The "Toro de fuego" and "Torito Pinto" (part 1)

It’s a dark night, around 10pm.  The streets are full of people and everyone seems excited.  The crowd is mostly adults.  Some bars have set up tables outside, and many people are drinking – tinto de verano (red wine mixed with soda), beer, what have you.

There is a noise in the distance, and a faint glow.  Someone calls out, “it’s coming, it’s coming.”

Pretty soon, the noise becomes a surge of shouts, mingled with laughter and the sound of fireworks.

Then you see it:  a small, black bull shooting fireworks in all directions, running down the street then turning and heading towards the crowd, then running down the street again.  Most people clear the way in front of it, but a few hardy souls, mostly young men, stand their ground or run along with it, trying to get closer, trying to touch it without letting the fireworks touch them.

This is a great example, accompanied by a musical track.  It takes place at the end of summer in Arroyomolinos in Leon (in Spain) to honor the Virgin de los Remedios.  There are five separate bulls.

As the bull gets closer, you see it has only two legs, legs that look suspiciously like they belong to a human being.  And indeed, that is what it is:  the metal frame of a bull, with all kinds of fireworks attached to it, held up by a man running down the street.

This is the “toro de fuego,” the “fire-bull,” that you find in both Spain and Latin America to help celebrate certain saint’s days and other special occasions.

This one takes place in Igualala (Spain) in a central plaza, so brightly lit you hardly know it’s night.

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The author 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.com.   To keep up with her work, sign up for her newsletter HERE

Gitanos #5 - a few more thoughts

In general, when I think of gitanos and the culture of the gitanos I know in Andalucia, I think of courtesy.  In a public setting, courtesy seems to be very important.  You do not say negative things about others.  Sure, in your own family or with your good friends, you speak your mind but in other situations, you temper criticism by saying it's only your point of view and of course you respect others' right to be different, and you're not trying to imply that your views are any more valid that the views of others, and....

Concrete examples come from conversations about flamenco which, among gitanos in Andalucia (especially in Jerez de la Frontera, the place that I know best), especially in gitano "flamenco families" is a very important topic of conversation about which people hold very strong opinions.

When referring to flamenco artists whose artistic abilities you frankly suspect they despise, they will tell things like... although what you've just seen is not their favorite style and is not something they would ever do themselves and perhaps has a bit too much of...whatever...still, they deeply respect the right of others to do their own thing.

Something else that I've observed is that gitanos, or at least the ones I know, have a sense of humor I'll refer to as the "B'rer Rabbit syndrome."  Out-foxing others is looked on favorably and is often considered funny.  And if someone out-foxes YOU, well, you should laugh a bit.

This "B'rer Rabbit syndrome" (know the story of B'rer Rabbit and the Tar Baby?) is closely akin to the Robin Hood ideal, or maybe to the character of Little John in Robin Hood's band.  It's something that comes of being the under-dog.

A few other comments:  in England, you find people called "Travelers" closely associated with Gypsies/Roma - so closely associated that many people assume they are one and the same.  They are not.  Travelers, to the best of my knowledge (and I'm no expert here) come from Irish stock.  Whether I'm right on wrong on this score, they have different values, a different way of life, and are ethnically different.

Gitanos, according to what I've read, make up about 10% of all Gypsies/Roma.  In many cases, their ancestors came into Spain (centuries ago) from northern Africa but others came through Europe and entered Spain by crossing the Pyranees from France.

Male chauvinism:  Spanish men in general seem to exhibit more male chauvinism that you find in the United States, and gitanos as a group perhaps more than the average Spanish man.

Finally, in Spain, gitanos greatly respect flamenco professionals and especially flamenco singers (cantaors), whereas the Gypsies/Roma in England, for example, consider it very important for a man to excell at boxing.  In other words, do not expect to find the same values in people because of their ethnic roots alone.

And that's enough on that topic.

Long-term unemployment in the United States

According to an article that ran in the Washington Post at the end of September, 2013, some 4.1 million people in the United States had been unemployed for longer than 27 weeks.  These people are now known as "long-term unemployed."  On Dec. 2, USA Today, using a slightly different standard (6 months rather than 27 weeks) gave the same figure for "long-term unemployed," and noted that many of them had also lost their ability to purchase food stamps on Nov. 1 when that program was cut back.

