The Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington title song, “Wild Is the Wind,” from the 1957 film of the same name, plays an important role in one of the five films nominated in January for an Academy Award (Oscar) for Documentary Feature Film. The nominated film, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, examines the political machinations behind the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba by juxtaposing jazz with the decolonization of the African continent.
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, by Belgian artist and filmmaker Johan Grimonprez, is an essay film of many dimensions: the high tensions of the Cold War, the activism of the Black Civil Rights movement in America and its solidarity with the independence movements that were sweeping across Africa, the power grab between East and West for control over minerals and resources in the Congo and the relentless espionage attempts to undermine those efforts, including the CIA sending jazz ambassadors to covertly gain intelligence.
Filmmaker, September 18, 2024.
Nina Simone appears early on, and few people can capture the activist spirit of the time so distinctly as she did, her unique sultry voice subtly extolling rebellion with her rendition of “Wild Is The Wind.”
loudandclearreviews.com, October 8, 2024.
When we hear Nina Simone exquisitely perform Wild Is the Wind in the film, it’s not hard to hear precisely that. Her motif of the derangement of love takes on other resonances. This wild wind may carry not just radioactive dust from a looming nuclear armageddon, but something more hopeful: the “winds of change” evoked by Harold Macmillan in 1960.
The Guardian, November 13, 2024.
One of many striking sequences comes at the beginning, with the first notes of Nina Simon’s ballad “Wild Is the Wind” playing as we are introduced to Andrée Blouin, Lumumba’s speechwriter. Grainy black-and-white footage sourced from her domestic archives accompanies the longing of Simone’s song. Wind agitates the trees, and rain starts to pour to the downbeat piano as Marie Daulne, the Belgian-Congolese musician of Zap Mama, lends her voice to Blouin’s memoirs recounting the details of Congo’s independent movement.
Filmmaker, September 18, 2024.
While the second and third review quotes refer to the rendition or performance of the Tiomkin-Washington song, the last review might imply the song was written by the performer. In that case it would be more accurate to refer to the song as Nina Simone’s performance of the ballad “Wild Is the Wind.” Case in point, if you Google “My Way” the results list includes “Song by Frank Sinatra.” But the song is not by Sinatra and referring to the song as Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” is a disservice to the composer and lyricist who created the work. It would be proper to say Frank Sinatra’s performance of “My Way.” Or, Frank Sinatra’s performance of “My Way,” a song by Paul Anka (that is actually an English-language version of a French song, but you get the point).
Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington
In the case of Wild Is the Wind, composer Dimitri Tiomkin and lyricist Ned Washington, the Oscar-winning creatives behind the title song for High Noon, reteamed to write the song for the 1957 film produced by Hal B. Wallis, directed by George Cukor, and featuring Anna Magnani, Anthony Quinn, and Anthony Franciosa.
READ: Wild Is the Wind soundtrack issued by La-La Land Records
Wild Is The Wind – compact disc cover
Music is a powerful force in film, whether fiction or nonfiction, and it’s heartening that many film reviewers noted the prominent use of the song, “Wild is the Wind.”
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat is “an immeasurably immersive experience” in the words of reviewer Greg Srisavasdi who writes:
If you love jazz and an inspired editing style, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” is definitely worth a look. … The documentary … features Nina Simone’s “Wild Is The Wind” as a prominent piece of its music, and if you are a jazz fan seeing John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Abbey Lincoln, and Max Roach should be a reason to catch [the film].
deepestdream.com, November 1, 2024.
In an interview with Christina Zachariades, director Johan Grimonprez elaborates on his use of the song.
So, for example, the layering in that scene with “Wild Is the Wind” by Nina Simone—there is the archival footage, and the voice of Zap Mama reading Andrée Blouin’s memoirs which is the vertical storytelling. One reenforces the other. “Wild Is the Wind” helps to give emotional depth.
Filmmaker, September 18, 2024.
While the song’s creators, Tiomkin and Washington, are not credited in the contemporary press, the end credits include the song’s publication information courtesy of Universal Music Publishing Film & TV and cite the 1964 Verve recording performed by Simone. Today, that recording can be purchased on vinyl from Verve’s Acoustic Sounds Series.
Wild Is The Wind, Nina Simone’s sixth album for Philips, has all the variety her work for the label was known for—from the minimal title track to the traditional folk song “Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair” to the banned-on-radio “Four Women”. In 2020, the album was ranked 212 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Verve’s Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes and remastered 180-gram vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.
ververecords.com
Because royalties from performing rights societies, such as ASCAP and BMI, are paid to creators and not performers, the estates of Tiomkin and Washington will benefit from the distinguished use of their song in this documentary.
Sources
Zachariades, Christina. “History Repeats the Old Conceits: Johan Grimonprez on Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” Filmmaker, September 18, 2024.
Srisavasdi, Greg. “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat Documnetary Review – Jazz Infused Congo Tale Is Top Tier Viewing,” deepestdream.com, November 1, 2024.
“Coups, colonialism and all that jazz: the film that unravels…,” The Guardian, November 13, 2024.
Bagnall, Philip. “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat Review: Jazz at the End of Empire,” loudandclearreviews.com, October 8, 2024.