National Educational Television - NETA - at last!

I have been dying to have my work get national exposure.  I went to Peru last December because the director of NETA (National Educational Television Assn.) suggested this was the only way I could make my documentary, A Zest for Life, suitable for them to include for broadcast over national educational television.  Well, the trip paid off and NETA has now officially accepted A Zest for Life. 

WOW!

It will take about two months for the documentary to get set up, but then, well, the sky's the limit.

So what is NETA and how does educational television in the United States work?

Let's start at the bottom, where we find public access stations, really great, locally connected television stations who allow almost anyone that walks through the door to put on a TV show - and in many cases, also teach them how to do it.  I say "almost anyone," because many local public access stations do have a residency requirement and things of that sort.

Similar to the public access stations are the television stations run by educational institutions in which the students learn how to make television programs by - making television programs.

Next up is local broadcast above the public access level.  Here, you have professionals but not the cream of the cream professionals.  This will be your local, commercial stations.  They do a lot of local news and local interest programming.

Sticking with educational television but moving on to quite a higher level, you have PBS.  Each individual PBS station can put on, or select, its own programming so long as it fits the national PBS guidelines.  Above that, you have the national educational distributors who distribute not only to PBS stations but also to other educational television networks.

Some of these national distributors pay for all the programming they accept, some pay for only some of it and take the rest free, and some don't pay for any of the programming they accept.  Why would they get free programming?  Because of people like me, who want national exposure but haven't quite gotten to the level of having programming good enough to get paid real money for it.

So that's where I am - national, but not yet paid.

My next goal, of course, it to make something that will not only air nationally but that I will get paid for.  I'm hoping to reach that goal within the next year.  Let's see what happens.

The cajón - in flamenco, in Afro-Peruvian music

I count myself as a friend of Lalo Izquierdo - dancer, choreographer, percussionist and folklorist of his Afro-Peruvian community. When Lalo told me the group he and three others founded in 1969 called Perú Negro had introduced famous flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía to the cajón (an Afro-Peruvian percussion instrument), I believed him.

 When I told this to flamenco friends, they invariably would come back with "I heard a different story." 

Well, I found a video on YouTube in which Paco de Lucia states that he learned of the cajón from Caitro Soto (another of the four founders of Perú Negro) when he was  in Lima, Peru, on a Latin American tour. My friend Lalo Izquierdo was there at the time, as were all the other two members of Perú Negro.

Paco de Lucia  further confirms that this introduction that the Peru Negro group gave him to the cajón is the origin of the cajón in flamenco.  He purchased one from Caitro Soto on the spot, and the rest, as they say, is history.

(Sorry that this video is in Spanish....)

So my friend, and his story, are vindicated. Neither Paco de Lucia nor his entourage accidentally "discovered" the cajón. They were introduced to it by skillful Afro-Peruvian percussionists. Percussionists who I have had the privilege to work with. Olé.

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Eve A. Ma is currently working on a major documentary about flamenco, and finishing up a cool, short documentary (30 minutes) about three Afro-Peruvian percussionists:  Lalo Izquierdo, Cotito (Juan Medrano Cotito) and Huevito (Freddy Huevito Lobaton).  www.PalominoPro.com.

Finding Les Blank

I don't know why I didn't meet Les Blank before he died;  after all, he lived in El Cerrito and made documentaries about music and dance - just like me.  Although for some reason I didn't ever get to know him personally, now, I have "found" him.

Les Blank made all kinds of films about things like cajun music, bluegrass, Lightnin' Hopkins, the polka people, and even topics like garlic.  All that I know of were shot in the United States.

jazz funeral parade in New Orleans

There is no narration.  He doesn't try to explain what you are seeing - which has its good points and its not so good points, but what the hey, they are colorful, the people in them speak for themselves, and there is really a lot of great music in his work.

The Chenier brothers' cajun group.  Clifton (far right) is featured in
one of Les Blank's videos & the group was recorded by El Cerrito's
Armhole Records.

He died in 2013, and his family and supporters have produced a major compendium of his work with five DVDs, a booklet, and in addition to the documentaries, lots of extras like shorts made out of unused footage, and interviews with family and friends (really interesting interviews).

Mardi Gras Indian (in New Orleans)

I am now on the third DVD.  Since I come from the Carolinas and grew up in New Orleans, my favorites are the ones about music from those areas:  the jazz funerals in New Orleans, the Big Bad Indians from Tchoupitoulas Street, Lightin' Hopkins, the moonshine-making blue grass players, things like that.

Bluegrass fiddler:  Fiddlin' Bill Henseley

You'll want to check these out.  The series is called "Always for Pleasure," and you can buy it locally at Down Home Music, etc., or on line at Amazon.com and other places.

One more image of a jazz funeral in New Orleans.  Hey, it's my hometown.

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Eve A. Ma in currently in California where she is editing material about Afro-Peruvians she shot in Peru last December;  looking for funding for a documentary about flamenco;  and getting the word out about three works she recently completed (about Spanish immigrants, about Afro-Peruvians, and a drama about the economic crisis in Spain).  Sign up for the newsletter to learn about her work LINK.

A little more backtracking - Córdoba, beautiful Córdoba (even later April)

On my way to Cannes last April, I spent a couple of days in Córdoba...the first time I've been there.  What a great city!

The roof & domes of the "Great Mosque" as seen from the Roman bridge.

It is home to the "Great Mosque" of Spain...a gigantic and very beautiful edifice.  The city's cathedral is located in the center, which at first I found offensive but then learned that before the Moorish period when the Great Mosque became a great mosque, it had been a small church.

Here is only a small portion of the "Great Mosque" to give you some idea of the size.

