A new documentary explores the dark history of how jazz music was used as part of a state-sponsored African coup. The film details how musicians like Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Nina Simone were unknowingly involved in the overthrow and assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first elected leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In the late 1950s, musicians Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach and Nina Simone were invited to become "jazz ambassadors" by the US State Department.The Music Show is about the creation and enjoyment of music, from Handel to hip-hop, plainsong to punk.
Then in 1960, after 52 years of colonial rule and a push for independence, the Mouvement National Congolais won the country's first-ever democratic parliamentary election. Documentarian Johan Grimonprez unearthed early speeches by Patrice Lumumba and included them in his film.And at that time, growing Pan-African sentiments across the continent meant that Africa was emerging as a major voting force in the United Nations.
So in 1956, the United States State Department began sending its jazz ambassadors to tour Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and central and Southern Asia and Africa. Louis Armstrong was hesitant to become a jazz ambassador at a time when many Black Americans couldn't vote.However, when Louis Armstrong was asked to tour Africa, he made it known he was not happy to be used as a US tool of propaganda while African Americans were still unable to vote in their own country.jazz diplomacy persisted, his visit to the Congo turned out to be the cover for something far more sinister.
This was the final straw for Eisenhower, and he employed the CIA to quash this perceived communist threat in the Congo.Photo shows Still-SOUNDTRACK-TO-A-COUP-DETAT_featuring-Andree-BlouinTerence-Spencer_Popperfoto-copy
Congo Jazz Coup Lumumba Cold War
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