Quote of Today

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

Flamenco: Sevillanas De Carlos Saura

I know this is not precisely a song, but it is a film and a great tribute to Flamenco. For those of you not acquainted with what Flamenco really is, this is the perfect film and it introduces different kinds of Flamenco as well as a great cast of all ages. More than that, it announces that Flamenco is not just for one specific age, but for everyone and that through that form of art you can express love, passion, sadness, happiness, lore, lust, the tugs-of-war which we face in our everyday life–whether it is a life of performance or the daily happenings which can make our existence so precious and delirious at the same time. Carlos Saura is an amazing film director, though he focuses mostly on choreography. The cinematography is beautiful as always. If you see “Sevillanas” you have yet to see the extent to which he can carry performance-art–and this is evident in his other film “Tango” which is absolutely stunning. So there you go, that’s today’s song. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Spanish Gypsy and Flamenco Dance History

by Hadia

Any discussion of Spanish Gypsies would be remiss without a consideration of Flamenco, which lies at the very soul of these often misunderstood and misrepresented people. In the past few years, there has been an ever increasing interest is all things “gypsy” and what is termed “Spanish-Arabic” in the Middle Eastern Dance community. I am very happy to see this interest and believe that creative fusion of art forms can lead the way to artistic evolution.

Flamenco

Although there are many theories promising to explain the meaning of the word flamenco, most lack enough evidence to substantiate them. One commonly accepted version translates flamenco as Spanish for the Flemish soldiers of the Spanish-Belgian Territories. These soldiers were renowned for their self-confidence, style and ostentatious pride, all qualities that reflect the gypsy character. In fact, the term “flamenco” came to be synonymous with “gitano” (gypsy) in Spanish Romany Argot.

History

Between 800 and 900 A.D., a large exodus of people occurred from the Punjabi region of India. These people are believed to be members of the Untouchables, a group within the Indian caste system comprised of animal traders and trainers, acrobats, dancers, musicians, palmists and metalworkers. These nomadic groups, generally referred to as Roman and/or gypsies, divided into two major migratory routes, the most traceable moving west across Asia and the European continent, including Spain. The first recorded account of Spanish Gitanos “Beticos” dates from 1447 in Barcelona.

It is also believed that a second migratory route took them down to and across North Africa (including Egypt) and up into Southern Spain “Andalusia” via the Straights of Gibraltar. This faction, known as Cale (black), has been far more difficult to verify and trace due to the great similarity of appearance and lifestyle to the indigenous peoples along the route. We should not forget that Southern Spain was part of the Islamic Empire for a period of 800 years.

Although, the Northern Beticos immigrated to the more tolerant Islamic region of Andalusia, to this day, the gypsies themselves maintain a great distinction between the Beticos and Cales, with virtually no intermarriage between the groups.

During the Inquisition of the Reconquista, even this tolerance ended while gypsies from all over Spain were herded into “gitanerias” or ghettos. However unjust and cruel, this persecution and isolation was the very influence that safeguarded the purity of their music and dance within the family group. Finally, in 1782, the Leniency Edict of Charles III restored some measure of freedom to the Spanish gypsy and allowed this music and dance to be presented to and adopted by the general population of Spain. This resulted in a period of great exploration and evolution within the art form, which continues to this day.

Flamenco Music

The most important element of flamenco music is undeniably the singing, “Cante”. In fact, originally flamenco was comprised purely of Cante, with handclapping “Palmas” or knuckle rapping percussive accompaniment. The guitar, a variation of the Arabic Oud, was gradually incorporated in the 19th century. The strongest influences evident in the evolution of Flamenco singing and music can be traced from:

• Punjabi singing of India
• Persian Zyriab song form
• Classical Andalusian Orchestras of the Islamic Empire
• Jewish Synagogue Chants
• Mozarabic forms such as Zarchyas and Zambra
• Arabic Zayal which themselves are the foundation for Fandangos
• Andalusian regional folk forms
• Western African influences via the slaves of the New World Caribbean, Central and South American colonies. These include Rumba, Garotin, Guajiras, Columbianas, etc.

