An African brass band

Streaming video - 2006

At the beginning of the 20th century in Jacqueville, near Abidjan in the Cote d'Ivoire, traditional music was forbidden by the missionaries. But the inhabitants' enjoyment of their local festivals proved stronger, and the little town developed its own brass band. This is the story of that brass band, a brass band that isn't at all like a military band. It's a dancing brass band, an African brass band, that accompanies all the big and little moments of life: national festivals, religious ceremonies, funerals, fetes and celebrations, a musical game involving a football, tunes from the famous Mapuka dance, or the experimental use of sacred drums together with the brass band. A lively debate between the musicians in which a ...sense of humor is clearly present, examining fundamental questions about their tradition and its transformations in the context of the life of people today. This film was shot in July and August 2002, a few weeks before the outbreak of civil war in the Cote d'Ivoire. more