Finishing the revisions-"Lalo Izquierdo's doc"

I have pretty much finished revising the documentary "A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz."

Here are two versions of the first 39 seconds.  The first version is what I did today.  The second version is from last week.

In addition, I've made a number of other changes, including some inspired by very recent feedback from friends/family who agreed to watch the first 7 1/2 minutes and give me some comments.  Thanks to these friends (in alphabetical order):  Lucy Armentrout, Rossana Craig, Ross Franseen, Lisa Greenstein, Janet Jacobson, and Hershell West.  Thanks also to Vince Townsend who, along with Hershell, watched the whole thing right before I left town.

In the meantime, what have been the changes?  Well, I've added tiny glimpses of things shot on my Peru trip last December, including the various people who provided me with some fascinating information (especially but not exclusively Lalo Izquierdo), brief shots of some great percussionists performing, short clips of kids learning Afro-Peruvian rhythms and dances, and a very brief shot from a rehearsal of the "hatajos de negritos" in el Carmen.

rough draft of the new DVD cover

Changes I made specifically in response to the comments of the people listed above are 1) the opening 39 sec., 2) a new photo added plus an existing photo modified, c) a small modification to the titling, and d) a new order for the sequence where I tell who I met in Peru.  I'm including the first 7 1/2 minutes here, so you can see:

The rest of the documentary contains a little more of the material we shot in Peru this past December, but I'm reserving most of that material for a short I plan to create in the near future about Afro-Peruvian percussionists (specifically, Juan Medrano Cotito, Huevito Lobatón and Lalo Izquierdo) PLUS, if I can get funding, material I'll use in yet another, longer documentary about the evolution of tradition.

The revised "A Zest for Life" will see its world release in a film festival in Cannes, France, in late April.  This isn't THE Cannes film festival, but is still a good festival.  It's called the Festival Internacional du Film Pan-Africain.

BUT we won't release it to the general public until late summer.  This will give NETA (National Educational Television Assn. - which feeds programming to national PBS) time to look it over before the general release.  I also want to send it around to distributors, to see if I can get a good distribution contract.

SO in the meantime, you'll have to be satisfied with whatever I post on YouTube or Vimeo...but summer isn't that far away, so you'll be able to get the documentary pretty soon.

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Eve A. Ma, after passing a month in Peru and then some time with her family in California, is in Spain until the end of April.  Having completed the revised Afro-Peruvian documentary, she is now getting back to work on a documentary about flamenco.  Subscribe HERE to our monthly newsletter to keep up with her work.

My Peru diary - day 15 (all about the BIG SHOOT)

Peru diary (Dec. 19, 2014)

Well, yesterday was the BIG SHOOT, the reason that I scheduled my trip when I did, so that I could get all three great percussionists together:  Lalo Izquierdo, Juan Medrano Cotito, and Huevito Lobatón.

We filmed the conversation part in "my apartment."  l to r:  Cotito, Huevito Lobatón and Lalo Izquierdo.

And they were, well, great!

We started off by filming a conversation between the three of them, in which I presented three topics and asked them simply to talk about them.  The first topic was...how did they learn Afro-Peruvian rhythms.  Of course, I knew they had all learned as kids in their homes, watching parents, family, and friends but I wanted them to talk about this in front of the camera.

They did, indeed, talk.  After an hour on the topic, I had to raise my hand and ask them to stop since I was running out of film.  (I still shoot with videotape, although the other two camera people had video cards.)

Me with Huevito Lobatón.  We filmed the interviews in a park in Barranco (another district of Lima).

What they said as they talked was really fun and interesting.  I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Because of the time factor, we had to skip topic two, and I had them move briefly through topic three (what they think is the future of Afro-Peruvian music, rhythms and dance).

Next, we filmed short interviews in which I asked each of them separately a very few questions.

Lalo Izquierdo and Juan Medrano Cotito in the park.

Finally, the big thing:  the performance part.  We filmed this in a cultural organization which has a stage and puts on performances.  It's called Casa Shenan.

They did four numbers:  one with just the three of them playing cajón and singing;  one with Lalo Izquierdo and Huevito Lobatón performing zapateo footwork (with a guitar accompanying them) and two with a guitar, a singer, and the three of them playing percussion - cajón and some quijada de burro.

