Carnival I – Carnaval

Las Llamadas 2016 – Montevideo, Uruguay

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

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