, Caribbean and South American cuisine
During a busy calendar of musical appointments it will be possible to immerse yourself in the tradition of the native lands of jazz also through symbolic dishes of those places, made by the chef Marco Roselli in a tribute to Creole, Cajun, Caribbean and South American cuisine, through dishes such as clam chowder, a cockle stew with a base of Parma ham, bacon and jalapeño, a soup that in the past was prepared by New England fishermen to face long sea voyages; or again, the typical ones Short rib of beef and "corn sauce", and again the Cajun pork tenderloin, barbecue sauce and fondat potatoes, up to dishes of contamination that see the meeting of several cultures, as for the Chicche di potatoes with lobster gumbo dip, a special sauce born in Louisiana that has French, Spanish, African and Caribbean influences, made with a base of peppers, tomato and leek to dress the very Italian potato gems, with the addition of the noble lobster.
The musical tribute to JJ Johnson, Count Basie, Grant Green, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Bessie Smith
In the celebration of the "Black History Month" the Afro-American culture takes the stage of the Elegance Cafè Jazz Club, with a concert programming, developed by Daria Venuto, artistic director together with Remo Proietto: we start on Saturday 11 February with thetribute to JJ Johnson, American jazz trombonist and composer from Indianapolis. Wednesday, February 15 will be the protagonists Count Basie compositions, jazz pianist, bandleader and composer, born in Red Bank, New Jersey. On Wednesday February 22, the stage will host the tribute to Grant Green, jazz guitarist and composer, born in St. Louis, Missouri. Unmissable, then, the evening dedicated to Louis Armstrong, the unforgettable 'Satchmo' or 'Pops'; the great trumpeter originally from New Orleans will be remembered on the stage of the Elegance Cafè Jazz Club on Sunday 26 February. And it will also continue in March, with two dates that will pay homage to black culture through the artistic production of two women engaged in the fight for civil rights: on March 8, the stage will offer a tribute to the artist Nina Simone and on March 10 the tribute will be dedicated to Bessie Smith, the talented blues and jazz singer, known for her commitment to the fight against racial discrimination. Not only food, but also drinks, because the Elegance Cafè Jazz Club offers its guests the opportunity to enjoy live music shows while sipping drinks from the cocktail bar which is a tribute to the 20s of American prohibition and the Golden Age of Jazz music.
