Aromas de Tango

Created a superimposed atmosphere of imagery and locales to highlight a very stylized tango dance and the accompanying music. All photos and imagery are from Buenos Aires and Montevideo and many represent traditional tango bars.

The group Bajofondo represents a new modality of music called neotango or electrotango. Some of their music is outstanding.

Music: Perfume – Bajofondo :: Remixed by Leo Bar

Special thanks to Paul Holman for the use of portions of his video Milonga de Milongas. See more of his videos at youtube.com/user/paulrholman

Las Llamadas Parade- Desfile de las llamadas 2013

“The Llamadas Parade” is a festival that takes place every year in Montevideo in February, during the carnival season in Uruguay. It is part of the official competition of carnival groups of the Uruguayan capital. For two nights around 40 black and lubolos ensembles (known as “extras”) parade through the Southern (Barrio Sur) and (Barrio Palermo) Palermo neighborhood streets. It is one of the purest expressions of Afro-Uruguayan culture.
Carnival Week is considered the annual national festival of Uruguay. While Carnaval is celebrated throughout the country with parades and events in major cities of the interior, the main activities are featured in the capital of Montevideo.
~~
El desfile de llamadas es una fiesta popular que se realiza todos los años en Montevideo en el mes de febrero, durante la época de carnaval en Uruguay. Forma parte del concurso oficial de agrupaciones carnavalescas de la capital uruguaya. Durante dos noches desfilan unas 40 sociedades de negros y lubolos (conocidas como “comparsas”) por calles de los barrios Sur y Palermo. Constituye una de las más puras manifestaciones de la cultura afro-uruguaya.

 

Pianoforte

The art of piano making and art paintings  Music: Dexter Britain :: http://www.dexterbritain.co.uk

Tango Euro Klez

Music: Tango Bar & Kiev Swing by Garry B :: https://vimeo.com/garryb; listen to his music :: http://soundcloud.com/garry-b
~
– The migration of tango from Argentina and Uruguay to Western and Eastern Europe -
1900 – 1920 : Tangos were mainly sung and played by small instrumental bands (fundamentally trios and quartets), until “La Orquesta Tipica” arrives on the scene, with the incorporation of the bandoneo’n. In 1907, one of the very first genuine Argentine Tangueros to visit Paris (France) was composer Angel Villoldo, who wanted to do some recording. (At the time, Paris had the best recording facilities and techniques.) In 1918, writing lyrics for the tango became all the rage with singers such as the tragic Carlos Gardel and celebrated salon orchestras like Francisco Canaro‘s giving the music a new legitimacy and acceptance. Carlos Gardel is still revered today, many decades after his death.
~~
By 1912, dancers and musicians from Buenos Aires, traveled to Europe and the first European tango craze took place in Paris, soon followed by London, Berlin, and other capitals. Towards the end of 1913 it hit New York in the USA, and Finland.
~
One of the most popular ballroom dances in Europe during the 1920′s and 30′s was unquestionably the tango. This explains why this music appeared later in ghettos and concentration camps. Following a boom in Western Europe, the tango reached the east by the late 1910′s. However, as opposed to countries like France and Germany, frequently visited by Argentine Orquestas Típicas, most Eastern European countries became acquainted with the tango only through records, the radio and journals. This indirect connection may explain the character that this music developed in such regions. With increasing popularity and a new stream of local tangos, the style’s re-embodiment gradually drifted away from the South American model. Poland, which had regained its independence after the Warsaw treaty of 1919, quickly became one of the capitals of European tango at a time when most of its musicians, both in the classical and the popular scenes, were Jewish.
~
Enjoy the show,
Leo

Snowy Moods

Shot from early morning to midday on December 26, 2012

After a major snowstorm over December’s holidays, I got up early on Dec 26, and armed with everything I thought was needed, decided to go do some video shooting around the Blue Hills area. The Sun hadn’t come out yet, and the sky was still laden with storm clouds.  It was cold! My plan called for shooting macro and closeups framing the striking looks when snow embraces plants and trees. And so, I did for a while.

As the morning progressed, the sky cleared up and the sun made its shy appearance. The crystals formed on branches and bushes began glistening and sparkling and all trees appeared to be colored with golden hues. The scenery changed totally and my plan changed accordingly. I switched from closeups to long shots, and began panning to capture the beauty of the colors. Whatever eventually showed up in film, wasn’t quite the spectacle that my eyes saw (and my brain remembers). So, here’s my humble rendition of a glorious, cold, beautiful morning after the storm.

