From the liberation of Congo to American jazz, we've compiled a list of things to explore after watching Johan Gimonprez's megalith of a documentary, Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat.
Jazz, US imperialism and pan-African decolonisation collide in Johan Gimonprez’s syncopated masterpiece, teasing out the details of Congo’s liberation from Belgian colonial rule in June 1960, through to the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba only months later.
With its dextrous command of abundant sources – from rich archive materials and eyewitness accounts to testimony from mercenaries and CIA operatives – Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat never misses a beat in a disturbing story mired in colonial machinations.
If this masterfully researched documentary has piqued your interest, add these books, films and albums to your list to keep you informed and entertained.
READ: My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria, by Andrée Blouin
Andrée Blouin was a close advisor to Patrice Lumumba, and played a key part in the African decolonisation movements of the 1950s and 1960s.
While her name has largely been erased from the history books, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat highlights her significance in this era. While making the documentary, Grimonprez collaborated closely with Blouin’s daughter Eve, and the film features excerpts from her autobiography, My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionara.
Retracing her remarkable journey as an African revolutionary, Blouin’s memoir offers a sweeping survey of pan-African nationalism, capturing the intricacies of revolutionary diplomacy, comradeship, and betrayal. Alongside intimate portraits of the movement’s leaders, Blouin explores the often-overlooked contribution of African women in the struggle for independence.
We who have been colonized can never forget
Andrée Blouin
WATCH: Non-Aligned Newsreels, by Mila Turajlic
The Non-Aligned Movement was formed during the Cold War, for countries who were not formally aligned with or against the two major power blocs of the time, the USA and the USSR. Predominantly made up of African and Asian countries, the movement played a large role in many decolonisation movements of the 1960s.
The Non-Aligned Newsreels refer to a collection of films found in an unexplored vault in Belgrade, with images of African and Asian liberation movements and the revolutionary leaders of the 60s and 70s. Mila Turajlic’s documentary diptych investigates these film reels through the lens of the man who filmed them, cameraman Stevan Labudovic.
As the cameraman of Yugoslav president Tito, Labudovic captured an era of politics, personality and promise, filming the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement, and played a key role in the information battle that defined the era of decolonisation. The Non-Aligned Newsreels explore the untold stories behind this extraordinary film archive.
Watch our Q&A with Mila here.
LISTEN: We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite (1960)
Of course, we couldn’t write this blog without paying tribute to Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’s eponymous jazz-infused soundtrack. There are too many albums to choose from, but we’re spotlighting an album that forms the anchor of the film, We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite.
Released in 1960 by Max Roach, this avant-garde jazz album is described as ‘one of the defining artistic statements of the civil rights movement’ (BBC). The cover depicts three black men sitting at the counter of an American diner, while a white waiter serves them, in reference to the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins that took place as part of Civil Rights protests.
Featuring songs such as ‘Freedom Now’, ‘All Africa’ and ‘Tears for Johannesburg’, the album not only stood as a provocation against America’s racist segregation laws, but also in solidarity with the liberation movements that were gaining momentum in Africa.
Listen here. You can also find a full Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat playlist on Spotify here.
WATCH: Lumumba: Death of a Prophet, dir. Raoul Peck.
For further details of the events leading up to Patrice Lumumba’s assassination, legendary Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck’s 1991 documentary reflects on Lumumba’s tenure as Prime Minister of the DRC and subsequent assassination through a more personal lens.
At eight years old, Peck was brought by his family to the newly liberated DRC, where his father worked for the UN as an agricultural professor and his mother served as secretary to the mayor of Kinshasa. Sifting through his childhood recollections and interviewing Belgian journalists and politicians who witnessed the country’s descent into violence, Peck fashions a prismatic meditation on the elusiveness of political objectivity and the ethics of personal remembrance in chronicling the traumas of history.
READ: The Death of Comrade President, Alain Mabanckou
Set in the 1970s in Pointe-Noire, a bustling coastal town in southwest Congo, this novel by the internationally acclaimed Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou picks up where Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat leaves off, exploring the violent years in Congo after the death of Lumumba.
The Death of Comrade President tells the story of Michel, a daydreamer whose life is completely overthrown when, in March 1977, just before the arrival of the rainy season, Congo’s Comrade President Marien Ngouabi is brutally murdered.
Starting as a tender, wry portrait of an ordinary Congolese family, Mabanckou quickly expands the scope of his story into a powerful examination of colonialism and decolonisation in Africa.
Black Moses and The Lights of Pointe Noire also provide noteworthy insights into the turbulent years of late 20th Century Congo.