Flamenco Dance

Although much less research has been undertaken in the field of flamenco dance than music, it has been documented that during the Phoenician empire, in the city of Cadiz, Hindu dancers were hired as entertainers for the festivals, aspects of which were incorporated into local processions and religious festivals.

This very strong resemblance to East Indian dance is seen in the Katak, NianiPuri, Kathakal and Bharatanatyam forms. Elements such as the deep-seated plie, outturned leg position, sharp angles of the body and arms, splayed fingers, rapid barrel turns and, most certainly, the percussive foot movements are all evident in flamenco dance.

As previously mentioned, the Mozarabic “Zambra” was occasionally performed for a very brief time during the late 19th to early 20th centuries, although its role in the development of flamenco dance is minimal. This dance, in 2/4 time, combined elements of Andalusian folk dance with Arabic elements, such as finger cymbals, tambourines and atypical theatrical costuming. However, this bears no resemblance to the performances of Sevillanas, Tangos and Bulerias by the commercial, touristic band of gypsies in the caves of Granada, which Amaya identifies as Zambra in her video “Gypsy Fire”. In fact, apart from some of the percussive foot movements found in the Moroccan Shikhate, there is almost no similarity between flamenco and Middle Eastern dance. Even the open-knee hip movements of flamenco are attributed to the African influence from the colonies and/or Indian dance. Absent to flamenco dance are the torso undulations, pelvic oscillations, hip shimmies and rotations, all of which are fundamental components of Oriental. Finally, the soft, fluid, feminine, sweet and joyful external nature of Middle Eastern dance is the complete antithesis of the internal, spring-loaded, strong, defiant, explosive, masculine character of Flamenco.

The Steppe

Video

Script

The Steppe Script <–Click on the link to read the script.

 

 

‘My Apologies’ by Buland Al-Haidari

Buland al-Haidari

My Apologies

My apologies, my honoured guests,
The newsreader lied in his last bulletin:
There is no sea in Baghdad
Nor pearls
Not even an island,
And everything Sinbad said
About the queens of the jinn
About the ruby and coral islands
About the thousand thousands flowing from the sultan’s hand
Is a myth born in the summer heat
Of my small town
In the burntup shadows of the midday sun
In the silent nights of the exiled stars.
We used to have
A sea, shells, pearls
And a polished moon
And fishermen returning in the evening;
We used to have,
Said the newsreader’s last bulletin,
An innocent, dream paradise;
For we, my honoured guests,
Lie to be born again,
Lie to stretch in our long history
The myth Sinbad told –
We used to have
A sea, shells, pearls
And the hour of birth.
My apologies, my honoured guests,
The newsreader lied in his last bulletin:
There is no sea in Baghdad
Nor pearls
Not even an island.

Translated by Abdullah al-Udhari

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01fnp8d#

 

 

Crick-Crack

“Crowd Sourcing and Crick-Crack”

by Juan David

This piece is very important to me, not only because I managed to recycle a good share of my own poetry and create this sort of ‘performance-storytelling-piece’–but because of the message that I wanted to get across. What inspired me was the film “Sugar Cane Alley” (La Rue Cases-Nègres), a 1983 film directed by Euzhan Palcy that I watched in my Black British Literature class. It is set in Martinique in the 1930s, where blacks working sugarcane fields were still treated harshly by the white ruling class (Wikipedia). I’d never heard of Crick-Crack before and the intonations and inspiring modulations presented in the film truly got me pondering.

I think art is and should always strive to be in a state of constant interaction–poetry, literature, prose, short story, film, journalism, photography. “CRICK” I say, and then the other person at the other end responds “CRACK”. It is an incentive for the reader to become part of the story right there. It is quite interesting that such an ancient form of storytelling can explain to us so much about today’s society. It is something very similar to what we’ve commonly allowed ourselves to term “Crowd Sourcing”. It is not impressive then to witness crowd sourcing examples not only in film (e.g. “Life in a Day”), music (e.g. “Youtube Symphony Orchestra”), or even Science (e.g. “Name that Tune: Identifying Whale Songs for Science”).

