Producer-director Larry Marvar's international short-feature musical documentary makes a good follow-up for audiences who recall Carlos Saura's celebrated total-immersion dance film Flamenco (1995). Marvar gives more of a historical context to flamenco music and breaks down its various components—instruments and vocals, not simply the dancing.
With much improvisation onstage between dancers and band members, flamenco descends from a fusion of ethnic "Gypsy" dance/music (nomads from Rajasthan, India), blended with Islamic/Moorish stylings, mixed with Sephardic Judaism (especially cantorial singing). For additional multicultural points, we are told the Gypsy originators served in the Belgian military, and "flamenco" thus derives from "Flemish."
The music itself reflects an Indo-European masala of oppression, despair, resilience, rebellion, diaspora, and survival—weighty baggage, not just love songs and fancy footwork. One ferocious partisan here declares flamenco superior above all the arts because it literally has everything. Another says that while many a talented disciple can perform the rhythms and melodies, only a true Gypsy can sing a proper flamenco lament.
We learn details of the "palmas," flamenco hand-claps that are an intricate technique all by themselves. Performers showcased include guitarist Peter Baime, pianist Diego Amador, tagged as “the Gypsy Ray Charles" and Encarnacion Amador Santiago, known as "La Susi," who died in Seville not long after filming her segments.
As in other documentaries about jazz, blues, and other harmonies tied to racial enclaves and cultural niches, there are eulogies that "authentic" material is fading, or already extinct (the 1992 death of legendary Roma Gypsy vocalist José Monje Cruz, AKA Camarón de la Isla, is still mourned). Attempts by younger practitioners to do modern "nueva flamenca" are regarded with suspicion by the old guard. Yet for this hour, the world of flamenco comes to dazzling life.
What public library shelves would this title be on?
Music (and dance) collections are ideal stages for the feature, as well as institutions with a strong pan-Hispanic cultural and historic orientation.
What academic subjects would this film be suitable for?
Music, as well as Indo-European history (with an emphasis on the "Gypsy" nomads and Spain's Iberian region), could make use of the title. Spanish-language classes should also note the bilingual factor. The one-hour run time is in tune with the average classroom.
What type of classroom would this documentary resource be suitable for?
High-school level and above are appropriate venues.