On Dec. 28, at least a quarter of these long-term jobless will lose their unemployment benefits unless Congress takes action to extend existing programs.  And nearly a million more are slated lose them between January and March.

What will happen to these people?

In "Domino," our unemployed hero tries pawning the family's jewelry.

Well, one of the first things that happens is you try to get help from other family members, and from close friends.  But if you've been out of work for six months or more, chances are that you will already have gone that route and there won't be much help available.

Next thing is you pawn the family's jewelry, take whatever odd job you can find, and try to downsize, but again, you've probably already done all of those things.

Next thing that can easily happen is - you become homeless.

And you become part of an increasingly vicious cycle.  If you're homeless, it's much harder to get a job.  Harder for you to spruce yourself up for a job interview.  Harder for you to have an address to give to a potential employer.  Harder for you to afford a cell phone so that a potential employer can contact you for an interview.

And harder for you to have the frame of mind you need, when and if you can line up a job interview.

Is it right for us to simply push these people, and this problem, aside?  I think not.

And that is the point of my film Domino:  Caught in the Crisis.  We need to really understand what these people are going through, so that we will help find solutions.  It is morally, socially, and economically wrong to throw in the towel on millions of our fellow citizens, on millions of our fellow human beings.

Gitanos (part 4) - what to avoid

I´m guessing that all of us have, at one time or another, been taught there are certain things to avoid... things like, in my case, Friday 13th, or walking under ladders or even (as a child, before we got one for a pet), black cats.

Well, not surprisingly, gitanos (Spanish Gypsies) also avoid certain things.

One thing I learned very soon after coming to Spain:  if you´re having a drink with someone who is gitano, and you´re about ready to leave but, ok, will have just one more, you do NOT say that you´ll have a last drink.  You say you´ll have a NEXT-to-last drink.

Having a last drink would implies that you do expect to be seeing them again.  Ever.  If your drink were to be a final one, well, maybe you wouldn´t even be around anymore after you´d had it.

Another thing to avoid:  putting money on the floor.

Well, most people wouldn´t be doing that, anyway, but I am a forgetful person.  If I really want to remember to do something, say, tomorrow, I will leave a note to myself on the floor telling me what I am to do.  That way, as I start walking out of the house, I see this note, stop to pick it up, read it...and remember what I am to do.

And if I owed someone money, I´d do the same... put the money on the floor, perhaps in an envelope but maybe not.

No, no, no.  Not on the floor.  (These are Euros.  Real money.  Real floor.)

I no longer do this in California.  Not since I´ve acquired two dogs who believe that anything left on the floor was clearly put there in order for them to have something new to play with.  And they do love to eat paper.  And plastic.  And money.

I don't do it here anymore, either.  Don't want to stress out my friends.

Even another thing is something you will probably never encounter, but I did.

Once I happened upon a plaster figure of a small angel, a cherub whose head and one leg were missing.  I found it on the street, near where some religious floats are taken out and just a day after there had been a religious procession (a Catholic Christian procession).  Clearly, it had fallen off of one of the religious floats.

My headless cherub at rest.  He's got a violin on his left shoulder.

I picked it up, intending to contact the organization that conducted the procession and return it to them.  I never got around to it.  It continues to sit on a table in my living room.

A friend who is gitano saw it one day and felt I should immediately get rid of it because it would bring me very bad luck.  He thought it had fallen off of a decorated ceiling.

When I explained where and how I had found it, he decided it was fine for me to keep it.  Apparently, angels falling out of the sky...or off of ceilings...have a different significance from angels that fall off of a religious float.

And there you have it.

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NOTE:  We are currently filming a documentary about flamenco which stresses the importance of gitanos to that art form - hence, these posts.  Learn more about the documentary on its web site www.FlamencotheLandMovie.com.

Antonio de la Malena CD-photos/fotos

Artists (singers, guitarist and palmeros) for the fin de fiesta.  ESP Artistas para el fin de fiesta.

