Abstract:
This article explores nostalgia for jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt (1910-1953) as he lived and worked in Nazi-occupied France. From the 1930s, Reinhardt became Europe's most celebrated jazz musician. Nazi policy officially labelled jazz as "degenerate" music, but in practice it was tolerated, if not enthusiastically supported, and Reinhardt continued to perform during the 1940-1944 occupation. As a member of the Manouche group of Roma (also known, somewhat pejoratively, as G*psies), he was vulnerable to persecution under the Nazi genocidal campaign against Roma. However, many credit his status as a world-renowned jazz musician with saving him from deportation or worse. Stories of his defiance of the Nazis have been told over the past few decades in a variety of media (books, articles, films, radio and television programmes, etc.) that celebrate his survival. In this article, I show how popular narratives of Reinhardt's wartime period function as vehicles for exploring notions of cultural subversion. These narratives are shaped by a fascination with Swing Era Paris, the figure of the jazz genius, the stereotype of the timeless and vagabond 'g*psy', life under Nazi rule, and anti-fascist resistance movements. By mobilising and superimposing these themes, stories about Reinhardt's wartime experiences make him a complex figure of curiosity and fascination. My central argument is that narratives centred on Reinhardt entangle the intrigue generated by the history of Nazi-occupied France with essentialising ideas about the Roma. Ultimately, depictions of Reinhardt under the Nazis can aid contemporary struggles for recognition and reparations for the Romani genocide, but they can also participate in historical revisionism and reproduce racial stereotypes.

Siv B. Lie ("seev bee lee") is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Maryland. She is interested in the relationships between cultural production, race, and politics. Her research in ethnomusicology and linguistic anthropology examines how Romani groups use music and language to advance their own socio-political and economic interests. Her award-winning first book, Django Generations: Hearing Ethnorace, Citizenship, and Jazz Manouche in France (University of Chicago Press, 2021; www.djangogen.com), shows how tensions between racial identities and national belonging play out in the French jazz industry. She is co-founder and principal coordinator of the Initiative for Romani Music at New York University and curator of the music section of RomArchive. For more information, see www.sivblie.com.
Contact: slie@umd.edu

Adriana Helbig is Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Music at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of Hip Hop Ukraine: Music, Race, and African Migration (Indiana University Press, 2014) and co-edited with Milosz Miszczynski Hip Hop at Europe's Edge: Music, Agency, and Social Change (Indiana University Press, 2017). Her book ReSounding Poverty: Romani Music and Development Aid will be published by Oxford University Press in July 2023. She is a classically trained pianist who teaches global hip hop courses, applied ethnomusicology, music and disability studies, and music and conflict.
Contact: anh59@pitt.edu