Friday, April 20, 2012

Kinshasa Symphony


We loved watching Kinshasa Symphony this week (from Amazon). It documents the efforts of a group of dedicated amateur musicians in the Congo as they put together a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, on a shoestring.

Combining so many of our family interests--classical music, West African culture, and thrifty creativity, how could we not love it?

12 comments:

Angela said...

I saw a little bit of it on 60 Minutes recently, and was amazed.

LISA said...

Thank you so much for sharing.
We will be watching this because we have five orchestra musicians, like thrifty, and love missions.
Blessings for your weekend.

Lisa said...

I love Beethoven, esp. his symphonies - I'll have to watch it, too!

Lisateresa

sem said...

I saw that on 60 Minutes as well. I wept through most of clips of them performing. It was truly beautiful to watch them perform with such love for the music.

Kathaleeny said...

Can you imagine what Beethoven would think if he could see and hear this? How wow is that?

Linda said...

What a wonderful story! Thanks so much for this post. I looked them up and it was wonderful to behold this orchestra and chorus on 60 Minutes. I will be getting the DVD. I hope the 21st century is a great century for Africa.

Rose said...

Anna, this is amazing stuff. Really amazing. I am tempted to ask you if this is what the Composer and Bella were involved in on their trip to Africa but no, I won't. I've trawled through most of the online stuff over (our) weekend. Thank you.

Farrah said...

Did you watch it on Amazon Prime of purchase it? Can you please tell us how you do television in your family?

Farrah

Anna said...

fG--we bought the disc. I think the Composer originally saw the film at Sundance (?) and knew we'd love it.

We don't have television. We do have a very nice screen for watching movies though! It's always a treat when we have something we can all enjoyl

The Composer said...

fGs -- as far as I can tell, the only way to see Kinshasa Symphony in the US is to purchase it (Amazon). Festival screening dates are trailing off, as it has been making the rounds for a couple of years now.

Other territories (i.e. GB or Australia) may have better access. Netflix doesn't have it.

Rose -- I would love to be able to claim association with this beautiful production, but I was not involved. It was principally a team from German television.

Anonymous said...

I missed the 60 Minutes spot....heard that it was a very moving piece. My sister said it was really amazing.

Brenda

Polly said...

My husband and I are crazy about documentaries, and I think we would love this one as well. It is right up our alley! Thank you for the recommendation--I'm going to put it on my husband's birthday list. :)

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