So what is it about Crowd Sourcing and why is it so important? Well, yes it is certainly the future of filmmaking and art and big bucks can surely be predicted in that industry–but most importantly, it allows ‘us’ to have a voice. We are no longer a minority and the beauty of sharing knowledge suddenly becomes more…beautiful. Knowledge is to be shared, I don’t think any true artist was born to shroud away their talent from the rest of the world (mind the exceptions of course).

In conclusion, I think literature and poetry (my areas of expertise) also have a definite future in this field, and my position is, of course, to encourage others to expand on it with relentlessness, as I will try to do myself. Many say that poetry is dead–but if it was, I would not be writing it or encouraging others to do so as well through this blog.

 

“Crick-Crack”

by Juan David

I say Crick, you say Crack, and lights go on; or shall I say not any lights but candles, or shall I say not any candles, but those eyes.

Crick…they say there’s no such things as poets anymore, but there you are. and here I am. And there you are, and here I am.

Crick…eyes clenched to meet our glance but we see none, though we feel it, burning inside our chests ready to burst, ashes to ashes and dust to dust. And if frenzied in uproar or whispered in chants: that is conversation! The true vow which language has to give; when a voice stands on its toes with passion, scourging the earth which elements it—passion, that which results so hard to explain, that which we can only feel, that which speaks and speaks and makes so much noise, can you hear it? Is it noise?

Crick…and with every inch on inches which our names on names we’ve kept away; and with every branch on branches which our forest and the break of sunshine; break the sunshine and the night of nights that in our ears; the churn of things from which we think we know ourselves. And one would think that after twenty years in a year, and a wreckage in a coast unknown to simple whispers; that to know a boy from girl distinguishes enough; and measures in a distance from the ones that passed away, keep quiet to themselves the love which doesn’t stop and slips away.

Crick…look into my eyes and tell me what I am, for if a day of love nourishes this world with one less drop of strife, may our soldiers chime in asking: “who fights the real fight?”.

Crick…they say there’s no such things as poets anymore, but there you are. and here I am. And there you are, and here I am.

Crick…the voice that you are listening to, is not my speaking voice. My speaking voices uses words like ain’t, it litters itself out, it wrings the words, from lips and hands to grasp to grasp no more—it spells the kraken out of luck.

Crick…the voice that you are listening to, is not my speaking voice. My speaking voice has an accent: a Hispanic one—yes; hear it as well. Listen to it; it’s sound almost Victorian, its taste far too McIntosh to be true, its smell pungent and deliberate. I can sing sonnets too.

Crick…my speaking voice does not have blue eyes or blond hair, and it’s also replete of doubts and idiosyncrasies. Third-world machinations or loneliness sometimes—but it tunes just as loud, in iambic pentameter, or in Spanglish kowtow.

Crick…the voice that you are listening to, listen to it well: for it can only be read, but what you read is not my speaking voice. THIS is my voice, the sound of passion seeking life, seeking stories to tell.

Crick…the other night at the movie theatre, I was moved by the cinematographic interlocutions on the screen, and I said to myself: “what a beautiful scene”.

Crick…but little did I know, when I turned my cheek away, the person next to me, swelled up in tatters, weeping as though Mary Magdalene for Jesus Christ. My English professor would say: “Cathartic, it’s just very Cathartic” and that’s what it was indeed. I said to myself: “I want to do that” I want to be able to make someone so Cathartic, I want my passion to influence emotions, I want to tell stories like that.

Crick…I want to do that. I want to say “Crick” so that someone else on the other side of the globe can say “Crack”…I want art to be this kind of interaction; verbal, visual, emotional. We all have a story, even the cat when it meows…you have a story, so tell it, so Crick so I can Crack.

I say Crick, you say Crack—“a bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song” –Maya Angelou.

 

The African story-telling tradition in the Caribbean

 By Al Creighton 

Arts On Sunday

In spite of the many erosions, intrusions, dilutions, discouragement and disappearance, contemporary Caribbean societies can celebrate several African cultural forms and social traditions.  The focus here is not on the continent of Africa, which has several different nations and cultures, but on forms and traditions which are now known as Caribbean, but which are parts of the African heritage; of traditions that evolved in the region and are now considered as indigenous to it, but which have undisputed Afrogenesis.

