World Music
see all genres ›Some have called music the universal language but it is precisely the vast to subtle differences between idioms, styles, instrumentation, melody and meaning that make musical globe-trotting an endless source of discovery. From fado to Fela, these documentaries explore the sounds that move people (and make them move) around the world.
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Genres / Music / Rockumentary / World Music
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This is Bossa Nova
Paulo Thiago's acclaimed documentary THIS IS BOSSA NOVA tells the story of Bossa Nova, the Brazilian music born in the early-1950s that would attain definite international recognition a decade later with a memorable concert at New York's Carnegie Hall. This film includes...Watch Movie
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Umm Kulthum
She had the musicality of Ella Fitzgerald, the public presence of Eleanor Roosevelt and the audience of Elvis Presley. Born a peasant at the turn of the last century, legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum earned a position of great wealth and influence. She was a powerful symbol, first of the...Watch Movie
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Ouled Bambara
Gnawa music is that of the ritual tradition known in Morocco as Tagnawit, "the craft of the Gnawi." The Gnawa are the practitioners of this tradition, be they the musicians or the initiates and clairvoyants who sponsor ceremonies and trance to the music. Their healing rituals are intercessions...Watch Movie
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El Tigre Saltó y Mató, Pero Morirá... Morirá...
Cuban filmmaker Santiago Alvarez's hurried response to the 1973 Chilean coup d’état rests upon the music of Victor Jara, the folk singer who was brutally murdered within days after Augusto Pinochet assumed power. Connecting events in Chile to other repressive police crackdowns...Watch Movie
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Screaming Men
The Finnish Screaming Male Choir, Mieskuoro Huutajat, dressed in black suits, white shirts and rubber ties is a unique choir which performs its repertoire by shouting and screaming. Led by the conductor Petri Sirviö, the choir has travelled during fifteen years of existence from an idea in a bar...Watch Movie
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Singer from Taiga
SINGER FROM TAIGA portrays the folk singer Mr.Tsogbadrakh's pursuit of finding and preserving ethnic songs, and displays the unique and magnificent beauty of Huvsgul province of Mongolia. Darkhad people and their unique culture have been part of Mongolia's taiga for hundreds...Watch Movie
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Viramundo
After decades of sold out shows and international recognition, musician Gilberto Gil embarks on a new kind of world tour. Traveling from Brazil to Australia and Africa, where he meets with local indigenous communities, Gil continues the work he began as Brazil’s first black Minister of Culture,...Watch Movie
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Jalanan
JALANAN ('Streetside') tells the captivating story of Boni, Ho and Titi, three gifted, charismatic street musicians in Jakarta over a tumultuous five-year period in their own lives and that of Indonesia. The film follows the young marginalized musicians and their never before seen sub-culture,...Watch Movie
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Emmanuel Jal: War Child
“Left home at the age of seven, one year later I’m carryin’ an AK-47.” His electrifying music crackles with both pain and hope. For hip hop artist Emmanuel Jal, a former child soldier in Sudan’s brutal civil war, these lyrics are hardly empty posturing. They are the bitter...Watch Movie