In the studio/en el estudio:  Antonio de la Malena with/con guitarist Manuel Parilla

A break in the recording/una pausa en las grabaciones:  El Bob (palmas), Antonio de la Malena, Manuel Parilla, etc.

Pay gap widens between rich and poor

The plight of the ordinary individual is related to the huge and growing gap between the rich, and everyone else. This article deals with that topic.  LINK

You may also have seen the very well-done documentary on that topic, Inequaltiy for All, featuring the U.C. Berkeley economist Robert Reich.  If you haven´t seen it, I highly recommend it.  First of all, it presents its argument with clarity and force.  Secondly, Robert Reich himself is very charismatic.

There have also been a number of Ted Talks on the topic.

This situation is considered so severe that in the European Union, the United States is considered an oligarchy rather than a democracy, because so few people control so much of the country´s wealth and, through that wealth, the political process.

We should really think hard about these things and use them as a wake-up call.

Gitanos (part 3)

Moving right along:  I´ll tell a little bit about what I´ve observed of gitano culture.  Please bear in mind that this is an outsider´s observation:  I am not gitana.

One of the first things that comes to mind is family values.  Part of this has to do with children.  It is said that gitanos (Spanish Gypsies) love children, and a couple without children is something that is almost unthinkable.

But let´s be accurate:  people in Spain generally, whether gitano or not, seem to love children with more care and tenderness that you ordinarily see in the United States.  It´s especially noticeable with fathers.  In the United States, most often when I see a father pushing a baby in a stroller, he has the look of someone who is doing a noble thing, or of someone who is being somewhat put-upon.

But in Spain, at least at the present time, fathers seem to feel it´s a perfectly natural thing.  It´s no more unusual than a mother pushing a baby in a stroller.

As for many of us, gitanos have far fewer children than a generation ago.

Gitanos go even further.  I will give a couple of examples.  I know of someone (gitano) who left his home and went off with his pregnant girlfriend to a country in which he didn´t speak the language, because his girlfriend, from a country other than Spain, was going back to her parents´ house to have the baby-and the father couldn´t stand the idea of not being present when his child was born.

This same father is still living in that foreign country with his girlfriend and the baby - now child of a year and a half - even though he still doesn´t speak the language, has few contacts there outside of his girlfriend, his baby son and in-laws, and has pretty much nothing in common with the people around him.  He does this because he can´t bear the thought of being separated from his child.

I´ve seen other cases in which a young father, looking at his baby, was obviously completely filled with love...far more love than you saw in his face when he was looking at the baby´s mother.

So yes, I do think it´s part of gitano culture to feel profound love for children.

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NOTE:  We are currently filming a documentary about flamenco which stresses the importance of gitanos to that art form - hence, these posts.  Learn more about the documentary on its web site www.FlamencotheLandMovie.com.

Gitanos (part 2)

Historically, gitanos (Spanish Gypsies) have been discriminated against in Spain, as in most European countries.  For a period, they were forbidden to speak their own language (Calo), and so have lost it although they retain many words, some of which have found their way into flamenco.

Santiago church, major landmark of one of Jerez' two traditionally gitano neighborhoods.

Which brings us to flamenco:  gitanos have been the fountainhead of flamenco, and within the gitano community there are "flamenco families" who see it as their responsibility to preserve this art form.  And if you listen to gitanos performing flamenco, you may here one of the group saying "¡que canta gitano!" (how gitano-like you're singing)" or¡que toca gitano!" (how gitano-like you're playing) or "¡que baila gitano!" (how gitano-like you're dancing).

Another view of the church of Santiago.

 This is high praise, and indeed, if you´re very familiar with flamenco, you CAN hear and see a difference between how gitanos and other people perform flamenco.

In Jerez de la Frontera, a city known as the "cradle of flamenco," and one corner of a triangle of cities/towns where flamenco has its strongest roots, up until one generation ago, gitanos lived in one of two districts, both just outside of the old city walls.  One of these districts is called the Santiago district, with the church of Santiago as its most important landmark.

La plazuela in front of the capilla de la Yedra.  A statue of singer la Paquera is visible in front.