Within the folktales of the Caribbean there is a great wealth of oral literature that is varied, interesting and multi-ethnic. The Amerindian tales, for example, carry with them a strong mythological component according to the world picture and beliefs of the people among whom they were created.  Where these are concerned there are many comparisons with that branch of Caribbean folktales derived from Africa, but although the stories are well known, they are appreciated as entertainment with little attention paid to the other socio-cultural factors.

The elements of myth and belief are not as strong as in the Amerindian corpus, but some of them are there all the same, and they were important in the origins and evolution of the stories.  These African folk tale traditions are known across the range of Caribbean territories, with some countries having their own peculiar forms, but they are all variants of a regional tradition of common origin.

One of the common elements is that they are not just stories, but performance traditions.  The ‘Crick Crack’ storytelling performance is an example of this, and it has its variants in different Caribbean countries.  It is a group performance in which the ‘audience’ participates and there are close connections between performers and audience to the extent that the two almost become one.  It has the African format of a leader and chorus in which the participants are both chorus and audience, participating in elements and parts of the whole storytelling session.

There is a version of this in St Lucia, normally performed in French Creole/Patois.  The ‘leader’ or Conteur announces that a story is about to be told by calling out “Crick !” (“kwik” in patois), to which the audience responds by shouting “Crack !” (“kwak“), thus the utterance “crick crack” is completed.  The Conteur then tests the audience with riddles to which they may shout the answer, and since many of the riddles are known a whole session of exchanges will follow.  After this the story is told.

The audience then becomes a chorus, not only listening to the story, but commenting.  The riddles make statements about the environment, the world known to the participants.  This will sometimes contain elements of mythology.  However, since these traditions are continually suffering erosion, a session like this today is likely to be dominated by jocular type riddles.  The folk tales, too, contain a bit less of the mythology for which they have been known.

The Ti Jean tales of St Lucia, are still good examples of the traditional type.  Ti Jean is a folk hero, commonly depicted as a teenage boy with exceptional talents.  He is a simple village boy hunting or cutting wood in the forest who is remarkable for his wits, quick thinking, and mental agility.  These give him the ability to take on and defeat powerful opponents and he very often achieves a victory for good over evil.  He protects the environment, animals, the weak and underprivileged and in these functions he has as an ally, the powerful Papa Bois, who is a protector of the forest, conserving and acting against the excesses of greedy hunters.

But Ti Jean also has about him, the very marked trickster characteristics for which the spider Anansi is famous.  This is another of the distinct African elements in these folk tale traditions.  Some West African cultures have a trickster god, who is often the keeper of a gateway between the earthly mortals and the realm of the ancestors or gods.  Eshu plays that role for the Yoruba, and another is known among the Akan from whom the spider Anansi comes.  Ti Jean, is, of course, another version of the Anansi figure in Caribbean folktales.  This trickster hero is widely known in the African nations.  On the continent and in the African diaspora, there are such heroes as the Hare, the Rabbit, Compere Lapin, Brer Rabbit, the Tortoise, Brother Tacuma and, of course, Brer Anansi.

It is said that the Anansi stories in the Caribbean were moral fortifications for the enslaved for whom he served as inspiration and a mythical hero against slavery.  Among the Akan he is a demi-god and the spider is known for survival through his wits and for his possession of magical type powers.  But Anansi is also given several mortal weaknesses including his own share of excesses, greed and selfishness, making him something of a hero-villain, very much like the trickster/god Eshu.  With his mixture of qualities, Anansi is an incorporation of the people themselves.

The corpus of Anansi stories across the Caribbean is enormous.  A very important factor is that the same stories are known in many different territories, often with variants and versions.  It is the same across the Atlantic, since similar stories known in Africa, have their versions in the Caribbean.

Similarly, the Crick-Crack folktale tradition is known with variants in different Eastern Caribbean countries like Grenada and Trinidad.  Even in Jamaica, Anansi stories and other folktales have a ritual ending.  The storyteller says “Jack Mandora, me no choose none,” which has been differently interpreted.  Generally it is thought to be an appeal to the keeper of the gateway to free the storyteller and his audience of any guilt, or any commission of evil that may have been a part of the story, further testimony to the importance of keepers of gateways and trickster deities.

