Songs of War: Music as a Weapon

Overview

Music elates, touches the soul and bypasses reason. Music is magic. But precisely this magic can turn it into an insidious weapon for music and violence belong together. The brutal power of African war dances, the ferocity of Maori Hakas, the earth-shattering roar of US sound guns blasting Metallica at Taliban hideouts the principle is always the same: Aggressive sounds demoralise the enemy and whip the allies into a frenzy. In Songs of War, director Tristan Chytroschek explores the extraordinary harmony between music and violence. Sesame Street composer, Christopher Cerf, always wanted his music to be fun and entertaining. But then he learned that his songs had been used to torture prisoners in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. He is stunned by this abuse of his work and wants to find out how this could happen.

Cast

N/A

Christopher Cerf

Presenter

N/A

Thomas Keenan

Human Rights Project, Bard College, New York

N/A

Chris Arendt

Former Guard, Guantanamo Bay

N/A

Herb Friedman

Psychological Operations Expert, US Army

N/A

Mike Ritz

Former Interrogator, US Army

N/A

Nathalie Gosselin

Music Psychologist, Université de Montréal

N/A

Moazzam Begg

Former Detainee, Guantanamo Bay And Bagram

N/A

Morag Josephine Grant

Musicologist, University Of Göttingen

Mike Luce

Drowning Pool

C.J. Pierce

Drowning Pool

N/A

Vahan Simidian II

CEO, HPV Technologies