who started the music in the Harlem renaissance?

Answer 1

Harlem
A Mecca for African-American culture and life for more than a century, Harlem started out as Nieuw Haarlem, a prosperous Dutch farming settlement. By the turn of the 20th century, black New Yorkers started moving uptown into Harlem's apartment buildings and town houses. The neighborhood prospered and by the 1920s, Harlem had become the most famous black community in the United States, perhaps in the whole world. The Harlem Renaissance, generally regarded as occuring between 1919 and 1929, was Harlem's golden era, when local writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, and Ralph Ellison achieved literary recognition. The Depression hit hard here, but happily, today the neighborhood is well on the way to new glory days: Young people and families are moving into the newly restored brownstone and limestone buildings, and the combination of architectural treasures, crackling vitality (even Bill Clinton chose Harlem for his post-presidential office!), great music and culture, and honest-to-goodness, lip-smacking soul food make Harlem a must-see destination. Harlem is safe to explore on your own but there are a number of tour companies that will happily show you around.

Uptown Culture
Harlem's main thoroughfare is 125th Street. The Apollo Theater, a concert venue for luminaries as well as a rite of passage for rising musicians, is on 125th Street. Count Basie, Bessie Smith, Nat King Cole, Marvin Gaye, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Aretha Franklin have all played here and past winners of its weekly, wild and crazy amateur night include Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, and the Jackson Five.

The Studio Museum of Harlem is one of the community's showplaces, housing a large collection of sculpture, paintings, and photographs and specializing in African American artists and artists of African descent. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (part of the New York Public Library's Division of ***** History) on Lenox Avenue, is an eye-popping literary treasure trove, comprising more than 5,000,000 books, documents, and photographs recording black history and more than 400 Black newspapers and 1,000 periodicals from around the world. The Harlem Week/Harlem Jazz & Music Festival is an annual summer festival taking place each August, with food tasting, art exhibits, concerts, seminars, music, street entertainment, sporting events, and an auto show. And don't miss the The Greater Harlem Historic Bike Tour in early August. The Urban World Film Festival takes place in August every year. To find out the latest happenings in this neighborhood, check out Harlem One Stop or Welcome to Harlem.com -- great resources for information on events, business listings and much more.



Gospel
Any day is a good one to come uptown, but Sundays are, for many, the best time to hear gospel singing at churches like the Gothic-style Abyssinian Baptist (where the charismatic Adam Clayton Powell once preached), Canaan Baptist, Salem United Methodist, and Metropolitan Baptist. Visitors of all races and religions are given a warm welcome (remember to please dress appropriately for church). The New York Gospel Matinee is also a possibility.

Shopping and Dining
Malcolm Shabazz Harlem Market is an open-air market on west 116th Street. Green Flea, a Saturday market on West 135th Street at Lenox Avenue, is open 10am-6pm. Since exploring is often followed by hunger pains, stop for a taste of Southern hospitality and stomach-and-spirit satisfying soul food at a restaurant such as Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Sylvia's, Amy Ruth's, or Bayou - barbecued ribs, black-eyed peas, and pecan pie, anyone? Hopping nightspots include the Lenox Lounge.