Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat reveals how the CIA covertly weaponized African American musicians, using their music and influence as cultural ambassadors to extend American power in Africa, particularly in the resource-rich Belgian Congo, where Patrice Lumumba had just been assassinated under dubious circumstances.
In 1960, sixteen newly independent African countries joined the United Nations, shifting the majority vote from colonial powers and the U.S. to the global South. Congo became the battleground for this struggle over UN influence. As Nikita Khrushchev pounded his shoe at the UN in response to the neo-colonial exploitation of Congo’s resources, UN delegates from African countries faced blackmail. In an astonishing turn, Lumumba’s assassination united the Afro-Asian bloc, leading to a demand in the UN General Assembly for immediate worldwide decolonization.
Against this explosive backdrop, the U.S. government dispatched jazz icons like Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Nina Simone as Jazz Ambassadors around the world, using their tours as a diversion from CIA-backed coups. Featuring a cast that includes Fidel Castro, Malcolm X, Miles Davis, Dag Hammarskjöld, Nikita Khrushchev, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Leonid Brezhnev, the film captures a period of intense political turmoil, with jazz serving as a force for healing.
In collaboration with the HUMAN International Documentary Film Festival
Join for an insightful discussion after the screening with renowned film editor Rik Chaubet, who has masterfully crafted this film from a rich array of archival material.
