Rhythm of Resistance

© Hartcourt Films Ltd
  • event type:WOMEX 20 Film
  • date:24 Sep 2020 - 08 Oct 2020
  • time:12:00 - 00:00
  • venue:Online
  • event posted by:Piranha Arts

Links

The film was available to stream online on the virtualWOMEX platform from the 24 September - 8 October 2020 with your WOMEX 20 Digital Registration.

Directed by Jeremy Marre
60 mins | UK, 1979

Filmed secretly and at considerable personal danger to the crew, this is a vision of black South African music as resistance to apartheid. These musicians and their arts were ignored, suppressed and ghettoised.

Rhythm of Resistance investigates the South African recording business, and the place of music in South African society. It reveals Zulu workers performing their secret ritual war dances against whites. It provides intimate interviews and live performances with Mahotella Queens and Aabfana in segregated black townships; with Malombo in the studio; with censors in the radio stations and the mixed-race duo of Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu combatting apartheid with their subtle lyrics. The superstar harmony group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, sing in segregated township churches where they were discovered and first brought to international attention in this film.

Jeremy Marre(1943-2020) made over 100 films during a fifty year career which spanned the globe, documenting and promoting the music and culture of the marginalised, and shedding new light on the lives of those on whom he turned his camera. Marre’s early work included the seminal 14 part series, Beats of the Heart and his final film, Count Basie: Through His Own Eyes, was completed in 2019. It is currently being broadcast around the world. It is now available to stream on Amazon and will be shown by the BBC on 24 October 2020.

Featuring: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, The Mahotella Queens, Philip Tabane, Johnny and Sipho, Malombo, Abafana Baseqhudeni.
Film Contact: Harcourt Films