In Casa Shenan, setting up for the performance part.

It was really great.  In fact, I've decided I'll use this material (supplemented by other things I shot in Peru) to make a documentary called Masters of Percussion...because they really are, and all three are fascinating people.

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I am in Peru for reasons related to our documentary, A Zest for Life, and other work about Afro-Peruvians.

(For more photos, go to the Facebook page of Palomino Productions, A Zest for Life Afro-Peruvian, and Eve A. Ma.)

My Peru diary - day 5 (filming)

Diary, day 5 (Dec. 9, 2014)

FILMING

Since I've arrived, I've recorded a very interesting interview with Luis Rocca, director and one of the founders of the Museo Afropeuano de Zaña (Afro-Peruvian Museum of Zaña) and filmed two interesting interviews plus some  really great cajón demonstrations with Lalo Izquierdo (a percussionist, dancer, choreographer and folklorist...as well as a great human being).  Tomorrow, I'm supposed to film an interview with the widow of a former Afro-Peruvian percussionist great, Ronaldo Campos.

Luis Rocca, with Luisa (Nachi) Bustamante (wife of Cotito) and their son, Carlos Medrano.

My camera person for the Lalo Izquierdo filming did not do as good a job as I'd hoped...not a disaster, but problematical enough so that I'll do the filming tomorrow all by myself...and interview the widow at the same time.  My fingers are crossed that it will turn out well!  

I have other camera people, and a sound person for the BIG SHOOT on Dec. 18, where we'll film three percussionists and a guitarist performing, and also film an interview with the percussionists.

Setting up for the interview with Lalo Izquierdo.

Locations are always a problem, and Lima is even noisier than Jerez de la Frontera.  Thank goodness for those little mics you clip to your lapel.  They make it possible to record a decent interview even in noisy circumstances.  Thank goodness for my precious Zoom H-2 mic and digital recorder.  Thank goodness for....

I also seem to have surmounted the various technical problems I encountered on first arriving, but don't want to overstate this.  There can always be new technical problems tomorrow.

Me with Lalo at the time of the interview.

And that's it, folks.  I'm attaching a few photos here for your pleasure and general edification.  As you see, the ocean is way, way down there.

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(For more photos, go to the Facebook pages of Palomino Productions, A Zest for Life Afro-Peruvian, and Eve A. Ma.)

I am in Peru for reasons related to our documentary, A Zest for Life, and other work about Afro-Peruvians.

My Peru diary, day 2

(Diary entry, Dec. 6, 2014)

I arrived in Lima, Peru, on Dec. 4 on a trip to film and investigate themes related to Afro-Peruvian music and dance.  Some of what I film will serve to add to the documentary I've already produced, A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz.

Others will form the basis for a trailer to be used to solicit funding for a new project I have in mind.

Here are some of the photos I took in Lima, in my first 48 hours in the city.

Lima, with over 7 million inhabitants, is home to nearly one third of the entire population of Peru.  The city, or rather, the metropolitan area of Lima, grew to engulf many surrounding towns and cities which are now simply districts in the larger urban area.

The street in front of the building where I'm staying.

I have rented a room in an apartment in Miraflores, one of the nicer districts that borders the Pacific Ocean.

In my first 48 hours in Lima, I consulted with a sound tech and after discussing with him, chosen two locations where we'll shoot.  I then went to the local city hall (Municipalidad de Miraflores) to ask permission re one of the locations.  Then I rushed off to central Lima to meet with Lalo Izquierdo, one of the three people we'll be filming.  Meeting him involved a memorable trip on a local bus.

Proof that I was there:  me, with the building's guard dog.

I rushed back from the meeting with Lalo to meet with Nachi Bustamante, wife of Cotito;  Cotito is another one of the three principal people that we'll be filming.  I went out with her to have some lunch (at 6:30pm...hadn't had time before that).  After eating, she showed me around and she told me about a show I should go to featuring a group of younger people celebrating the Afro-Peruvian experience (Colectiva Palenque).  It was a lively and fun event.

