Exciting: flamenco, Afro-Peruvian, and more

One of the exciting things that has happened this month is that we have completed Antonio de la Malena's CD of flamenco cante.   It's called Para ti mi cante, que es mi libertad (I give my song to you, my song which is my freedom), and we've already delivered the finished sound track to the manufacturer.  The design work should be off within the next 48 hours.

As you may know, I love flamenco, and this CD is really good.  I say "CD," but actually, it's two CDs in one packet.  When Antonio sings, he sings.  He's given us 16 cantes (flamenco songs), and a pretty complete collection of all the major and many of the less-well-known flamenco forms:   from alegrias and segiuriyas to serrana and trilla.

Antonio de la Malena (photo:  Martin Guerrero and Casa Patas)

There are four different guitarists who accompany Antonio in the 16 cantes (songs) on the double CD.  One of them is his very talented older son, known as Malena Hijo.  Malena Hijo also is responsible for a lot of the background music in my productions.  He is a very talented composer and a fine guitarist.

The other guitarists are Manuel Parilla (a pretty famous guitarist), Domingo Rubichi, and Santiago Moreno...all very good.  In addition to Antonio singing 16 cantes, in the taranto his brother Manuel de Malena joins him.  In the fin de fiesta, Antonio is joined by six or seven other singers, and in the opening number, there is an estribillo written by Antonio and another son (Diego de Malena) performed by two other singers, after which, Antonio enters.  Lots of variety in the presentations.

Malena Hijo

We are releasing this double CD in Europe first.  We THINK we´ll have it in our hands before the end of this month!!!  I´m going to save its U.S. release until I return to California and (gulp) restore my finances a bit.  I haven´t quite thought this matter through (since I´m focused on the release in Spain right now) but I will keep you posted.

AND DON´T FORGET THE AFRO-PERUVIANS:
As for our CD with Afro-Peruvian and criollo music, we've gone through one order of 100 and have ordered another.  We've also re-named it to better reflect what it is:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms is the new name.  It´s lively stuff, well-performed, and great for zumba, by the way.

Here´s a sample track, with dance and illustrations, to whet your appetite.  It´s called Toro Mata.





--You can get a free download of this track at AZestforLifeCD.com.  And what the hey, if you want to simply buy the CD, go here:  www.AZestforLifetheCD.com.

OUR NEXT POST will be about new developments with our dramatic narrative, Domino, and our documentary, A Zest for Life.

Sonny Kalimba and his song

As part of our television series on world music and dance, The Languages of Sound and Music, we recorded one episode featuring the music and dance of West Africa, here meaning Nigeria and Ghana.  One of the songs from that episode has always enchanted me.  It’s sung by someone from Ghana whose stage name is Sonny Kalimba, and the song is called…Oh, Kalimba!

I well remember when we recorded this music.  We were working in the studios of CCTV (Contra Costa Television) in Martinez, CA., which were donated to us free of charge by the County of Contra Costa, with the support of AC5 (Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County). 

We shot this episode, as well as the others, on a Sunday because that way, there were no worries about us disturbing county workers, since the studio is located in a government building used by several county departments.

Our crew showed up on time at 9:30am and we began preparing the set.  Yours truly (Eve Ma)  was Producer/Director, Richard R. Lee of Sidewalks Entertainment was Studio Director, and we had six other crew—three cameras, a sound tech, etc..

Our dancers and musicians were supposed to come at noon, and they did, except that at the last moment, one of the planned drummers didn’t show.  This was a shame, but we still had enough to film the episode.

Most of the show focused on Nigeria since the dancers and the lead drummer (actually one of only three drummers under the circumstances) was from Nigeria.  His name, in case you happen to know him, is Friday Jumbo.  He's a veteran of seven CDs on which he sings and plays the drums, and is very talented.

Since the one drummer didn’t appear, to make up for it, Friday brought two other musicians:  Sonny Kalimba (stage name), a musician/singer from Ghana, and his friend, another musician from Ghana.  Having them there made it perfectly logical to include some of their music, so a show that I intended to be only about Nigerian music and dance became a show about West African music and dance.

Do you know where Ghana is?  (Or for that matter, do you know where Nigeria is?)  Both countries are in West Africa – no surprise here – and they are very close to each other.  Here's a LINK to a map, in case you want one.

The straight Ghanaian part of the show consisted of Sonny Kalimba singing “Oh, Kalimba!” with Sonny's friend (don't have his name here in Spain) along with Friday Jumbo accompanying him on the drums.  Dancer James Esoimeme's son also played the shekere, but not with a whole lot of enthusiasm and he definitely took a back seat to the others.

The kalimba is a musical instrument.  It’s steel keys inserted into a half gourd.  The music is lovely…sweet, but because of the way it’s played, sounding more like broken chords instead of melodical.   The song is very upbeat, has an infectious rhythm and Sonny Kalimba is a great singer, plus he has good presence.  He seems a happy guy, and the song is a happy song. 

We shot the whole thing in one take.  Check it out—which you can do by signing up for our newsletter “Straight from the Horses’ Mouth."  We'll be providing a different free music download each month, and the music for June is Sonny Kalimba's Oh, Kalimba!

OUR NEXT POST will be about our production of a double CD of flamenco cante (singing) by Antonio de la Malena, and other recent activities.

