Thanks to Flamenco Peña Chacón

We owe a big thank you to flamenco Peña Chacón.  We filmed there five times, three of those times for several hours.  The peña has been very nice to us, and we are very appreciative.  A lot of the great reception the peña gave us is due to Ali de la Tota, a palmero (flamenco percussionist) who is in charge of day-to-day operations.

Thanks, Ali.

Ali de la Tota.  He also plays a part in the film.

 In addition, we wouldn´t have been able to use the peña without the agreement of its president, Julian Azcutia.  Thanks to him, as well.

A flamenco peña is a flamenco club.  Peña Chacón is named after the flamenco cantaor (now deceased), Don Antonio Chacón.  There are about a dozen flamenco peñas in Jerez de la Frontera, including six or so in or near the city center.  Peña Chacón is one of those in the center, in the historic district.

The flamenco  peñas, as you might guess, are composed of people interested in preserving flamenco, and enjoying flamenco.  Normally, each peña selects a month, or a period of 4 weeks, in which to present flamenco performances.  These are free and open to the public.

Peña Chacón has a great collection on its walls of photos of flamencos.

Peña Chacón´s main period is May-June, and although it focuses on the cante (flamenco singing), it also presents some dance performances.   This year, however, due to the economic crisis, it was unable to present any performances.  The peña has only about 50 members, and there simply wasn´t enough money to pay for performers.

In the past, in addition to the May-June series, the peña used to present young artists it thought had promise.  These performances were scheduled for February, but again, the peña has been unable to hold these events for the past several years.

This is the stage, with a photo of Don Antonio Chacón on the wall.

It does, however, still present zambomba (flamenco Christmas celebrations, with people singing Christmas songs to a bulerias rhythm, and occasionally, dancing as well).  Hopefully, when the crisis ends, it will again be able to present its other performances.

I asked Ali de la Tota what characterizes the peña, and he said the respect that the members give to the cante (flamenco singing). They listen well.

Here we are, shooting a scene.

Three footnotes:  the peña is named after cantaor (flamenco singer) Don Antonio Chacon.  It has been in its present location (near calle Francos and the Fundación of flamenco) for about 20 years.  Formerly, it was in a building in calle Carmen.  And Ali has been working there for the past 15 years.

OUR NEXT POST will be about the banker as speculator and villain..

Sevillanas Indignadas, the economy, and the annual Feria (fair)

Sevillanas Indignados, the economy, and the annual Feria (fair)

The annual Feria—annual fair—has just ended in Jerez de la Frontera.  It was characterized by lots of drinking and lots of people wearing beautiful costumes and dancing the folk dance called “Sevillanas.” Here in Jerez, wearing these beautiful costumes for Feria is called “dressing up like a Gypsy."  The Feria was also characterized by budget cuts and demonstrations.

Quite a combination.

One of the demonstrations consisted of recording, performing, and producing a video called Sevillanas Indignadas.  Sevillanas are the folk songs and folk dances that are emblematic of the Feria.  Indignados is another name for the protest group also called Movimiento 15-M.

Some of the Indignados wrote Sevillanas embodying their protests.  And here you have it, as placed on YouTube.  You’ll notice that it’s had LOTS of views.  That speaks volumes.

In case you want to understand the words and don't speak Spanish, loosely speaking, the first few lines say:  "We're going to repeat it, for you, unemployed and you, the retired, let's go for it, let's go dance in the Feria of Jerez with the tourists, we won't just say it, let's go to the Feria to dance.  We are the Indignant.  [then, the song]...Since Spain is in big trouble, I'm going to cut, I'm going to cut education and public sanitation, but as for the church, I won't touch it....."

Another protest consisted of people assembling in the Feria’s central location, in front of the city’s official stand, with brightly colored umbrellas, some painted with words like—Indignados.  The organizers purchased 200 umbrellas to distribute, but ran out really fast.  There were also fans given out…over 1,000, and if they had had more, there were plenty more people asking for them.

Los Indignados--Movimiento 15-M--with their umbrellas, and other Feria-goers.

They were, as you should know by now, protesting the harm the economy is wreaking on average people, the greed and speculation that are important elements that brought about the economic crisis, and the current Spanish government’s principal plan for dealing with the crisis.  The plan includes major cutbacks in the rolls of civil servants, a ban on public demonstrations, higher taxes, and other such measures.

And the annual Feria?  Well, as cost-saving measures, the city spent 40% less on it this year than in years past.  The fireworks that usually begin and end the Feria were thrown out, the Feria was cut short a day and a half, and the gorgeous lights were only turned on for five of the six days, and were turned off earlier in the night that usual.

There you have it in a nutshell. 

Women dressed up "like a Gypsy" (a la gitana) taking photos of themselves.

People still went out en masse to enjoy the Feria, there were still hundreds of stalls selling food and drink, and playing music (especially  Sevillanas).  There were fewer live performances, but lots of people on horse-back or with horse and buggy (another hallmark of Feria), lots of people dressed up in their Feria finery, lots of drinking, strolling around, dancing, and having fun.

The horses get decorated, too, even if they didn't ask for it.

Don't let this fool you.  Things are bad...but they could get worse.  I hope they don’t.

OUR NEXT POST will be about Thanks to Peña Chacon.

Notes on the economic situation in Berlin (leaving Spain for later)

Ok, we've  talked about the economic crisis in Spain (and will talk about it more at another time).  We've talked about Occupy Wall Street, the Movimiento 15-M (los Indignados), and housing foreclosures in the U.S..  We´ll talk about all these again, but now:

I recently had the opportunity to go to Berlin, where another one of my productions (A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz) was screening in a festival.

So what about the economy in Germany, or at least, in Berlin?  Germany has the reputation of being in rather good shape, right?  It's supposedly one of the economically most stable countries in Europe, right?

Graffiti is alive and well in Berlin.

I'm sure all that is true.  Berlin, however, is not in quite such good shape.

I have this information simply from talking to a few people in Berlin during my brief, one-week stay there.  This is NOT a carefully researched analysis of current affairs.  Please take it with a grain of salt.

I was, however, very surprised to hear that Berlin has been having economic problems for the past few years.  I was told that salaries have remained stable, but that prices are increasing (meaning, obviously, less purchasing power).  I was told that "workers" (which I believe indicates government employees, but it wasn't completely clear) have lost some very important benefits in the past few years, chief of which is the one-month paid vacation and the automatic Christmas bonus.

Mixed in with very modern business towers, and handsome historic monuments, are huge, drab apartment houses.

The one month's vacation is still there, but it's no longer a paid vacation.  The Christmas bonus, which used to equal one month/s pay, is now gone.

When workers complained and threatened to strike, they were told that either they would have to accept these cuts, or there would be major cutbacks in staff.  Not wanting to lose their jobs, they then accepted the cuts.

A beauty spot with 18th century buildings.

 This was all very surprising to me.  It indicates a really significant change in the economic situation of a large part of the work force.  I do not, however, know if this is limited to Berlin, or to Berlin plus what used to be East Germany, or what.

SO....

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about finishing the editing of the LONG, for television, version of Domino.