After these several meetings, I developed a plan.  Life, of course, intervened when I learned, among other things, that one of the locations I had chosen (the one for which I requested permission from city hall) wouldn't work because it was under construction!

My room in Lima is about 4 blocks from the shore of the Pacific.

One way or another, clearly, my time in Peru will be filled.  In addition to several shootings and interviews in Lima, I will go to el Carmen, to San Luis de Cañete, to Zaña, possibly to Guayabo.  I'll be filming in almost all of these.

This means I won't be able to make it to Manchu Pichu.  There´s just not enough time.

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(For more photos, go to the Facebook pages for Palomino Productions, A Zest for Life Afro-Peruvian, and Eve A. Ma.)

I am in Peru for reasons related to our documentary, A Zest for Life, and other work about Afro-Peruvians.

Lalo Izquierdo in Peru: an interview & a cajón demonstration

Yesterday (Dec 8, 2014) we filmed an interview and cajón demonstration with Lalo Izquierdo in the patio of the apartment where I'm staying in Lima, Peru. "We" means me and a camera operator/all around assistant. He will remain nameless because the quality of his work was kind of mediocre.

On the whole, things went fine and I think I know how to fix a few of the little problems that cropped up with the image. But life is full of little bumps in the road, right?

Lalo Izquierdo (right) and me.  A bit of a contrast, right?

Our first bump came when Lalo couldn't find the apartment. Lima is a big city, and when I say I'm staying in Lima, I really mean I'm staying in greater Lima, in the Lima metropolitan area.

My particular section is called Miraflores, and the apartment is on a short street named la Libertad. I called Lalo on his cell phone 15 minutes after he was due, and found out he was wandering around, looking for the street. I passed the phone over to the camera operator who explained to Lalo how to get here. Twenty minutes later, I got a call from Lalo...he was still wandering around.  Lost.

The upper half of "my" short street, la Libertad.

In the end I had to send the camera operator out to find him and guide him over here.

Next problem: I was short one camera battery. (We were filming with three of my cameras, using two different formats). That was solved when we found an electrical outlet close enough for one of the cameras to use.

Starting to set up.

After overcoming several other little problems, we obtained a fairly decent image and good sound for two separate interviews (one for each format) and two separate cajón demonstrations, plus shots of Lalo and me walking down the street. 

What we missed, which is important, is a second interview to be conducted in Sucro with an elderly woman (wife of a deceased Afro-Peruvian percussionist great, Ronaldo Campos). With the problems of Lalo getting lost and the time it took to film everything in Miraflores, she had gone out.

Lalo on set with the cajón.

We'll catch her another day.

And the problems with the camera operator? He doesn't know how to zoom, and the only idea he has of filming an interview is to point the camera towards the people to be filmed and punch the "record" button.

SIGH!

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We are working on making a few revisions in our documentary film, A Zest for Life: Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz, and shooting a trailer for a new, more comprehensive work about Afro-Peruvian music and the Afro-Peruvian community.

P.S.  Thanks to María del Carment López Quispe for help with some of my makeup.

What I've learned about making documentaries--RESEARCH

RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH.

When I started A Zest for Life, I made it like the other documentaries I produced-directed about world music and dance:  we set up three cameras and the rest of the equipment in a television studio, invited a performing group to come and give us 45 minutes worth of performance, and filled the rest with interviews.  Yes, we had some stage decoration, specifically, some banners made in the youth art program I ran for a non-profit a few years back.

The performers were good, the interviews were interesting, the TV station was happy (it was a cable station and this gave them some programming that was a bit different from what they usually have).  I was happy, at least at first.  Plenty of cable stations in the San Francisco Bay Area were very pleased to air the documentary.  Obviously, our host station (who donated their facilities) got to air it first.

Lalo Izquierdo with some Afro-Peruvian percussion instruments.

And let me thank that station here, plus the commission which supported us:  CCTV (Contra Costa Television) and AC5 (Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County).

But then I started learning Spanish, and realized in listening to the songs that there was a lot going on that I had earlier missed.  My next step, then, was to do in-depth interviews of four people, three of whom were in the documentary:  Lalo Izquierdo (the doc´s star), Javier Nuntón (one of the musicians), Gabriela Shiroma (lead female dancer) and Marina laValle (up from Peru).

