Sound of Freedom

The Soundtrack to Liberty – From the French Revolution to fall of the Iron Curtain. Music can move, comfort and encourage like no other medium. Social upheaval and political songs have marched hand in hand since the French Revolution, probably even before then. Music is a tool for mobilisation. It is the embodiment of the ideals and the hope for a better life. It galvanises the oppressed, spurs on the resistance and fires on the revolutionaries. The two part documentary Sound of Freedom goes back to the roots of this music of hope, rebellion, of the mavericks and the oppressed. This is the first time the sound of freedom and protest is being considered in its full historical context; not just within the microcosm of the Sixties and the civil rights movement, but with the narrative arc stretching from the 18th century to the present day. Part I: From the chansons of the French Revolution to the labour movement and the resistance against the Nazi Regime / Part II: From the hymns of the civil rights movement and the fight against apartheid to the call for sexual freedom and equality

Vivaldi, Concerto per l’Orchestra di Dresda in G minor, RV 577 (Carinthian Summer 1979)

Recorded live at the Carinthian Summer Festival on 27 August 1979, this concert features soloists from the orchestra of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala under the direction of Claudio Abbado. One of the leading conductors of our time, Abbado was music director and artistic director of the Scala until 1986 before shifting his focus to Vienna (music director of the Vienna State Opera from 1986-1991) and, later, Berlin. Since 1969, the Carinthian Summer in Ossiach, Austria, has been presenting internationally acclaimed soloists and ensembles in splendid Alpine settings. A particularly opulent venue is the Baroque monastery church of Ossiach, where this concert was filmed.

Africa Rising

Africa is hip. For several years now, a veritable hype has erupted in cinemas, in museums, in fashion and in music. The global north is in the process of renegotiation its relationship with Africa, and is intoxicated by the continent’s aesthetics. Not for the first time. Again and again over the past decades, Africa has served as a source of inspiration for the West, and as a projection surface, an object of appropriation but also of delineation. The documentary is taking the African renaissance as an opportunity to describe the major developments in African pop culture and their effect on the West, assisted by important stars and contemporary witnesses. Including music by: Miriam Makeba, E.T. Mensah, Joseph Kabasele, Papa Wemba, Bob Marley, Alpha Blondy, James Brown, Fela Kuti, Seun Kuti, Ray Lema, Sista Fa, Salif Keita, Cheb Khaled, Majid Bekkas, Mafikizolo, Youssou N´Dour, Peter Gabriel, Positive Black Soul, Spoek Mathambo, Maître Gims, Wizkid, MHD, Yonii, DJ Black Coffee, Distruction Boyz

Ayham Ahmad – The Pianist of Yarmouk

Surrounded by ruins in Syria’s capital Damascus, Ayham Ahmad sings accompanied by an out-of-tune piano about migration, hunger, and death. Threatened by Assad’s regime and ISIS, the Piano Man is silenced and must flee – to Germany. The documentary film The Pianist from Yarmouk tells the story of this Syrian refugee musician. After his arrival in Munich, we follow the life of a man who sang out against the suffering in his country until his instrument was destroyed. His fate stands for that of thousands – robbed of their hopes and dreams and forced to build a new existence.