What is Zazou?

Zazou, the underground cultural movement that arose among largely working class young French people during the Nazi occupation of Paris, symbolizes the covert rebellion of average, seemingly apolitical Cubans like Rachel. In her cabaret performance, Rachel K takes on the persona of a Parisian Zazou. While her act reduces Zazou to a set of physical signifiers, including her painted-on fishnets and clogged shoes, underneath this performance Rachel K shares the same revolutionary spirit as the subculture she plays on stage. “Their ethnic background, the yellow star, their work with the French Resistance, when they were deported, the Gypsy music to which their name referred” (204) all reflect Rachel K’s experiences as an ethnic outsider and invisible yet vital work with Castro.