Very excited and proud of our gallery artist, Johan Grimonprez (b. 1962, Belgium), for being shortlisted for the Oscars in the Best Documentary category for his must-see film, Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat! Congratulations, Johan!
Jazz and decolonization are entwined in this historical rollercoaster that rewrites the Cold War episode that led musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council in protest against the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. It is 1961, six months after the admission of sixteen newly independent African countries to the UN, a political earthquake that shifts the majority vote from the colonial powers to the Global South. As Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe in indignation at the UN’s complicity in the overthrow of Lumumba, the US State Department swings into action by sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup.
