Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

Two lines run at once across 1960 and 1961: Congo wins independence and its prime minister Patrice Lumumba is killed, while in the same period the United States sends jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie to Africa as cultural ambassadors. Johan Grimonprez directed. The documentary is assembled entirely from archive footage, sound recordings and music of the period, with no narrator. Its claim is plain: the jazz tours were used as soft power covering political operations running at the same time. Armstrong's trip to Congo is set beside the timing of the coup. The structure is musical, the editing moving like a jazz arrangement, with the protest by Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach at the United Nations among its central scenes. It was nominated for the documentary feature Oscar in 2025. At close to two and a half hours it is dense with information and asks for attention. Who it is for: viewers curious about decolonisation and where jazz met politics. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a summary; the film piles up names and events.