Lagu Lagu

World Premiere

Lagu Lagu is a documentary about Moluccans in the Netherlands, without trains, motorbike gangs and flag-waving, but with music!

In 2021, it will be 70 years since Moluccan KNIL soldiers and their families were shipped to the Netherlands by boat. They were allowed by the Dutch government here to await developments in the new state of Indonesia before returning to their beloved Moluccas. However, a return never materialised. Moluccan musician ‘Opa Piet’, grandfather of the well-known Moluccan jazz and pop singer Jessica Manuputty, is one of the KNIL soldiers who arrives at Amsterdam’s Javakade on 12 May 1951.

In honour of her ancestors and not to forget the injustice done to them, Jessica Manuputty throws herself into traditional ‘lagu lagu’ in the year of remembrance. These Moluccan songs are about homesickness, homesickness for the Moluccas and Ambon in particular. Jessica makes an effort to make the music sound traditional but still insists on adding her own ideas and those of her musicians. In this way, she and producer Jett Rebel make a unique record.

*Director Joost Schrickx and protagonist Jessica Manuputty will be present at the screening and will participate in a Q&A.