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David Linx has often proved to be a man of contacts. But his encounter with the black American author James Baldwin, well-known for his participation in the pacifist movement in favor of civil rights at the end of the 50’s, was undoubtedly one of the most outstanding in his life. In 1986, Baldwin, still alive (he was born in 1924), David Linx (not yet 20) brings together
17 musicians among the best and, with Pierre Van Dormael’s complicity, invites them to lend their talent for this intimate journey with the writer.
One thus discovers Baldwin, wonderful teller and singer of his own texts. A calm and striking voice defending the cause of black Americans. Much more than a jazz record, " A lover’s question " is a successful alchemy of music and poetry.
Photograph : Guy Le Querrec © Magnum
James Baldwin was born in Harlem, New-York City, on August 2nd 1924. He died on December 1st 1987 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. With hardly twenty, his critics and essays were already published in reviews, including " The Nation " and " Partisan Review ". In 1948, he left the United States and settled in Paris : It has been for him the start of an emotional relation with the United States and of a new life in France, his adopted homeland. His first novel " Go Tell It On A Mountain " was published in 1953. At least partly autobiographical, it depicts the life of a teenager becoming an adult in the Harlem of the 30’s and his conflict with his father, a pastor.
Baldwin’s three essays " Notes of a Native Son " (1955), " Nobody Knows My Name " (1961) and " The Fire Next time " (1963) put him in the limelight as spokesman of the civil right movement (the one represented by Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X). It is not however the role he claims, he rather wishes his work as being seen as a " testimony of the truth ".
Baldwin has been honored with numerous literary prizes. He has also been granted the Legion of Honour by the French president François Mitterand. Besides his essays, he is the author of numerous novels and articles.
Go to :
David Linx ; Steve Coleman.
Contacts
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