 Milhaud was very susceptible to all kinds of influences, but it was a different type of exotica that drew him.He was in the Paris of "Le jazz hot", singer Josephine Baker, Pablo Picasso's paintings, and the sculptures inspired by African masks.During the early '20s, African (and Afro-American) fashion was sweeping Paris, and this ballet may have been Ballets suédois' attempt to follow the trend.