Soundtrack To A Coup d'Etat

What do jazz music and the murder of Patrice Lumumba have in common?

In the documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d’État, Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez takes us back to February 1961. Two jazz musicians, Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach, storm the UN Security Council to protest the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of Congo. Previous meetings on demilitarization and decolonization had already fallen through, much to the frustration of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The main obstacle, the US, urgently needs to improve its image and turns to jazz for refuge. Music legends such as Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillespie, and Duke Ellington are sent to Congo as jazz ambassadors to distract attention from various CIA operations.

In his documentaries, Johan Grimonprez transcends all genres with creations where experimentation, historical awareness, and revisionism are intimately connected. Soundtrack to a Coup d’État makes you see Belgium’s colonial past with new eyes. Here, music is more than just a soundtrack; it is intrinsically linked to the film. The dialogue between jazz and decolonization is visually compelling, with concise text information dancing on the screen in the graphic style of modernist Blue Note album covers.

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