Songs of War: Music as a Weapon

Songs of War: Music as a Weapon

52 mins | Documentary | Feb. 25, 2010

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.

Songs of War: Music as a Weapon

52 mins | Documentary | Feb. 25, 2010

Songs of War: Music as a Weapon
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.
Producers ARTE, ZDF, A&O Buero
Original title Songs of War: Music as a Weapon
Directors Tristan Chytroschek
Writers

Cast

Christopher Cerf

as Presenter

Thomas Keenan

as Human Rights Project, Bard College, New York

Chris Arendt

as Former Guard, Guantanamo Bay

Herb Friedman

as Psychological Operations Expert, US Army

Mike Ritz

as Former Interrogator, US Army

Nathalie Gosselin

as Music Psychologist, Université de Montréal

Moazzam Begg

as Former Detainee, Guantanamo Bay And Bagram

Morag Josephine Grant

as Musicologist, University Of Göttingen

Mike Luce

as Drowning Pool

C.J. Pierce

as Drowning Pool

Vahan Simidian II

as CEO, HPV Technologies