Creating an image

Every video/´`film project needs an image.  Something that a person totally unfamiliar with what you are doing will be attracted to and that will give them a basic idea of what your video/film is about.

Try coming up with something that lets people know your video/film is about traditional flamenco.

Sounds easy?  Well, it wasn't for me.

The image.

I had to create an image for our documentary-in-progress, Flamenco:  the Land Is Still Fertile (Flamenco:  la tierra está viva).  We´ll have a bunch of pretty famous performers in it, as well as people from the community.  The documentary will entertain (but of course!), will let people know what traditional flamenco is all about, and will show the connection between traditional flamenco and gitanos (Spanish Gypsies).

So why not just put an image of one of the famous people who is going to be in the documentary?

Because first of all, that would imply that the famous person in question was more important than the OTHER famous people that will be included.  In addition, we certainly don´t want to use the image of anyone who we haven´t filmed yet (which means most of them, because we don´t have the money to pay their fees yet).

We don´t want to use our famous flamenco singer co-director, Antonio de la Malena, because then it will look like the documentary is just a puff piece about him.

 
Couldn´t find anything of farm workers in Spain.  This has no sound but gives a good idea of farm work.

SO - I chose an image of one of the people from the community who we´ve already filmed, who is dancing, who communicates energy and enthusiasm, who is elderly and a little heavy (which shows that flamenco is not something that only the young and slim can dance).  And to show traditional flamenco´s connection to a way of life, I decided we needed the image of a garbanzo plant.

Many, many of today´s flamencos who are gitano and are middle aged or above used to work as farm laborers.  Many, many of those who are younger have parents who worked as farm laborers.  They worked in the vineyards, the worked in the cotton fields, they worked in the sugar beet fields, and they worked in the garbanzo fields.

Garbanzo plants have a shape that works better for my design idea than the other plants, so garbanzo was my choice.

Garbanzo plants growing.

But where to find a correctly but also appropriately shaped image of a garbanzo plant?  Not on the internet.  I tried.

So to make a long story short, I ended up growing a bunch of garbanzo plants, then photographed (and PhotoShopped) the one that suited me best.

NOTE:  You are encouraged to send me any comments you might have about the design (see top).  Send to info@palominopro.com.

The "Toro de fuego" and "Torito Pinto" (part 3)

Torito Pinto and the Toros de fuego have often been considered different forms of the same thing, but as I look into the origins and ways of performing them, however, I wonder if this is correct.  It may be that Torito Pinto is indigenous to Latin America, and the Toros de fuego to Spain, and that they are two separate and distinct performances. 

Why do I think this?  For one thing, I see no dance to music and song associated with the Toros de fuego in Spain, nor have I found any reference to Torito Pinto in Spain.  Yes, in a few locations in Spain, the Toros de fuego are made with paper maché instead of iron, but perhaps the Spaniards borrowed the idea from Latin America.  

 

In Latin America, you see both the Torito Pinto and the Toros de fuego…but it’s easy to imagine that the Torito Pinto, which contains many indigenous elements, was a Latin American indigenous response to the bull fighting that the Spaniards brought with them across the ocean.

Another reason for thinking that the Toros de fuego and the Torito Pinto are from two separate traditions is because, although the very first Toro de fuego in Spain dates to the early 1900s, they didn’t become popular and widespread until just a very few years ago.  Instead, for centuries in Spain, live bulls had their hors dipped in pitch which was then set on fire, and the terrified bull set loose to run through the streets.  Apparently this dates back to a battle in which the fire-carrying bulls were used as a weapon against the enemy.

A performance from my documentary, "A Zest for Life"

But since 2010, animal rights’ activists in Spain have succeeded in getting many regions of the country to ban the use of live bulls, and so these were replaced by the metal or paper maché bulls spouting fireworks.  That is what you see in the modern Toros de fuego in Spain.

In other words, if I am correct, not only are Torito Pinto and the Toros de fuego two separate forms of cultural presentation, but the influence has gone both ways across the Atlantic:  the Toros de fuego from Spain to Latin America, and the occasional use of paper maché bulls from Latin America to Spain.

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The writer of this article, Eve A. Ma, is a filmmaker whose work includes documentaries about world music and dance, including Afro-Peruvian and Mexican.  She speaks Spanish, has spent much time in Spain, and has visited several Latin American countries.  Her web site is www.PalominoPro.comTo keep up with her work, sign up for her newsletter HERE