Acoustic and electronic musical instruments, and synthesizers

Everyone has their own tastes in music and in musical instruments.  For me, the tone and fine quality of sound that comes out of a well-played acoustic instrument simply cannot be compared with the flat sounds that an electronic instrument or computer produces, no matter how much reverb you add.

I'm willing to be tolerant, and understand that some music made with electronic instruments in cool stuff.  I can even accept that creating a "beat" with a computer is fun and is, in fact, part of a creative process.

But I´m really sorry, I STILL don´t much like the sound.

Flamenco guitarist Malena Hijo with his guitar.

Learning how to play an instrument, whether electronic or acoustic, requires you to enter into a relationship with that instrument that is fundamentally different from what happens when you make music on a computer.  In addition to the time and continued practice needed, it requires a form of love...and that time, practice and love are part of what gives them their depth.  (The practice, for example, actually changes your physical make-up.)

Southern Indian bharatanatyam singer (Sasidaran), flutist and violinist.

 One of the things that attracts me to what is usually called "world music"  is that the instruments are made out of living materials, and the playing of them produces a sound that has life and color.  The same is true for what is often referred to as "classical music" (a term usually pointing to formal music of European or sometimes North American origin).

Juan Omar Medrano Cotito with four Afro-Peruvian percussion instruments.

If the purpose of music is to move us by making sounds that speak to us as living beings, it makes sense to imagine that musical instruments made out of living materials will have more success than modulating electrical impulses. 

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about the great screening we had of Domino on Jan. 26.

Screenings just past, and screenings coming up

We had a screening last Friday in la Peña Cultural Center, in Berkeley, CA (across the bay from San Francisco).  We´re having ANOTHER screening this coming Thursday in the Arlington Café in Kensington, CA (also across the bay from San Francisco).  If you didn´t make the first one, you can always come to the second one.

MC Hershell West and filmmaker Eve A. Ma at last Friday´s event.

Last Friday´s screening was for our documentary, A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz.  In addition to the documentary, we had a lively and fun performance by de Rompe y Raja, the group featured in the documentary.  We also gave one brave soul a mini-lesson in Afro-Peruvian zapateo footwork.  He had to get up on the stage and take this lesson in front of the whole audience.  And he did a great job.

To read more about this past event and see more photos, check out our blog Afro-peruvian.blogspot.com.  Here´s the LINK.

Our screening this upcoming Thursday will be of a portion (or if the audience demands it, all) of our current most important work-in-progress, Domino:  Caught in the Crisis.  This is a dramatic narrative rather than a documentary.  It´ll run about 40 minutes when completed...and is NEARLY complete now.  We expect to be able to release it this summer.

From Domino:  the lottery ticket seller and our hero, Luis (Antonio de la Malena).

The screening is being presented by MAW (Media Art Works) as part of their monthly series, EBMMSC (East Bay Media Makers´ Screening Club).

If you want to be part of the making of a film by influencing how it´s going to look in the final edit, come to the event and give the filmmaker some feedback.   (The filmmaker is yours truly, otherwise known as Eve A. Ma).  The event, which is free and open to the public, starts at 6:30pm.  The venue, Arlington Café, is located at 269 Arlington Ave. in "downtown" Kensington, next door to Mechanics Bank.

See you there!

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about musical instruments.

Exciting events: Release parties! and Screenings!

Things are heating up.  On Friday, Jan. 20 at 8pm, we'll have a release party for A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz in la Peña Cultural  Center (3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA, USA) and on the following Thursday, Jan. 26, a Bay Area non-profit called MAW (Media Art Works) is hosting a screening of Domino:  Caught in the Crisis at 6:30pm in the Arlington Cafe (269 Arlington Ave., Kensington, CA., USA).

The release party, which will include not only the screening of the hour-long documentary but also a live performance by de Rompe y Raja (the performing group featured in the documentary) and a mini-lesson in Afro-Peruvian zapateo footwork, has a nice story in the Calendar section of the San Francisco Bay View LINK.  Cost is $15 at the door, $12 in advance, and special discount for students and seniors.  (Press enters free.)  If you want to purchase tickets in advance, here´s the LINK.

In addition, the current issue of El Cerrito Patch, in its Local Voices section, has a blog with an interview with Eve A. Ma, Producer-Director of A Zest for Life.  Here´s the LINK.  The author, Pam Fingado, chose two of my flamenco dance photos to illustrate me.

Eve A. Ma (yours truly)

We also have a story coming out on Tuesday, Jan. 17 in the El Cerrito Patch which talks about the release party, about how we made the documentary, and most importantly, about Afro-Peruvian music and dance which is the reason for the documentary and all that's connected to it.  Here's LINK to the El Cerrito Patch.  I believe the article will be on the front page under NEWS-Arts.

We EXPECT to have an article appear in the Berkeley Patch as well;  will keep you posted.  AND our event will eventually be listed in the Events section of the Berkeley Patch but there's been some technical problems there having to do with the link to the "location," La Peña Cultural Center.

And we expect to have other stories in other publications.

Now, Domino:  the screening, on Thursday, Jan. 26 starting at 6:30pm in the Arlington Cafe (269 Arlington Ave., Kensington -- by the pharmacy, bank, grocery store and other "downtown" Kensington businesses) is free and open to the public.  It´s being presented by the non-profit organization MAW (Media Art Works) as part of its monthly screening program, called EBMMSC (East Bay Media Makers´ Screening Club).  We may not project the entire Domino since it´s a bit longer than MAW´s guidelines suggest, but will certainly show at least 20 minutes of it.

