Weaponising blue notes in DR Congo

'Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat' is a bracing political documentary about Lumumba's assassination

- Uday Bhatia

In December 1960, jazz drummer Max Roach released We Insist! The album's five tracks were inspired by the Civil Rights movement in the US and the burgeoning freedom struggles in African colonies.

Singer Abbey Lincoln is featured on all the tracks, most memorably on Triptych: Prayer, Protest, Peace, where her wordless vocals are a visceral protest of historic and ongoing racism. Roach and Lincoln performed the album on Belgian TV in 1964 (you can see it on YouTube). In a grim coincidence, there's a genocide ongoing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) at the time, backed by Belgium.

Roach and Lincoln's performance is at the heart of the conflicts powering Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat. Johan Grimonprez's 2024 documentary looks at the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of DRC, in 1961, just months after their independence from Belgium. This was a Katangan operation, with Belgium pulling the strings and the CIA assisting (with the approval of US President D. Eisenhower). It sparked furious protests in several countries, including the US, where 60 Black activists crashed a UN Security Council meeting. Among the protestors were Roach and Lincoln.