Always, these stories have great entertainment value, but it is part of the African tradition that have become parts of the fabric of Caribbean society that they have so much social and cultural significance and play roles in the lives of the people well beyond their existence as performance and entertainment.

 

Other Recommended Links:

The Crick Crack Club 

Youtube Orchestra Melds Music Live and Online

Is Crowdsourcing the Future of Film?

Barry Sandler and Erika Rydell Interview

Erika Rydell-Steph Segler Photography

“Film is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to   get”

03/26/2012

We all have experienced it, that little mysterious box which has kept our eyes on the prowl even after midnight. Forrest Gump called it the ‘box of chocolates,’ but for us it was simply ‘Television’, and by the 1920s video had really ‘killed the radio star’.

Fast forward to 2012, and this little mysterious box is still the same. Even after a complete metamorphosis from Saturday night movie drive-ins to Netflix extravaganza, not to mention Hulu, Amazon, Kindle-Fire and iPads.

What’s up with that ‘square’ that keeps our attention, eyes glued to the screen hours on end? It certainly isn’t just the box, and no longer can we say the actors on the screen get to eat all the chocolates; making words as they go, writing on the wind funny punch lines.

How about the filmmaker? Yes, the person actually behind the camera, the master-mind behind the movie-magic. With today’s technology, long gone are the days when the only films that made it to the big screens were the ones financed by major Hollywood studios. With the advent of independent cinema through Sundance and IFC channels, the art of micro-budgeting your own film has changed.

Film professor at the University of Central Florida, Barry Sandler, can better attest for us. As a producer and screenwriter of major Hollywood films such as “Making Love (1982),” “Crimes of Passion (1984),” and others, he knows filmmaking is an everyday struggle for the MFA Film students at UCF:

Barry Sandler

“The concept of writing a screenplay for an independent film isn’t much different than writing a screenplay for a major Hollywood production, because you still have to focus on story and character. Of course, you don’t have the luxury of making it an action spectacle, so the key is getting the script developed to the point where you can get a good cast and shoot it” says Sandler.

It is a constant struggle, the filmmaker does not rest and shooting schedules are often erratic (despite the months of planning and pre-production). You can’t ever predict what is going to happen on set; actors get sick, locations get cancelled, foul weather.

“Making a feature film is like running a marathon, or starting a business. We take business classes with MBA students and we write a business plan for the film,” says Erika Rydell, graduate film student who is going to be shooting her feature The Lies We Tell next December.

“You really have to train for it. It’s about being disciplined and keeping a consistent vision…getting mentally prepared, physically prepared, knowing what you want. So keeping your film smaller really forces you to know and figure out what you want to say, ‘cause you got less to work with, but it also limits you and makes it more of a smaller personal film” says Rydell.

In addition to that there is producing to be done, getting together casting calls, partnering with organizations and potential backers, planning fundraisers, finding potential crew, and yes, writing the script. This is pre-production only, there’s still the shooting, the editing and marketing. After all, to a certain extent the budget does drive the aesthetics, and there’s so much you can do with a $50,000 budget, the limit for UCF MFA Film students.

“Sometimes success is just getting the film made or getting the script written” says Sandler. And this is, after all, the magical thing about independent cinema. It helps us re-evaluate our definition of success and in the end appreciate art not for its financial promise, but its artistic potential, and this is what UCF Film is all about.

How to Write a Cover Letter

Writers & Poets Magazine is an incredible tool that I highly recommend, whether it is you are searching for contests, literary journals and magazines, ezines, or information about preparing your submissions. This is what they say about writing a cover letter when submitting to literary magazines:

Introduction

Most writers get the attention of editors, agents, and other writers by first publishing their writing in literary magazines or literary journals. (Many literary magazines and journals will offer you a modest payment for the writing they accept, sometimes by giving you a free copy, or contributor’s copy, of the issue in which your work appears.) Before beginning the submission process, it is essential to research the market to determine which publications are the best venues for your writing. Your publishing success rests on one axiom: Know your market.

