Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Lecture at the Conference "The Universalism of Paul Robeson", September 28,2024
My talk explores the historical contexts of Robeson’s itineraries across the world, with some of Paul Robeson’s Indian circles, which were actually circles made in London and concerned with Spain, the Comintern, and anti-fascism, at the centre. These circles included the future Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the ‘Eurasian’ and future Civil Rights activist Cedric Dover. Robeson never made it to India, though he was scheduled to perform there in 1961, but his music was sung in translation in Bengali, songs were composed about him, and his 60th birthday was celebrated in three Indian cities in 1958. The paper also discusses the music of the Popular Front, in India, and then in India after independence.
Lecture at the Conference "The Universalism of Paul Robeson", September 28,2024
My talk explores the historical contexts of Robeson’s itineraries across the world, with some of Paul Robeson’s Indian circles, which were actually circles made in London and concerned with Spain, the Comintern, and anti-fascism, at the centre. These circles included the future Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, and the ‘Eurasian’ and future Civil Rights activist Cedric Dover. Robeson never made it to India, though he was scheduled to perform there in 1961, but his music was sung in translation in Bengali, songs were composed about him, and his 60th birthday was celebrated in three Indian cities in 1958. The paper also discusses the music of the Popular Front, in India, and then in India after independence.
