Ok, I came here to shoot material for our documentary
Flamenco: the Land Is Still Fertile (Flamenco: la tierra está viva)...and I'll tell you about one of the things we've done. ("We" means me and co-director Antonio de la Malena.) It's a scene we shot in a bar, almost in silhouette. But first, let me give you some background:
Last summer, we shot a very fine singer, Manuel Moneo, singing one of the deepest and more tragic flamenco forms called
seguiriyas. He was accompanied by his grandson, el Barrullito, a fine young guitarist who had recently been diagnosed with cancer. The grandson has since passed away.
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| Manuel Moneo accompanied by his grandson, el Barrullito |
When we interviewed Manuel Moneo, he said that when he sang, he thought about all the hard times and tragedies that his parents went through. I can't but imagine that he also thought about his talented young grandson having been diagnosed with cancer.
That, and the recent death of one of his brothers, who led a tragic life.
Out of what Moneo sang, we chose one verse that we absolutely will use in
Flamenco: the Land Is Still Fertile. Part of it is in the trailer. In this verse, Moneo sings that sometimes he is so overcome with sorrow that it makes him angry just to have to talk to people. He sings the verse with great depth and conviction...and is beautifully accompanied.
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| Setting up to shoot Moneo last summer. |
We are well aware that many people, especially if they don't speak Spanish, find flamenco singing to be somewhat inaccessible, so we decided to put a scene over part of Moneo's singing. Not all of it - we want you to see him sing - but part of it, to help illustrate the verse.
And now, back to the scene which we shot last week; remember, it's almost in silhouette.
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| The friends in the bar. |
We see a bunch of friends in a bar, drinking beer, talking, and laughing. The bar tender is in the background.
A lone man who looks rather like Moneo enters from the street. He passes the guys, who greet him and invite him to join them. He refuses, rather abruptly and rudely, and goes to the far end of the bar. When the bar tender comes over, he points to what is obviously a drink he's had many times before. It comes in a bottle that is clearly some kind of whiskey, or rum.
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| Our lone man, Luis de Pacote (posing as Manuel Moneo). |
The bar tender pours him a shot. He drinks it down in one gulp, then indicates to the bar tender that he wants another. The bar tender pours him another, which he looks at for a moment, then drinks it down in one gulp. The bar tender goes off to serve the group of friends more beer.
Our lone man turns and starts to walk out of the door on the far side of the bar. Halfway to the door, he stops, turns around, returns to the counter, slaps down some money, then turns again and leaves by the far door.
End of scene.
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Here we are, preparing to shoot. Due to miscommunication,
the other camera operator couldn't come, so we shot with a
skeleton crew: the two co-directors (with me doing double
duty as camera person) and one additional assistant. |
While we're working steadily on this documentary, due to lack of funds it's SLOWLY and steadily. In the meantime, you may be interested to learn that other of my films will be in three different festivals in April.
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Eve A. Ma is in Spain where, having completed the revised Afro-Peruvian documentary, she has gotten back to work on a documentary about flamenco that she is co-directing with Antonio de la Malena.