The best place to start is our comprehensive and carefully vetted list of over eight hundred literary magazine and journals, where you can find details about the specific kind of writing each magazine publishes and in which formats, as well as editorial policies, submission guidelines, and contact information.

After you’ve narrowed down a list of magazines and journals that publish the kind of writing you write, carefully take note of the submission guidelines for each, and be sure to follow those guidelines carefully. Submissions to literary magazines do not require an agent.

The World of Literary Journals and Magazines—Determining Which Are Right for Your Work

There are hundreds of literary journals and magazines that publish creative writing, but each has a unique editorial voice, tone, viewpoint, and mission. It’s important to read the literary magazines in which you’d like to publish before you submit your work, so that you can evaluate how good a match they are for you.

Bookstores often have periodicals sections that include literary journals and magazines you can browse through. Your local library may also carry a variety of literary journals and magazines, and used bookstores sometimes sell past issues. Many literary magazines have websites where you can read current or archived content and get a general feel for the print publication. Be sure to peruse recent issues of several publications to see where work similar to yours is being published. Read contributors’ notes to compare your own background and interests to those of the writers whose work is included in those particular magazines.

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Submission Guidelines

There are hundreds of literary journals and magazines that publish creative writing, but each has a unique editorial voice, tone, viewpoint, and mission. It’s important to read the literary magazines in which you’d like to publish your work before you submit to it, so that you can better evaluate how good a match may be.

Bookstores often have newsstands and periodicals sections that include literary journals and magazines you can browse through. Your local library may also carry a variety of literary journals and magazines, and used bookstores sometimes sell past issues. Many literary magazines have websites where you can read current or archived content to get a general feel for the print publication. Be sure to peruse recent issues of several publications to see where work similar to yours is being published. Read contributors’ notes to compare your own background and interests to those of the writers whose work is included in those particular magazines.

When you submit your work, always be certain to follow the guidelines of each publication. Some magazines specify genres or themes in which they are or are not interested. Some accept submissions only during certain months. Some set word limits. Some set page limits or limits on the number of poems per submission. Some specify whether you should include a cover letter or self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE).

Many literary publications refuse to read work that is not submitted in accordance with their guidelines, so it is crucial to know what the rules are and to stick to them. Often, they’re spelled out somewhere in the pages of the magazine; you can also usually find them on the publication’s website or by contacting the publication.

Simultaneous Submissions

The literary world is divided in its opinion about simultaneous submissions—that is, submitting the same poem, short story, or creative nonfiction piece to multiple publications at once. Many literary magazines and literary journals discourage the practice, as it can complicate things for them: If you withdraw a submission from one publication because another has accepted the same work, the one from which you’re withdrawing might already have invested time, money, and staff resources in reviewing the work and might have been interested in publishing it as well. Some publications explicitly forbid simultaneous submissions.

However, because many publications have a long review period—it can take months, and in some cases a year or more, for a literary magazine to accept or reject a piece you’ve submitted—many writers want to submit the same piece to more than one publication at a time. The best practice is to follow individual publications’ guidelines. If they don’t specify their stance, call to ask them, or indicate in your cover letter that you’re submitting the same piece to other magazines at the same time.

If you do send your submission simultaneously to more than one publication, and one of them accepts it, immediately contact the other publications to let them know that you’re withdrawing your submission.

Cover Letters

It’s customary—and sometimes required—to include a short cover letter with each submission you make. Avoid using the letter as a platform to discuss the merits or themes of the work you are submitting or to summarize your writing as a whole. Instead, keep it simple and straightforward, including a brief bio that lists places you’ve published in the past, if applicable.

Other Resources

Along with our aforementioned Literary Magazines database, books that list literary journals and magazines are a good place to begin learning about what’s out there and how to submit to publications that interest you.Writer’s Market, Poet’s Market, and Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market, all published by Writer’s Digest Books, give detailed contact information and submission guidelines.

You can also learn more about the literary market from the Council of Literary Magazines & Presses’ Literary Press and Magazine Directory  (Red Hen Press), Literary Market Place (Book-mart Press), and The International Directory of Little Magazines & Small Presses (Dustbooks).

http://www.pw.org/content/literary_magazines?cmnt_all=1