Social & External
The people behind it
Salif Keita
Self
N'Doumbé Djengué
Glaucus de Oliveira Xavier
Mokhtar Samba
Souleymane Doumbia
Manu Chambo
Vodoun Gods On The Slave Coast explores the ceremonial splendor of sacred dance and ritual in Benin, the birthplace and cradle of Vodoun. Formerly known as Dahomey, Benin was also called the Slave Coast due to its importance in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Today, the worship and supplication of Vodoun gods remains integral to everyday life in Benin.
Travel with Major Lazer to Ghana and Nigeria to make the world smaller by making the party bigger. They are collaborating with cutting-edge Afrobeats artists including Mr.Eazi, Efya, Teni, Sarkodie and Amaarae as they explore the culture and history of Africa. Chasing the Sound: Major Lazer, watch now only on YouTube.
In the fifties, when the future Democratic Republic of Congo was still a Belgian colony, an entire generation of musicians fused traditional African tunes with Afro-Cuban music to create the electrifying Congolese rumba, a style that conquered the entire continent thanks to an infectious rhythm, captivating guitar sounds and smooth vocals.
The story of the Candeal favela in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, where musician Carlinhos Brown carries out social and cultural initiatives that protect and enrich the lives of its inhabitants every day.
Road documentary that delves into the musical and religious expressions of sub-Saharan Africa. Through Mauritania and Mali, the film documents the lives of Dogon, griots, musicians and instrument makers who, through oral accounts, explain why music plays a fundamental role in the socio-religious organization of peoples. The film culminates its search with the recording of the performance of the traditional Dogon mask dance, in Begnematou, a small village lost in the desert.
Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti performs at the 1984 Glastonbury Festival. Originally produced for Arena.
First aired on TV on the BBC Two on 29 September 1989, this second episode of the documentary series "Under African Skies", a grand project aimed at presenting the rich diversity of contemporary African music of those days and known for its unforgettable memento "A celebration of the new sounds of a continent. " traverses the nostalgic roots and the euphoric contours of Ethiopian music of the '80s.
Robert Plant formed his current band The Sensational Space Shifters in 2012 and has been recording and touring with them ever since. Robert Plant has always introduced music from many cultures into his work and the Sensational Space Shifters blend of African rhythms and melodies, rock music, and folk roots is his latest incarnation. In October 2016 they took part in David Lynch's inaugural Festival of Disruption at the Ace Hotel Theater in Los Angeles, an event that raised funds for The David Lynch Foundation. The set featured tracks from the band's 2014 album Lullaby and...The Ceaseless Roar alongside fascinating Space Shifters re-workings of Led Zeppelin classics.
Offers a rare view into the rich textures of African fingerstyle guitar music. It was recorded by the famous cultural anthropologist Gerhard Kubik between 1966 and 1993. These are audio-visual field recordings from isolated African villages to the gardens of Europe, presenting some of the legends of this style: Mwenda Jean Bosco, Faustino Okello, Pierre Gwa , Daniel Kachamba and others.
World première recording of Hannibal Lokumbe's 'spritatorio' Can You Hear God Crying, which combines jazz, gospel and chamber music with West African prayers and songs. The piece, commissioned by Philadelphia philanthropist Carole Haas Gravagno, is about the composer's great-great-grandfather, who was born in the Sahara, kidnapped and enslaved in Liberia, and sold at auction in Charleston, S.C. He escaped to Texas, where he bought land and had a family.
This special, behind-the-scenes film takes us on a trip to Mali to witness Amadou & Mariam at home and their musical encounter with legendary artist and producer Manu Chao during the making of their hit album Dimanche à Bamako, The music provides the lifeblood of the film, featuring the hits Sénégal Fast Food and La Realité, popular favourites Coulibaly, M’Bifé and Camions Sauvages plus a rare, unreleased live song by Manu Chao, Kira.
Aya Nakamura is set to set the stage ablaze at the Stade de France. Join us for the live stream on May 30 for an unforgettable show headlined by one of the most-streamed French-speaking artists in the world. Get a front-row seat, no matter where you are.
Thursday 27th of October 2016 – Teatro Espace, Turin. Mulatu Astatke is a musician, composer, arranger and Ethiopia’s cultural ambassador. He’s known as the godfather of ethiojazz, a unique blend of jazz, traditional Ethiopian music, latin, caribbean reggae and afrofunk. Born in 1943 in Jimma, Mulatu studied music not only in Ethiopia but also in UK and USA. In 2005 he contributed to the soundtrack of Jim Jarmusch’s film “Broken Flowers”, reaching a new public worldwide.