The other is called la Plazuela, or San Miguel.  It has two landmarks:  the little plaza in front of a chapel, la capilla de la Yedra, and the other, the church of San Miguel.

The church of San Miguel.

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NOTE:  We are currently filming a documentary about flamenco which stresses the importance of gitanos to that art form - hence, these posts.  Learn more about the documentary on web site www.FlamencotheLandMovie.com.

Gitanos (part 1)

Gitanos means Spanish Gypsies.  I prefer to use the Spanish term for a reason:  but first, you need to understand that Gypsies are a race of people, not a way of life.  Next, you should know that Gypsies in countries other than Spain do not like the term "Gypsy" (or its equivalent in the language of their native land).  For a variety of reasons, they prefer to be called "Roma."

But in Spain, gitanos not only accept the term but are proud of it, as well they should be.

Some of the actors in my drama, Domino, are gitano, and some are not.

There are no ancient, written sources that explain exactly where gitanos (or any Roma) came from but because of language similarities, it is assumed that they originated in western India.  At any rate, about 500 years ago, they began being mentioned in European sources, passing slowly through from west to east.  Some stayed mostly in eastern Europe, while others moved further on, into France, England and other countries.  Within in the space of 100 years of first being mentioned in European sources, some had reached Spain.

Others entered Spain moving east across northern Africa and eventually crossing over into southern Spain.

So, gitanos have been in Spain for just about as long as European immigrants and their descendants have been in the United States.
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NOTE:  We are currently filming a documentary about flamenco which stresses the importance of gitanos to that art form - hence, these posts.  Learn more about the documentary on its web page www.FlamencotheLandMovie.com.

Asian Indians in the United States

In honor of my documentary, Of Beauty and Deities:  Music and Dance of India, here is some information about Asian Indians in the United States:

As of the 2010 census, there were about 3 million Asian Indians in the United States.  They are the third largest Asian ethnic group in our country, being surpassed only by Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans.

Inside a grocery store catering to Asian Indians.

Five states - California, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Illinois - have close to 2 million with California toping the list, at 528,176.  Most live in cities, and the five cities with the largest concentrations are greater New York, greater Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Little India in Chicago.

As a group, adult Asian Indians are among the most highly educated in the United States.  Some 71% have at least a BA!

Immigration from India began in the mid-19th century and at first, was composed mainly of people from Northwestern India who followed the Sikh religion.  (It's easy to recognize Sikh men because, if they have been baptised, they wear a turban.)  Now, however, Hindus are definitely in the majority.

A guard for the Sikh's holy Golden Temple in northwest India.

First and second generation Indian Americans, as is true of many other immigrant groups, are especially likely to maintain the most important aspects of the culture of the motherland.  This includes food, religion, and often dress.

It may also include learning the classical southern Indian dance and music form, closely associated with the Hindu religion, that is called bharatanatyam.  Bharatanatyam is the subject of our documentary.

Bharatanatyam dancers from Kalanjali:  Dances of India (located in Berkeley, CA.).

Currently, in the United States, you can find Hindu and Sikh temples along with Muslim mosques and Christian churches whose worshippers are primarily Asian Indian.

clockwise from top left:  Sikh temple, Hindu temple, and Muslim mosque

In addition, in many American cities with a large number of Asian Indians, there are colorful annual celebrations of important events such as Indian Independence Day, where you can get great food, have your hand painted, and enjoy a parade.

Rajastani float in a parade celebrating Indian Independence Day in California.

We created our documentary, Of Beauty and Deities, in honor of this long and rich culture, and a community which has brought a great deal of talent and culture to our society.

José Luis Delgado Herrerapiscazo, wife Amparo, and Papeleria Laso

[This is the fourth in a series of five blogs in honor of my feature-length drama, Domino:  Caught in the Crisis, which I have very recently completed.] 

Papeleria Laso is located in Jerez de la Frontera, at the corner of two major avenues, right on the edge of the historic district in the city´s center.  It´s next door to a bank, and right around the corner from many small business and a grammar school.  It is a great location for Papeleria Laso, which is a a paper good/copy shop/ and school and office supply store.

