Special jazz performance to take place before Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

For our screening this Thursday, 30th January of Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Sligo Film Society is delighted to collaborate with Sligo Jazz Project for a special performance to honour the music featured in the film. We welcome pianist and Young Irish Jazz Musician 2024 Rory Conneally who will perform before the screening.

The music of Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat can be likened to a character itself in the award winning documentary and features such jazz luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Quincy Jones and Nina Simone. The film illuminates the political machinations behind the 1961 assassination of Congo’s leader Patrice Lumumba. Jazz and decolonization are entwined in this historical rollercoaster that rewrites the Cold War episode that led musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach to crash the UN Security Council in protest against the murder of Patrice Lumumba.

The pre-film performance will commence at 7.15pm. Rory, a leaving certificate student at Sligo Grammar School, is a member of the Sligo Academy of Music Jazz Orchestra and performs regularly with his own Sligo based Honey Trio. He has been a participant at the last 3 Sligo Jazz Project international summer school events where he studied under international educators like Elio Villafranca, Liam Noble and Scott Flanigan as well as throughout the year under local educators Niamh Crowley, Kieran Quinn and others.
Rory Conneally receiving the 2024 Young Irish Jazz Musician award from Riverdance composer Bill Whelan

We would like to thank Sligo Jazz Festival for partnering with us on this special performance. Upon being awarded the title of Young Irish Jazz Musician, Sligo Jazz Project artistic director Eddie Lee said of Rory “those of us who have watched Rory’s extraordinary musical progress over the past few years are not at all surprised of this achievement, as he is the perfect mixture of an extraordinary musical talent and a very hard working young man”.

Sligo Jazz Project has grown to become Europe’s biggest and most inclusive jazz education event. Combined with a world class jazz festival, Sligo Jazz Project enters its 20th year in 2025. The six day event will take place from 22-27 July.

The screening of Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat is sponsored by Thomas Connollys Pub

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