The "new Josephine Baker"

Available for over a year

Miss Bartira performed across Europe in the '30s with an erotic acrobatic act, which landed her a brief stint in a Swedish prison for indecency and after she tackled a male heckler. During World War II she acted as a spy and the marriage in 1946 of this mixed race Brazilian cabaret performer to a British aristocrat caused a scandal. Researcher and New Generation Thinker Adjoa Osei has been tracing her story with the help of a trove of photographs, letters and documents given her by Miss Bartira's family. We hear from grandson Martin and from the writer Sala Patterson. Producer: Paula McFarlane We hear a performance by Miss Bartira of the Brazilian, African-influenced embolada called Bambu-Bambu recorded in a French newsreel and a 1935 Polydor recording that she made with Carlito and his Brazilian orchestra called Chante Gitana New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to showcase new research in radio programmes.