A doc. about flamenco--thanks, MAW!

Thanks to a grant from MAW (Media Art Works), we are getting started on a documentary film about flamenco.  It's tentative title is Flamenco:  la tierra está viva (Flamenco:  the Land is Still Fertile), and it will be written and directed by Antonio de la Malena.  Eve A. Ma (yours truly) will be the producer.

As many of you know, Malena is a flamenco cantaor, a professional flamenco singer.  He is very well qualified to write this, and due to his extensive experience as artistic director for the flamenco performances in which he sings, as well as his more recent work in video, he is also qualified to direct.

Antonio de la Malena on stage.  (Photo;  Casa Patas/Martín Guerrero)

The thesis of this documentary is that the original flamenco, the flamenco that Malena heard and learned as a child, the flamenco of his parents and his grandparents and his great-grandparents, the flamenco that came out of the gitano (Gypsy) community, still exists and is still being passed on from one generation to the next.

Now, you may not even have known that there was any question of flamenco continuing on.  After all, there are flamenco shows both large and small, and flamenco performances, taking place all over the world.

But as you will learn in the documentary, most of these shows and performances are not, in fact, the original flamenco.  They are more properly called flamenco fusion, but most people (performers as well as the public and the publicists) don´t bother to make the distinction.

Little Manuel (on his daddy´s lap).

ABOVE:  Little Manuel, though still in diapers, can hold his own in bulerias, as can his dad, his aunt (in pink), his mother, his sister....

The result is that the commercialization of flamenco is threatening to destroy the art.

Malena, however, believes that the art will survive.  He believes that the flamenco families who have handed it down for generations will be able to continue to give it life, and that although their children may turn away from it during their teenage years, enough of them will come back to it as adults to ensure its survival.

One thing that Malena considers very important for people to understand:  although flamenco families are gitano families, flamenco (and here he means the original flamenco) is not something that is confined to the gitano community.  Everyone is welcome to learn it;  but in order to learn it, they must first understand what it is, and the flamenco families must continue their traditions and keep it alive.

Rock-solid compás (rhythm), often clapped out, is the foundation of flamenco.

Once again, thanks to MAW, we are able to at least get the script written, create a trailer and simple web site, and position ourselves to be able to obtain the funding for the full production.  Great people at MAW.

Want to know more about what we´re doing?  Sign up at www.PalominoProDVD-CD.com.

OUR NEXT POST will be about the latest word about Domino:  Caught in the Crisis.