Luis (José Luis Delgado Herrerapiscazo) has been running the shop for 50 years.  His wife, Amparo, helps him out.  They explained to me that they´ve had hard times before but this is definitely the worse.  No one has any money, everyone is just scraping by.  And like Francis, what they sell is not a necessity so people who used to purchase now often go without. 

José Luis Delgado Herrapiscazo and his wife Amparo in their shop.

Luis told me that the businesses that are suffering the most are the small businesses.  He and his wife have no idea how the country and the economy are going to get out of this mess.  They take the government at its word when it says things will get better after another year simply because they don´t know of anything better to do.

I´ll give a short story here to illustrate their situation.  They are motorcycle enthusiasts, each with his/her own motorcycle and they belong to a motorcycle club.  (The wife is very small, and I find it charming to imagine her on a big, muscle motorcycle.)

About five years ago, they had planned to go to the United States and drive their motorcycles across the country, but then the crisis struck, and they weren´t able to go.  Now, they can no longer even afford to leave the city for a vacation, so last year, they stayed open all year and didn´t take any time off.  They expect to do the same this year.

OUR NEXT POST will be about Antonia Balao and her bar/restaurant.

José Luis Delgado Herrerapiscazo, wife Amparo, and Papeleria Laso

Papeleria Laso is located in Jerez de la Frontera, at the corner of two major avenues, right on the edge of the historic district in the city´s center.  It´s next door to a bank, and right around the corner from many small business and a grammar school.  It is a great location for Papeleria Laso, which is a a paper good/copy shop/ and school and office supply store.

Luis (José Luis Delgado Herrerapiscazo) has been running the shop for 50 years.  His wife, Amparo, helps him out.  They explained to me that they´ve had hard times before but this is definitely the worse.  No one has any money, everyone is just scraping by.  And like Francis, what they sell is not a necessity so people who used to purchase now often go without. 

 

José Luis Delgado Herrapiscazo and his wife Amparo in their shop.

Luis told me that the businesses that are suffering the most are the small businesses.  He and his wife have no idea how the country and the economy are going to get out of this mess.  They take the government at its word when it says things will get better after another year simply because they don´t know of anything better to do.

I´ll give a short story here to illustrate their situation.  They are motorcycle enthusiasts, each with his/her own motorcycle and they belong to a motorcycle club.  (The wife is very small, and I find it charming to imagine her on a big, muscle motorcycle.)

About five years ago, they had planned to go to the United States and drive their motorcycles across the country, but then the crisis struck, and they weren´t able to go.  Now, they can no longer even afford to leave the city for a vacation, so last year, they stayed open all year and didn´t take any time off.  They expect to do the same this year.

OUR NEXT POST will be about Antonia Balao and her bar/restaurant.

Francis of Francis Peluquero, a beauty shop

[This is the third in a series of five blogs in honor of my feature-length drama, Domino:  Caught in the Crisis, which I have very recently completed.] 

Francis owns and operates a small, very popular beauty shop in Jerez de la Frontera near the city´s central market.   When I went to interview him, there were several customers but this was at the time of Feria, when “everyone” wants to get their hair done. 

Before the crisis, when a special event was going on, the wait could well be an hour and a half or two hours if you didn´t have an appointment.  On the day I went, however, there was less than a 30 minute wait – the first effect I noticed of the crisis.

Inside Francis Peluquero.  Francis did not want any faces shown.

 Francis has been in business for over 20 years.  He commented to me that things are slower now than they have ever been.  Going to the beauty shop is not a necessity, like food, and that has contributed to the downturn of his business.  People who before would come in twice a week now come in only once a week, and so forth.

It´s been a long time since he was able to go on a trip, or even take a vacation.  He has two young women working for him during busy times, such as during the annual Feria, because his customers don´t like to be kept waiting and if he doesn´t have the two young women, he won´t have any business at all.  When there is no special event going on, he is no longer able to have anyone help him out.

Francis believes it´s going to take a long time for Spain to recover from the crisis.  He does not believe the government´s statement that things will start getting better in another year.  Beyond that, he doesn´t want to speculate about what will happen in the future.