How African artists have spread African culture all over the world, especially music, since the harsh years of decolonization, trying to offer a nicer portrait of this amazing continent, historically known for tragic subjects, such as slavery, famine, war and political chaos.
Life in the African country of Mali in the 1990s is vividly highlighted in this mild drama. In the story, a young forest ranger who sees that his work holds the key to the future of his country (through reforestation) is disgusted at the short-sighted, money-grubbing ways of his superiors. He has a much better relationship with local villagers than with his agency's bosses. As the movie opens, the villagers are preparing to hold a hunting ceremony but are not sure whether they will do it the old fashioned way, with a bonfire, or will obey a government decree that open fires are too dangerous. There is a lot of sexual teasing between the villagers, including some harmless horseplay. For instance, when a man whispers another woman's name in his sleep, his wife pours water into his ear in revenge.
Seasoned adventurer and treasure hunter Dirk Pitt, a former Navy SEAL, sets out for the African desert with his wisecracking buddy Al in search of a confederate ironclad battleship rumored to have vanished long ago, the main draw being the treasure supposedly hidden within the lost vessel. When the daring duo come across Dr. Eva Rojas, a beautiful scientist who is juggling an escape from a warlord and a mission to stop the spread of a powerful plague, their desert expedition begins to heat up.
It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.
French-language documentary on the History of Congolese rumba.
Daft Punk Unchained is the first film about the pop culture phenomenon that is Daft Punk, the duo with 12 million albums sold worldwide and seven Grammy Awards. Throughout their career Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have always resisted compromise and the established codes of show business. They have remained determined to maintain control of every link in the chain of their creative process. In the era of globalisation and social networks, they rarely speak in public and neither do they show their faces on TV. This documentary explores this unprecedented cultural revolution revealing a duo of artists on a permanent quest for creativity, independence and freedom.
Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.
A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.
A pair of star-crossed dancers in New York find themselves at the center of a bitter rivalry between their brothers' underground dance clubs.
The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.
Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.
During the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two American tourist girls and must decide between music and love.
In a short musical film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Thom Yorke of Radiohead stars in a mind-bending visual piece. Best played loud.
A teenage rapper must use his musical talent to help a friend and win the girl of his dreams while overcoming self-doubt and the expectations of his strict religious parents.
After the death of her mother, Sara moves to the South Side of Chicago to live with her father and gets transferred to a majority-black school. Her life takes a turn for the better when befriends Chenille and her brother Derek, who helps her with her dancing skills.
Americans Jeff and Tommy, hunting in Scotland, stumble upon a village - Brigadoon. They soon learn that the town appears once every 100 years in order to preserve its peace and special beauty. The citizens go to bed at night and when they wake up, it's 100 years later. Tommy falls in love with a beautiful young woman, Fiona, and is torn between staying or going back to his hectic life in New York.
In 1997, rap superstars Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (aka Biggie Smalls, The Notorious B.I.G.) were gunned down in separate incidents, the apparent victims of hip hop's infamous east-west rivalry. Nick Broomfield's film introduces Russell Poole, an ex-cop with damning evidence that suggests the LAPD deliberately fumbled the case to conceal connections between the police, LA gangs and Death Row Records, the label run by feared rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight.
As the ponies prepare for another Hearth's Warming, families come together to celebrate the holiday; Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash are ready for the big day, but Princess Twilight Sparkle doesn't have time to celebrate.
The brothers Gibb perform their greatest hits from the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's including many songs written for and made hits by other artists but never recorded by the Bee Gees themselves.
Documentary about the arena-packing Swedish DJ, chronicling his explosive rise to fame and surprising decision to retire from live performances in 2016.
Home movies, photographs, and recited poetry illustrate the life of Tupac Shakur, one of the most beloved, revolutionary, and volatile hip-hop MCs of all time.
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
In 1987, to capitalize on his growing success in Europe, Prince toured extensively to promote the album of the same name and sales increased accordingly. However, the United States remained resistant to his latest album, and sales began to drop; it was at this point that Prince decided to film a live concert promoting the new material, for eventual distribution to theaters in America. Featuring the band that accompanied Prince on his 1987 Sign o' the Times Tour, including dancer Cat Glover, keyboardist Boni Boyer, bassist Levi Seacer, Jr., guitarist Miko Weaver, drummer Sheila E. and former member of The Revolution keyboardist Dr. Fink, the film sees the group perform live on stage (although "U Got the Look" is represented by its promotional music video).
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
A famous pianist at the twilight of his career meets a free-spirited music critic who soon becomes his rock as his mental state deteriorates.
