Jumana Manna's A MAGICAL SUBSTANCE FLOWS INTO ME (2016) explores the diverse musical traditions of Palestine via the archives of Robert Lachmann, a gay German-Jewish ethnomusicologist. Lachmann’s radio program (1936-1938), produced for the Palestine Broadcasting Service while Palestine was under British Mandate, highlighted the ethnic diversity of the region through its musical traditions, including those of Kurdish and Yemenite Jews, Bedouins, Samaritans and Arab Palestinians. Lachmann came to Palestine fleeing the Nazi regime, but never truly found a home there: his programming of both Arab and Jewish music made him a controversial figure. Manna loosely recreates Lachmann’s broadcasts in the film, recording musicians who have maintained the various musical traditions to the present. The film comprises these interviews and musical performances (interspersed with footage of Manna’s parents), and images of Lachmann’s archival photographs and hand-written lectures.
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