OUR NEXT POST will be about José Luis Delgado Herrapiscazo and his shop.

Malena and Butikalé

[This is the second in a series of five blogs in honor of my feature-length drama, Domino:  Caught in the Crisis, which I have very recently completed.] 

Malena opened her shop just two months ago – a courageous move in view of the current crisis.  It´s called Butikalé, and is located in Jerez de la Frontera on a major street two doors down from her father´s bar/restaurant.  She opened it with money that her husband saved, and she runs it with her adult daughter.

The day I interviewed her, she was just opening the store for the day.  There were customers waiting for her to unlock the door…but the two other times that I tried to find her, when her daughter was running the shop, there were no customers at all.

 

Malena in her shop.

The customers waiting for Malena – two women with their children – made some purchases.  One bought a blouse, a pair of long pants, and a necklace which together cost under 10 Euros (about $13).  Clearly, the prices are designed to move merchandise. I´m not sure how she is able to offer these low prices, but she purchases from a distributor in Sevilla and apparently, is getting very low prices herself.

The customer wanted to buy other things, but didn´t have the money.  Malena explained, after the customer had left, that the purchaser had a job with the school district, but the school district was not paying its employees – a shocking but unfortunately common occurrence since the onset of the crisis.

The other customer, also a school district employee (and also not getting paid), made a very small purchase of one necklace for 3 Euros ($5).

Malena commented that yes, the first year is always the hardest for a small business and December and January are the worse months.  She has not yet been able to pay herself any salary at all, but she is covering her costs.

She says that things now are particularly hard.  Many people don´t even have enough money for food, and are going hungry or getting food from charitable agencies (I assume these would be the Catholic charities that are so important here).  And most people don´t have the money to buy clothes for themselves or for their children.

Malena thinks that if things continue on like this for a year or two, people will be patient but if they continue on for, say, five years, there will be a war or revolution.

OUR NEXT POST will be about Francis, the beauty shop owner.

In honor of "Domino:" Small businesses in Spain in the economic crisis

[This is the first in a series of five blogs in honor of my feature-length drama, Domino:  Caught in the Crisis, which I have very recently completed.]

It is ironic, after the so-called “Second Conquest” of Latin America by Spain during the years leading up to the current economic crisis, that the Spanish government is now courting Latin American businesses and asking them to invest in Spain, to save Spain’s economy. 

This may seem even stranger in light of the fact that the backbone of Spain’s economy is not big, multi-national  businesses, but the small mom and pop shops that abound in every neighborhood of the large cities, in every small town.  Some sources have claimed, in obvious exaggeration but with a grain of truth, that these small businesses make up 95% of Spain’s economy.

A stall in the Mercado de Abastos, in the city´s center.

 (Jerez does have supermarkets, but many people prefer to shop in the Mercado de Abastos, open six days a week.  Each stall is run by a different small business and each has its own specialties.)

And why should you, the reader of this article, who does not live in Spain and may never go there, be interested in the situation and problems faced by these small businesses?  You should be interested partly because Spain’s economic problems have an effect on Europe, and Europe affects the rest of the world.  In addition, these small businesses are not all that different from small businesses the world over, and we can learn much from looking at their plight. 

Instead of doing a scientific study, I decided to interview the owners of four small businesses in the southern Spanish city of Jerez de la Frontera, where I was staying, with the idea that this more human look at the situation would be of greater interest.  The four shops I chose are a small clothing/jewelry/cosmetics store owned and operated by Malena, a beauty shop owned by Francis, a paper goods/copy shop/school & office supply store owned by José Luis Delgado Herrerapicazo and his wife, and a bar/restaurant owned by Antonia Balao.

Plaza Plateros, a popular plaza with many bar/restaurants and lots of small shops.

Over the next four weeks, I'll publish each of these stories, one by one, allowing us to see their reactions to the economic crisis and their vision of the future…not a very positive vision.  They are all hurting.

We'll start next week with Butikalé, the clothing/jewelry/cosmetics store owned and operated by Malena.

OUR NEXT POST will be Malena´s story.