Tango a la Loca

Continuing with the series of tangos, this piece features Juan D’Arienzo and his Orchestra playing “Loca” from a 1970′s Argentinian TV program. Together with superb dancing and great photography by Graciela Pierre (see credits) this production came together smoothly. The challenge was to synchronize the music (re-sampled) with the video portions and the dance. After a few failures and out of sync renderings, it all came together. I’ve tried to construct this piece in the same style of the band beat leading the dancers and using the power of the 2-4 beat to accentuate and cut the scenes.
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Juan D’Arienzo is known as “El Rey del Compás” (King of the Beat). Departing from other orchestras of the golden age, D’Arienzo returned to the 2-4 feel that characterized music of the old guard, but he used more modern arrangements and instrumentation. His popular group produced hundreds of recordings.

In 1949 D’Arienzo said: “From my point of view, tango is, above all, rhythm, nerve, strength and character. Early tango, that of the old stream (guardia vieja), had all that, and we must try not to ever lose it. Because we forgot that, Argentine tango entered into a crisis some years ago. Putting aside modesty, I did all was possible to make it reappear. Furthermore, I tried to rescue for tango music its masculine strength, which it had been losing through successive circumstances. In that way in my interpretations I stamped the rhythm, the nerve, the strength and the character which distinguished it in the music world and which it had been losing for the above reasons. Luckily, that crisis was temporary, and today tango has been re-established, our tango, with the vitality of its best times. My major pride is to have contributed to that renaissance of our popular music.”

D’Arienzo, at the end of his career, dug-in his own style; of course, without knowing it and without even thinking of it. People saw him making faces in front of the musicians and the singers; they saw him with fondness, there was something of nostalgia and something of mockery. Of course, the orchestra beat was leading the dancers’ feet. And the dancers’ feet still follow the beat when D’Arienzo´s records are played back and his figure keeps on raising a great fondness.
(Some excerpts from TodoTango.com; Wikipedia.com)

I hope you enjoy my interpretation of the “King of the Beat” and his band playing “Loca”.
Leo

Tango to Return – Vuelvo al Sur

After a long pause, I decided to make a few more tango videos. The strength of this music and the sensuality of the dancers is a double attraction to the senses. Intense feelings and disappointments are typically expressed in the words of this composition.
It’s all about returning to the same places after a long exile – due to the events in the 1970′s – Vuelvo al Sur – I return to the South. So, this theme encouraged me to return and make another production.

Music: Vuelvo al Sur by Astor Piazzolla, played by Gotan Project (which I remixed and edited to fit into a timeline.)
I used scenes of tango dancers and still photographs heavily softened-diffused, added noise and vignette to express memories of times gone bye. If you like tango I hope you enjoy this interpretation.

Leo

Las LLamadas 2012 – Carnaval Uruguay

This is a joyful, colorful event that takes place at the beginning of carnival and continues throughout (40 days). Its roots are African – Bantu, yet all Uruguayans take part in this unique popular celebration.

The main attractions of Uruguayan Carnival include two colorful parades called Desfile de Carnival (Carnival Parade) and Desfile de Llamadas (Calls Parade, a candombe-summoning parade). In this production I am showing the Calls Parade and all of its representative elements.

The ‘Calls’ groups, basically formed by drummers playing the tamboril, perform candombe rhythmic figures. Revelers also wear their festival clothing. Each group has its own theme. Women wearing elegant, bright dresses are called vedettes and provide the sensual touch to parades.
European archetypes (Pierrot, Harlequin and Columbina) merge with African ancestral elements (the Old Mother or Mama Vieja, the Medicine Man or Gramillero and the Magician or Escobero) in the local version of the festival. As a manifestation of Uruguayan culture and a growing tourist attraction, Uruguayan Carnival is currently receiving important governmental support.
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Special thanks to the following http://www.flickr.com members for sharing their beautiful photography: L.A. Shooter (Leo Alvarez); Adriana Cabrera Esteve; Fotoguay

Enjoy the show,

Leo

Rio Carnaval Parade 2012

The biggest and best Carnival (Carnaval) in the world, does it again! An amazing show put on by a great people. It never stops to amaze me how rich and full of life this spectacle really is. The joy and energy, together with the artistry and pageantry is out of this world. Everybody is included in these parades, kids, men, women, all colors, races even paraplegics and disabled people parade as well.

In the southeastern cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, huge organized parades are led by samba schools. These official parades are meant to be watched by the public, while minor parades (“blocos”) allowing public participation can be found in most other cities. A real celebration of the people for the people. Each parade group “escola” displays a theme, a float, the ensemble, dancers and a unique song, together with the choreography to compete for first place in their category. I have tried in this production to recreate portions of the Rio de Janeiro parade and give the viewer a sense of “being there” in the midst of it.

Carnival is the most famous holiday in Brazil and has become an event of huge proportions. Except for industry, malls and the carnival related workers, the country stops completely for almost a week and festivities continue, day and night, mainly in coastal cities. Beer consumption accounts for 80% of annual consumption and tourism receives 70% of the annual visitors (According to Wikipedia).

Video images arte from the public domain, Internet and news broadcasts.
Special thanks to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jorgebrazil/
for his great photographs.

Enjoy the show,

Leo

For more background, history and information see ::

Candombe y Llamadas – Carnaval Uruguay

This time of the year, I miss Montevideo the most. The joy of the holiday – Carnaval – the way people forget their worries, party, enjoy life… The colors and sounds can be seen and heard through every neighborhood. A real celebration of culture, roots, friendship and integration.