Javier Nuntón

 I added portions of the interviews of Lalo and Javier to the show, especially Lalo.  He, after all, is the lead dancer, lead percussionist, the folklorist, and is Afro-Peruvian.

I did NOT use either Gabriela Shiroma´s or Marina laValle´s interviews, for reasons of length, but I DID use the information they provided in their interviews.

I now had a better documentary.  But as I learned more about Afro-Peruvian music and dance, and the history and culture of the Afro-Peruvian community, I became more and more interested.  I began doing some serious research, primarily on the internet.  That also allowed me to discover the connection with Latin jazz.

Rosa los Santos (here) and Jorge Luis Jasso are our two main singers.

 An aside:  Emmy-award winning documentarian David L. Brown, from whom I took a class and who since then has given me advice and encouragement, was instrumental in consistently encouraging me to do more research, more research, more research.  And I thank him for that, as well as other, advice.

The results of my research allowed me to add some really good footage of Afro-Peruvian celebrations as well as some very fine photos.  I also completely re-wrote and re-shot my narration, incorporating the new things I´d learned.



(NOTE:  we just added the above trailer to the web site.  It gives an example of what I learned by researching.)

SO--what have I learned about making documentaries?  Well, first and foremost, you really should research your topic.  You will find out fascinating things which will allow you to present something much more interesting to your audience.  Of course, normally the research should come first, and I´m planning to make use of this lesson.  But even if it comes last, it does need to be done, and it is well worth the effort.

OUR NEXT POST will be about some OTHER things I´ve learned about making documentaries.

Zapateo

One of the things that our documentary A Zest for Life illustrates is Afro-Peruvian zapateo footwork.  Here is an example of Caitro Soto (who you will remember from an earlier blog) doing zapateo along with Eusevio Sirio "Pititi."  Zapateo was formerly done only in dances like the "hatajo de negritos" and the "son de los diablos" -- things you can see and enjoy in A Zest for Life.



But currently, zapateo is also done for show, and when two dancers or Afro-Peruvians guys get together, kind of as a form of friendly competition.

In the largely Afro-Peruvian town of el Carmen, in southern coastal Peru, boys do zapateo in the town plaza for tourists (who I assume give them tips).  The people of that town are very poor, and I've noticed in some of the early photos and videos of these kids, some of them are barefooted but in later photos, they are all wearing pretty new looking shoes.  Tips can serve a very good purpose.

Boys in el Carment doing zapateo.  Copyrighted photo--don't try to download!

The photo of the boys above is copyrighted (and here used with permission).  It comes from Hugo R. Miller, aka Hugeaux Photography and can be found on YouTube in his "Hugeaux Photography, el Carment, Peru part 3 FINAL 'The beautiful people of  el Carmen-Chincha-Ica.  Peru" (LINK).

Lots of people in the predominantly Afro-Peruvian town of el Carmen, in southern, coastal Peru, learn zapateo, not just little boys looking for spending money.  And the reason is because this town is a center for the preservation and performance of the "hatajo de negritos," which is done for religious purposes--namely, the celebration of the birth of baby Jesus.

El Carmen the town is predominantly Catholic, and December 24 and 25 are very important holidays.  The "hatajo de negritos" is an integral part of the celebration, in which organized groups that have rehearsed together for months in advance dance for hours to honor Jesus.  In the past, it was only boys and men who were part of these dancing groups, but girls are now welcomed as well, at least in some of the groups. 

In A Zest for Life, we see zapateo of both kinds--as part of the religious celebration, and as a staged performance.  In the studio, Lalo Izquierdo and two performers from de Rompe y Raja (Gabriela Shiroma and Pedro Rosales) did a version, while the documentary also contains zapateo performed in el Carmen.  Here's what we videotaped in the studio:



You will notice that in the top video, the zapateo is done as a kind of friendly competition--"here´s what I can do, let´s see if you can top it."  In our studio, however, it was presented as a master (Lalo Izquierdo) teaching two very apt pupils.

OUR NEXT POST will be about Afro-Peruvian jazz, Latin jazz, and what´s in a name.