Enjoy,

Leo

Tango a la Celeste

The connection between Tango – Football (soccer)- and the Uruguayan National Team. Twice World Cup Winners, and 15 times Americas Cup winner.
This piece is dedicated to my Vimeofriends:
Ben :: vimeo.com/benvideos - For his generosity and love of the sport of football (soccer in U.S.)
Michael M :: vimeo.com/michaelmoller - For his tenacity in learning the art of video making, and his extreme patience with editing.
~
Started to make this video in November of 2011, and finished it January of 2013. It went through 9 versions in its chaotic initial life. This has been the most difficult project to date. It involved film clips from 1930′s, 1950′s, 2010 and other sundry dates. All these formats, codecs, frame rates and scales were totally different and a real challenge to assemble them into a cohesive work. What you see is mostly untouched and in its original color/grain.
Music: Astor Piazzolla – Michelangelo 70

The connection between Tango – Football – and the Uruguayan National Team. Twice World Cup Winners, and 15 times Americas Cup winner.
This piece is dedicated to my Vimeofriends:
Ben :: vimeo.com/benvideos – For his generosity and love of the sport of football (soccer in U.S.)
Michael M :: vimeo.com/michaelmoller – For his tenacity in learning the art of video making, and his extreme patience with editing.
~
Started to make this video in November of 2011, and finished it January of 2013. It went through 9 versions in its chaotic initial life. This has been one of my most difficult projects to date. It involved film clips from 1930, 1950, 2010 and other sundry dates. All these formats and scales were totally different and a real challenge to make them into a cohesive work. What you see is mostly untouched and in its original color/grain.
Music: Astor Piazzolla – Michelangelo 70
Enjoy the show,
Leo

Tango Sureño

This dance is a Milonga danced to milonga music – a cousin of the Tango. Enjoy the sow!
“In a book published in 1883 Ventura Lynch, a noted contemporary student of the dances and folklore of Buenos Aires Province, noted the influence the Afro-Argentine dancers had on the “compadritos”, who apparently frequented the Afro-Argentine dance venues, “the milonga is danced only by the compadritos of the city, who have created it as a mockery of the dances the blacks hold in their own places”.
Milonga uses the same basic elements as Tango and requires a greater relaxation of legs and body. Movement is normally faster, and pauses are not made. It is rather a kind of rhythmic walking without complicated figures, with a much more “rustic” style than Tango”. {Source: Wikipedia}
~
Photography:
CB1985IFY – Palermo; Omar Guebel – Photos of La Boca :: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohgg/collections/72157600270319242

Leo Bar :: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leobar-pixinmotion/ 
Music: Reliquias porteñas – Francisco Canaro – - (November 26, 1888 – December 14, 1964) Uruguayan violinist and tango orchestra leader.

 

 

DNA dance

The essence of life DNA and its twisted dance (double helix)

 

Fascinating science behind the essence of life. Decided to construct this production from the inspiration while reading and watching how symmetrically and delicately is the DNA double helix held together. It felt like a dance, especially when it came to see animations of its replication. I have used these animations as backgrounds or foregrounds to the human body in motion to accentuate the dance aspect of this vision. The mathematics and architecture behind this complex structure are gigantic. It’s an amazing  realization that this complicated stream of chemicals are organized in such lockstep and are part of all living beings. A real miracle!!

Enjoy the dance of life,

Leo

Related articles

• Pioneer DNA Researcher Dies (the-scientist.com)
• Biologists Describe Details of New Mechanism for Molecular Interactions (bnl.gov)
• Dna (iaspreparationonline.com)
• DNA with a Twist (the-scientist.com)
• DNA dance performed at Science Museum (telegraph.co.uk)

Kol Nidre – All Vows

Kol Nidrei (all the vows) is an Aramaic legal declaration recited in the synagogue at the evening service on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  This legal formula and its melodic accompaniment has been part of the services since the 6th. century.

Music: Kol Nidrei – Composer Max Bruch – Played by Pablo Casals (Remix – Remastered by Leo Bar)

Painting: Yoram Raanan
Photography & Digital Art: Leo Bar

Graphics – Fonts: From a 19th. century Jewish holiday prayer book (machzor)

Tango Poetico

This work is dedicated to all great Argentinian and Uruguayan writers and poets.

Music: Confianzas by Gotan Project Edited and remixed by Leo Bar
Subtitles and Translation: Leo Bar
Contains 2012 newsreel clips of protests in Buenos Aires
Photography: A Cabrera Esteve – http://www.flickr.com/photos/cabrera-esteve/; Fotografovolante – http://www.flickr.com/photos/ruggeroarena/; http://www.flickr.com/photos/simba_tango/; Leo Bar
Mario Benedetti Oil Sketch: Andre’ Cortellini
Digital Art and Paintings Leo Bar
Dancers: Sebastian Achaval and Roxana Suarez