As the years go by the customs, parades and performers are becoming more and more elaborate. This evolution started as a group of friends would decide to join a “Murga” and sing parodies about life, the government, soccer, etc… Nowadays the productions are very ornate, the performers travel the world as artists and the Latin communities around the world rejoice to see this happy and joyous spectacle.

When I started with the idea of producing another (had done 2 previous ones) video about Carnaval, the major impediment was to get good nighttime photographs of the Llamadas (Afro-ethnic parade). Thankfully, through the amazing virtual world of Flickr, I saw Adriana’s photos and decided to go ahead and request her permission to use the shots and begin the project. Now we are virtual friends, and share the joy of imagery and memories.

Featured on this video are primarily the groups “Yambo Kenia” and “Tronar de Tambores”, winner of the 2012 Desfile de Llamadas.

Since I have so much material left from the edits, I may take a second shot at this theme later in February.

Enjoy the festivities,
Leo

Aerial ballet

Sometimes one must have fun, enjoy life and stare incredulously at its beauty. This piece was conceived in this state of mind.
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Some new and refined techniques of camera movement, 3D animation and complex multiple-screens were applied in this production.
The music is Prelude – J. S. Bach suite No. 1 played by Yo Yo Ma
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Not much more to say other than it was a pleasure and joy to produce this small gem and I hope you too enjoy the “moves”,
Leo

Tango neoclasico

Just some great modern classical music by the master of new tango, Libertango by Astor Piazzolla.
I just had to do it! Been thinking for more than a year, and finally did it!
Enjoy,
Leo

Candombe de Montevideo

Since I had plenty of material remaining from my previous production of Candombe del Uruguay, I decided to follow up with this piece. The intensity and joy of the participants, dancers and drummers is just overwhelming. Even the spectators get into it and start dancing as they feel the strong beat of the drums. While I was editing this work, I couldn’t avoid tapping my hands and feet to the contagious beat
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Special thanks to Marcos Martinez and the Intendencia de Montevideo for giving me access to film.
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Elements Used in this Production
Photography all @ http://www.Flickr.com: Silvilila; Vince Alongi; Libertinus; Leo Bar
Music: Macumba Night – Antonio Sacco @ MFA.com; Lonjas del Cuareim (remix)
Video: MVD TV; Isla de Flores
Digital Art, HDR, Animation: Leo Bar

Enjoy the show,
Leo

Candombe del Uruguay

Given the beginning in Uruguay of the longest celebrated carnival “Carnaval” holiday season in the world (40 days) I couldn’t help myself but put together this little production accentuating the uniqueness of these celebrations. With its contagious drum sounds “cuerdas”, characteristic dance movements, intensity and sheer sensuality, nothing beats this Candombe del Uruguay spectacle!
Enjoy the show!
Leo

I must thank several people (see below) for their generosity with their photography and videography towards this project, without which it would not have seen the light:

Elements Used in this Production:
Photography:
- La Tango Candombe,
- @ http://www.Flickr.com Silvilila, Libertinos, Vince alongi, PasteldeChoclo
Videography:
- Emilio Artteaga @ http://www.vimeo.com
Music:
Tronar de Tambores – Lonjas de Cuareim (remix)

History and Background:

Candombe is a musical genre that has its roots in the African Bantu, and is proper of Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. Uruguayan Candombe is the most practiced and spread internationally and has been recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Originated from the influences of African music, was developed on both banks of the Rio de la Plata because of the large influx of slaves during the colonial period and well into the nineteenth century, and with the republican form living on both banks. Over the twentieth century Uruguayan Candombe was gradually leaving to be a unique feature of the Afro-Uruguayans to become a feature of the Uruguayan cultural identity.

Uruguayan Candombe

The music of candombe is performed by a group of drummers called a cuerda. The barrel-shaped drums, or tamboriles, have specific names according to their size and function: chico (small, high timbre, marks the tempo), repique (medium, syncopation and improvisation) and piano (large, low timbre, melody). An even larger drum, called bajo or bombo (very large, very low timbre, accent on the fourth beat), was once common but is now declining in use. A cuerda at a minimum needs three drummers, one on each part. A full cuerda will have 50-100 drummers, commonly with rows of seven or five drummers, mixing the three types of drums. A typical row of five can be piano-chico-repique-chico-piano, with the row behind having repique-chico-piano-chico-repique and so on to the last row.
Tamboriles are made of wood with animal skins that are rope-tuned or fire-tuned minutes before the performance. They are worn at the waist with the aid of a shoulder strap called a talig or talí and played with one stick and one hand.
A key rhythmic figure in candombe is the clave (in 3-2 form). It is played on the side of the drum, a procedure known as “hacer madera” (literally, “making wood”).

For more info see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candombe

http://www.carnaval.com/uruguay/

http://www.candombe.com/english.html

Tango Fugata

What an inspiration this music! I have been thinking and wondering how to interpret and present Astor Piazzolla’s music for quite a while. Couldn’t find the right frame of mind/imagery to go with it. It’s tango, jazz, classical and new age music all packaged together in beautiful compositions.
Finally, I decided to plunge and do the first one. Hope you enjoy my interpretation.
Leo Bar

Elements used in this production:

Photography all @ http://www.Flickr.com: Cathy Haglund; Louis Vest; Graciela Pierre; Leo Bar
Music: Tango Fugata – Astor Piazzolla
Art, montage & Animation: Leo Bar