Percussion and percussion instruments: the checo and the angara in Afro-Peruvian music

You can use almost anything as a percussion instrument:  hands, feet, pots, pans, spoons, boxes, gourds....  Gourds!  Yes.  In Peru, there are several large gourds that Afro-Peruvians have used with great success as percussion instruments.  The ones I'm familiar with are the checo and the angara.

Both of these are really big gourds that look kind of like a doughnut without the doughnut hole.  Of the two, the angara is the largest.  Some are more than a foot and a half across.  A big checo is only about a foot across.

Here´s a video in which Lalo Izquierdo demonstrates a large variety of Afro-Peruvian percussion instruments, including the checo.  Not a word is spoken (or sung) in this video.  It´s just percussion.




You turn the checo and the angara into percussion instruments by cutting a hole in the sides, scraping out the seeds, and drying the gourd.  The hold in the side not only allows you to get at the seeds, but it also serves as a sound hole.

Both gourds make a wide range of sounds.  The checo has been used at least since the mid-1800s, and is enjoying a revival today due to a group in the northern Peruvian city of Zaña, a group associated with that city´s Afro-Peruvian Museum.

As for the angara, I have only seen it played in a couple of videos on YouTube.  Here´s one of them, dating from the 1950s, from a great program hosted by Dr. José Durand, broadcast by a television station that no longer exists.  If you don´t speak Spanish, wait for about a minute and the musical demonstration begins.




National Geographic´s on-line encyclopedia about musical instruments confuses the angara with the checo, and thinks they are one and the same.  They are not.  They come from different plants, and have a different sound.

At least two people in the current musical world are aware of the difference:  percussionist Hugo Alcázar and Chalana Vasquez, who wrote the article in Alcázar´s blog.  Good for them.

OUR NEXT POST will be about the kalimba, a musical instrument from West Africa, and the Ghanaian singer, "Sonny Kalimba."

Photo essay on the Black International Cinema festival in Berlin

Our documentary, A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz, screened in the recent Black International Cinema festival in Berlin, Germany.  It was a satisfying experience:  nice people, interesting films, our documentary was well-received and yours truly (Eve Ma) got interviewed for an English-language television station in Berlin.

Here are a few photos.

Eve Ma (me) with festival organizer Dr. Donald Griffith

Rathaus Schoenenberg, where the festival was held.

Close-up of clock tower of the Rathaus Schoenenberg

The festival´s hard-working projectionist.

A bit of Berlin, new synagog in the background (left).

Speaks for itself, doesn´t it?

Me in front of the city concert hall, between the German and French towers.

Top of the Brandenburg Tor.

This (the line of bricks) is where the Berlin wall once stood.

The river Spree, where it splits, near the cathedral and Museum Island.

 And that´s it, folks.  I have about 100 photos but decided this is enough.

OUR NEXT POST will be about "the festival circuit."

THANKS to Joyeria Juncal

We have had a lot of support in Jerez de la Frontera from people in the community with our shooting of Domino.  This is partly because the topic is dear to the heart of people here (lots and lots of people are suffering because of the economic crisis).

To be truthful, however, it is due even more to the huge number of friends that Antonio de la Malena, our star, has in the city of Jerez.  That he is charming is also a help.

Antonio de la Malena, playing Luis, counts the money for the ring he's pawned.

As a result, the jewelry store/pawn shop is another one of the small businesses which have allowed us to shoot on their premises, and in this case, the founder and owner's father played the part of the shop owner.  He knows his stuff, so when our star needed to ask for a price for a ring he was trying to pawn (this is part of the script, NOT the real life of Antonio de la Malena), we got a great performance of testing the ring's purity, weighing it, giving a price for it, and so forth.

All very realistic, which is exactly what we want.

So--we thank Francisco Juncal the younger for his willingness to let us film in his shop, and his father Francisco Juncal the elder for playing the part of the owner.  We've ended up with a great scene, not only because of the realism (and the good acting on the part of Antonio de la Malena) but also because Francisco Juncal the elder wore a bright orange sweater.  It looks really good on film, especially since the shop itself is attractive and brightly lit.

When I said bring orange sweater, I meant bright orange sweater.

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about--remember our experimental short, "Two Streets & Adela"?  Well....

WHOOPS. I'm now overwhelmed with other kinds of news.

Perhaps I should be careful about saying how great things are.  Shortly after posting the last blog about how good things were, I injured my back (third time in six months) and have been unable to work at the computer.  I'm still not fully recovered but am getting back to normal.

And as if that weren't enough, the Spanish government has lost one of my important documents, which will make it difficult for me to travel to Berlin to attend the festival.  I won't know whether or not things can be straightened out in time until at least Tuesday.

The festival takes place in Berlin's Rathaus Schoeneberg (city hall)--here it is in 1895.

Next, the pilots of Iberia Airlines have gone on a one-month strike, and you guessed it...my ticket to Berlin is with Iberia.  So if I get my documents straightened out, it's unclear if there will be an airplane available to take me there.  Maybe I'll just walk.

But on the other hand, I DO have a reservation in a bed and breakfast in Berlin (3 metro stops away from the festival, and I don't speak German).  My fingers are crossed on this.

And here's the Rauhaus Schoeneberg today.

Once more, here is the LINK to the festival, showing our entry on the program--A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page.  We're on at 10pm.

In other news, we are moving forward on the television version of Domino:  Caught in the Crisis, and our experimental short, Two Streets and Adela, should be airing in the San Francisco Bay Area in the near future over Peralta TV.

OUR NEXT POST will be our Thanks to the Joyeria Juncal in Jerez, where we filmed an important scene for Domino.