Brass Unbound

Colour, 35mm
The Netherlands, 1993, 106 min
Section: Johan van der Keuken

Synopsis

Wind instruments have set out on a triumphal pilgrimage from Europe, travelling all over the world together with armies, tradesmen and members of the Church. They gradually conquered the most distant lands and captivated exotic nations. They brought with them a single God whom the spirits of the forefathers were forced to recognise. With the end of colonialism, however, suppressed nations regained their freedom, but wind instruments had meanwhile grown together with their own cultures and had begun to conjure up indigenous rhythms and accompany local dances. Several generations later, the West adopted their inspiration for its own music in the form of jazz and world music. The film captures the bizarre fusion of primitive and received cultures based on the scientific studies of anthropologist Rob Boonzajer Flaes in Nepal, Surinam, on the Minhasa peninsula and in Ghana.