The seemingly endless galleries, all white and red, are supported in many cases by Roman columns.  The high, vaulted ceilings and latticed windows around the edges lend a soft, almost secretive light.  There are many alcoves, most with Christian saints and gothic, Roman, or romanesque architecture but in a few cases the alcoves are inlaid with mosaics and verses from the Koran.

ceiling of the cathedral which is inside the Great Mosque

archway leading to a more moslem alcove

detail of some arches

The outside doors are distinctly Moslem and Moorish looking in their shape, their decoration, and the verses of the Koran inlaid around them.

Small side entrance to the "Great Mosque"

But the "Great Mosque" is not all that Córdoba has to offer.

There's also the Roman bridge, an archaeological site with Roman, Visigoth and other ruins that I didn't have time to visit, an Alcázar with stunning gardens (didn't have my camera with me when I went there, though), some interesting museums...and also some great food!

the Roman bridge

a really nice statue of Don Quijote (near the Great Mosque)

It is definitely a good place to visit, and looks like it would be a good place to live, as well.

exterior of the Alcázar.

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Eve A. Ma has recently returned to California from work in Spain on the documentary Flamenco:  the Land Is Still Fertile (Flamenco:  la tierra está viva) and in France, where she presented her documentary A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz, in a festival in Cannes.

Backtracking - the Manuel Morao shoot (mid-April 2015)

We shot a very interesting interview with Manuel Morao in mid-April for Flamenco:  the Land Is Still Fertile (Flamenco:  la tierra está viva).  Who, you may ask, is Manuel Morao?

Manuel Morao

First of all because of his importance as a guitarist.  He is one of the finest flamenco guitarists alive today, except that he no longer plays the guitar,, due to a serious injury.  Although he no longer plays, his recordings from the time when he was playing - he accompanied an incredible number of the finest singers - are among the best.  He is featured on almost every major CD produced in Jerez in the years in which he was able to play.

Manuel Morao (left) with co-director Antonio de la Malena

In addition, he trained many, many younger guitarists including Diego del Morao, a guitarist who is much in demand, as well as the late highly lauded and beloved guitarist, Moraito, who recently succumbed to cancer.  In general, Manuel Morao is considered to have founded his own school, his own style, of flamenco guitar playing.

Camera operators in consultation:  Roberto Aguilar & yours truly

Just as importantly, he is arguably the most influential and successful of the people who brought flamenco out of the community and cafés and onto the world stage.  Major productions he produced played on Broadway.  For years in Jerez, he presented weekly flamenco performances that garnered an audience literally of thousands.  One of his companies produced CDs and DVDs that were among the first flamenco media productions to sell to a world-wide audience.

Crew (camera & sound) with Manuel Morao and
Antonio de a Malena in the antique shop.

Manuel Morao is a very important man in the development of flamenco.

And he is a true believer in traditional flamenco.

We consider him one of the most important consultants to our project.  We videotaped a seven hour interview with him, filming in three separate locations:  the Plaza de Toros (bullfight ring) where he presented weekly flamenco shows, the street in front of his media production company, and inside an antique shop owned by his friend.

Yours truly, as co-director.

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Until very recently, Eve A.Ma was in Spain, working on a documentary about flamenco that she is co-directing with Antonio de la Malena.  We have just completed its trailer, which you can see HERE.  Ma has just returned to California where she is once again immersing herself in work - editing, designing, conceptualizing, writing funding proposals, and working on publicity.

Festival in Cannes, France (late April-early May 2015)

The Festival International du Film PanAfricain, which took place in Cannes, France, from April 29-May 3, presented my documentary, A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz. It  was a real pleasure to have my work screened in a festival that I could attend;  I am on my way back to California from Spain, and it was easy to work Cannes into that trip.

Me with my poster.  (I changed into a dress at night.)

The festival also presented a large number of other works:  some shorts, a pretty good number of feature-length documentaries, a couple of animations and various dramas.  Filmmakers came from all over the world.  The various countries of Africa were extremely well represented, but there were plenty from the USA and from Europe.  The films were in French or English or had subtitling in one of those two languages;  and since luckily I can deal with both languages, I was able to enjoy them all.

Promenade by the Mediterranean - festival poster visible in foreground.

My own screening went well, although I realized in retrospect that the interview when the screening ended was conducted entirely in French, while my film is in English.  I hope everyone in the audience understood both the film and my interview!

Festival organizer Basile Ngangue Ebelle (left) with festival attendee.

In a film festival, there are always more interesting films than one person can possibly watch.  Of the more than 19 films that I managed to see most or all of, the one that stands out the most is Poverty, Inc. an American documentary in English directed by Mark Weber.  You should really check it out when it hits the movie theaters.

Of dramas, I'l choose John of God (on the light side) - shot in the Congo by director Selé Mpoko - and Price of Love (for something more serious) - a drama shot in Ethiopia by director Yefkir Wagawe.  As for shorts, well, I'm going to pass on that one for now.

What the hey - me, one more time, with festiva poster.

A comment about prizes:  there were LOTS of films I wanted to see that I missed, including two that won top prizes.  I bet they're good!  But of the three films I mentioned above that I particularly liked, two won prizes.  The Price of Love, in fact, won the prize for Best of Festival.  Good work!

Finally, in case you think going to film festivals is only about networking and hoping for a prize:  sure, I networked (didn't get any prize, though) but I also learned a great deal from watching other peoples films.  I learned not only the things one learns from art well done, but also got some ideas about my own work.

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Until very, very recently, Eve A.Ma was in Spain, working on a documentary about flamenco that she is co-directing with Antonio de la Malena.  She is about to return to California where she will once again immerse herself in work - editing, designing, conceptualizing, writing funding proposals, and working on publicity.