That screening of A Zest for Life in la Peña -- looking back

I'd fully intended this blog to be about Caitro Soto, but since I got very, very busy with the screening party for A Zest for Life, and it's now taken place (leaving me with some great photos taken by Hershell West), I'm going to save Caitro Soto for NEXT time.

Audience preparing to go home after the show is over.

 First of all, I want to thank everyone who helped and/or participated in the event:  la Peña Cultural Center (our venue) including staff and volunteers,  my daughter Lucy Armentrout (who manned the selling booth), Hershell West (our MC), Gabriela Shiroma (manager of the performing group) and de Rompe y Raja (the performers).

MC Hershell West and filmmaker Eve A. Ma

 Why am I talking about  performers in relation to the screening of the documentary?  Because we made this a real PARTY.  We screened the documentary.  We gave a mini-lesson in Afro-Peruvian zapateo footwork to one brave and talented soul, and we had a live performance.  The performers, de Rompe y Raja, are the people who performed in the documentary.

Some of the dancers from de Rompe y Raja.

Mustn't forget the musicians!

 And in spite of the weather -- lots of rain, lots of wind, one of those evenings -- we had a very good audience.  The audience also liked the documentary, they liked the performers, they liked the fellow learning zapateo (I forgot to get his name).  They applauded at many moments, they purchased DVDs and CDs, they came up to talk to yours truly and to de Rompe y Raja's director, Gabriela Shiroma.

And the kids playing the cajon, singing, and dancing.

Learning Afro-Peruvian zapateo on stage.

 So if you missed this event, enjoy these photos.  In addition, we will probably do another event of this kind in San Francisco, possibly as early as this summer.  We'll keep you informed.

My daughter Lucy Armentrout at the selling table during intermission.

We'll end with our star, Lalo Izquierdo, playing the cajon.

We'll end our series of photos with this one.  Since the entire program was about Afro-Peruvian music and dance, even though Lalo Izquierdo wasn't present (he's in Peru), we should end with an Afro-Peruvian playing an Afro-Peruvian musical instrument.

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about Caitro Soto, another recently deceased great in Afro-Peruvian traditional music.

Some black Latino history as told by Lalo Izquierdo

As I think we've mentioned, Lalo Izquierdo, the star of our documentary, A Zest for Life:  Afro-Peruvian Rhythms, a Source of Latin Jazz, is not only a master dancer and percussionist, not only a choreographer, but also a folklorist.  We filmed some very interesting interviews with him that didn't fit well into the documentary itself, but they're much too good to just cast aside.

Here is one of them, in which he explains how it is that Lima, Peru (Peru's capitol city) has so many Afro-Peruvian peddlers.



We hope in the future to post some other of his interviews, but in the meantime, we'd love to know how you like this one.

Izquierdo now has his own performance group in Lima, Peru and in addition, has recently been appointed Director of the Institute of Cultural Expression in the National Afro-Peruvian Museum in Peru.  A busy man!

Lalo Izquierdo

 He's also a man who loves to smile.  Nice guy.


OUR NEXT BLOG will be about Gabriel Alegria, my article on Afro-Peruvian jazz, etc.

Jorge Luis Jasso, Vladimir Vukanovich, and Lalo Izquierdo--all on the CD.

We've produced a CD of the musical track of A Zest for Life which is now available.  It has eight tracks on it, including two sung by Jorge Luis Jasso, one of which he also wrote.  Jorge Luis Jasso, for those who aren´t that familiar with music produced outside of the U.S., is a very popular criollo singer in Peru.  He has six albums to his name which have sold a combined 50,000 + copies!  WOW.  I´m impressed.



And yes, he dances, too!

The musicians on the CD come from the San Francisco Bay Area group de Rompe y Raja, with some visiting stars.  In addition to Jorge Luis Jasso, there's Vladimir Vukanovich, the well-known guitarist from Peru and one of the best known musicians playing on the CD.



And of course, there's also Lalo Izquierdo, who performs a really cool cajón demonstration illustrating rhythms from five different countries.

Lalo Izquierdo on the cajón-literally.

So--if you want a copy, here´s the LINK to purchase.

OUR NEXT BLOG will be about two former Afro-Peruvian greats, Amador Ballumbrosio and Caitro Soto.