We´d love to have you come by and take a look.  Domino is still a work-in-progress even though we´ve completed principal photography and have roughed in the editing.  I always love to watch for audience reaction, and get whatever feedback you chose to give me.  So come on by!

OUR NEXT BLOG will be a report after the event about the A Zest for Life screening, and a second invitation to the Domino screening.

Movies I have seen recently

This should come as no great surpriseÑ  one reason I like making movies-videos is because I like GOING to the movies.  Yes, I like going out of my house, walking or driving to a theater that shows movies, purchasing a ticket (although I do wish they weren´t so expensive in the U.S.), sitting down in the theater and watching a movie.

So in the six weeks that I´ve been in California, I´ve been to the movies five times, seeing a total of four different movies.  (I went to one of them twice.)  These four were J. Edgar, The Descendants, Hugo and Melancholia.  Of the four, the one I liked least was Melancholia.  I didn´t mind the fact that it was obviously scientifically questionable, but I DID find its constant attempts at Deep Meaning to be pretty tiresome.  I also didn't much like our heroine.  I didn't DISLIKE her, but, well, I guess you'd say she left me kind of cold.

But she WAS very pretty, and I notice that Lars von Trier was able to get in a good, solid nude scene as well as just a touch of sex--both always good selling points with the general public.  Didn´t have much to do with the plot, but oh, well.

The one I liked best was J. Edgar, although I wish Clint Eastwood had given us at bit more sense of the harm that Hoover did.  He certainly mentioned it but didn't make it as vivid as he could, and perhaps, should have.  What I really enjoyed about this movie was the character study, and his handling of the material (including his handling of time) I thought were well done and we ended up with a sense of a complex person, which indeed J. Edgar Hoover was.

My second to favorite was/is Hugo.  Very nice acting on the part of the young hero, fun and interesting things about the early filmmaker (sorry, I've forgotten his name!), beautiful sets and locations, and I liked all the characters (including the portly gentleman who thought to purchase a companion dog for the menacing pooch of the lady he wanted to romance).  It didn't have the weight of J. Edgar, however, and I found myself wondering why Martin Scorsese put in that undercurrent of menace.  We've all heard of gratuitous violence, but I found this to have gratuitous menace.

And then, there was the Descendents.  Again, I liked it.  I liked most of the characters, and the fact that it was made clear that all of them were flawed.  I liked the fact that the central character does the right thing for the wrong reasons.  It wasn´t a weighty movie, but a nice one with a nice message.  Perhaps we spent a little too much time watching people become emotional in front of the comatose wife, but I can forgive that.

Now, for my NEXT movie, I´m planning to go see A Dangerous Method, and after that, The Artist.  Want to join me?

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about our upcoming Release Party and our Screening, both in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Like Latin jazz? try some traditional Afro-Peruvian music

We´re producing a CD of the musical track from A Zest for Life, and it´s looking - and sounding - good.  It´s scheduled to arrive in the mail tomorrow, and I´m seriously excited.  It´s called (drum roll here) A Zest for Life:  Musical  Track.

There are 8 tracks on the CD, six of which are good, solid, Afro-Peruvian music including the very popular Zamacueca, along with Torito Pinto, Toro Mata, and others.  The two two tracks that AREN´T strictly Afro-Peruvian music are, respectively, a northern version of Peru's national dance la Marinera, sung by popular singer-songwriter Jorge Luis Jasso, plus a cajón demonstration by Lalo Izquierdo.

Yes, I said la Marinera was Peru´s national DANCE.  Since this is a CD, obviously what we have is the music to which it´s danced.  Jorge Luis Jasso is great singing this:  it´s one of his favorites.  He also sings other versions of la Marinera, and here is one of them-a slow one he sang for a Peruvian television presentation.



On our own CD, in addition to la Marinera, Jorge Luis Jasso also sings a song that he wrote, himself.  It´s called Ritmo Negro del Perú -- meaning Peru´s Black Rhythms -- which pays homage to the contribution that Afro-Peruvians have made in the area of music and dance.

Then, there´s Lalo Izquierdo´s the cajón demonstration.  He plays five or six different rhythms, including one from the United States (that´s US!), the Afro-Peruvian rhythm, and Brazilian rhythm.  It makes for good listening because you can tell the difference between the rhythms, and makes you realize how complicated and distinct different rhythms can be.

The music on the CD is very lively and upbeat.  This is the music that, along with New York jazz, produced that new art form, Afro-Peruvian jazz.  It resonates very well in today´s world, and it makes great listening plus you can, oh yes, DANCE to it.  We think you´ll like it.

New thoughts for our experimental "Tone Poem with Hang Drum"

A number of people, after watching our experimental short, Tone Poem with Hang Drum, have said they don't understand the connection between the two stories (or rather, the musician and the story).

Well, as someone has pointed out, you don't have to understand EVERYTHING, especially in an experimental short.

However, I think there's a certain point at which you need to listen to your audience and really think about what they're saying.  I listened and thought, and have come up with an idea for a short series of scenes that will address the question of connection.  No, I'm not going to say what it's going to be, but I plan to shoot it when I get back to Spain, to Jerez de la Frontera.

Liron Mann (Liron Man) and his hang drum.

 It will involve using our principal characters (Liron Mann and Pilar Yamuza) as well as a couple of other people.  This means I have to hope like crazy that they will both be in town and available to be filmed. 

It will also indeed be short, but I think it will add something good to the show.  We shall see.