ABSTRACT
The greatest sensation of the festival was recalled as Willis Conover, whose ovation was said to have exceeded even the rapturous reception given to Lloyd. Part of the affect generated by the festival had its origin in the tensions caused by conflicting Soviet union and American realities. In the conditions of the Cold War the two rival superpowers each used specific tropes to compete with the other. To simplify, Soviet propaganda tropes highlighted the fact that the United States protected democratic rights for whites, but violently denied those rights to African-Americans. ‘Historically, festivals, carnivals and fairs have been important forms of social and cultural participation, used to articulate and communicate shared values, ideologies and mythologies.’ The jazz festivals were considered in the Soviet amateur framework as a form of state supervision over amateur activities in the mode of competition, where the performers and collectives were ranked by a jury and highlighted with the titles of laureates.
