Todo Mundo

In the summer of 2015, legendary musician David Byrne staged an event at Brooklyn's Barclays Center to celebrate the art of Color Guard: synchronized dance routines involving flags, rifles, and sabers. Recruiting performers that include the likes of St. Vincent, Nelly Furtado, Ad-Rock, and Ira Glass to collaborate on original pieces with 10 color guard teams from across the US and Canada, Contemporary Color is a beautifully filmed snapshot of a one-of-a-kind live event.

This film, set to Ponta de Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma) by Jorge Ben, was created to accompany Beleza Tropical: Brazil Classics 1, the first in a series of albums compiled by David Byrne to promote the unique music published by Brazilian artists during a repressive period of military rule in the 1970’s-1980’s. The aim was to visually invoke the album’s sensual and lyrical breadth and depth, and to subtly reflect the underlying social and political issues of that time.