Rock Around the Kremlin

Ali Farka Touré, the gifted musician and farmer, came from Timbuktu. Yes, there is a place called Timbuktu and it’s in Africa, in the loop of the Niger to be precise. As a child Ali never learned to read or write, but his early passion for a home-made one-string, violin-like instrument led him away from his humble roots to the music festivals of Europe in the 60’s. Critics and fans alike have compared his music to the Soul-Blues magic of greats like B.B. King, John Lee Hooker...even Eric Clapton. Ironically he had never heard their “sound” before creating his music. Amazingly, his sound is authentic Blues....and through it, we can hear the native roots, the origins of the Afro-centric rhythms found in Soul, Blues and Jazz! These Afro-centric sounds, which found their way across the seas to America during the era of slavery, preserved and transformed into modern Jazz, are the essence of Ali’s music.

Presents a musical journey through the area surrounding the Ganges. Focuses on Benares, Ustad Bismillah Khan, a musician influenced by Indian musical traditions, and the Shehnai, an oboe-type instrument. Other masters performing are Girja Devi, Lacchu Maharaj, Jotin Bhattacharya, N. Rajam.

From the deep south to the extreme north, a trip through Iraq where the amazing diversity of Iraqi society is unveiled. Haunting chants are interwoven with the voices of the people, lending a poetic resonance to the issue.

A documentary on the amazing Brazilian music movement known as Tropicália.

In this spellbinding biography of Nobel Prize Winning author Gabriel García Márquez, the brilliant storyteller is interviewed in depth, and takes us between the worlds of magic and reality—a sorcerer’s tale, in his own words.

This document is the final chapter of the history of Brazil's Amerindian tribes caught up in the trap of modernization. The Parakana Indians undergo the first contact which begins the process of their pacification. They are attracted by presents laid out in the forest, then settled around camps. They are then confined to indigenous reservations before being completely assimilated by our conquering civilization. All such pacification is initiated through strategic or economic pretexts. The Amerindian civilizations of the Brazilian Amazon are either dying or definitely defunct.