Rhythm’n’Politics is a program about the outstanding emancipatory power of rhythm. Almost all contemporary music worldwide is essentially inspired by the blues, a mixture of African and European music that emerged from the desperate and hopeless situation of African-American slave labor and repeatedly became the basis of emancipatory movements – whether in the generational conflict (rock’n’roll), in the hippie and anti-war movement (folk, rock) or self-assertion in the ghettos (rap). The films in this chronologically arranged program illuminate the topic with documentaries, performances and artistic reflections from 1935 to the present day.

The program is a cooperation between Qalandiya International (Jerusalem/Ramallah, http://www.qalandiyainternational.org) and the Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art and was curated by Marcel Schwierin.

Movies:

Symphony in Black: a Rhapsody of Negro Life, Fred Waller (Duke Ellington Orchestra), US 1935, 9 min
God Respects Us When We Work – But He Loves Us When We Dance, Les Blank, US 1968, 20 min
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Stuart Baker, UK 1988, 4 min
Railings (Fitzroy Square), Francis Alÿs, UK 2004, 4 min
Beatbox – Alternate Take, Jani Ruscica, FI 2007, 9 min
80 Million, Mohamed Zayan & Eslam Zein, EG 2009, 4 min