A documentary film by Sigrid Faltin
Transcription
A documentary film by Sigrid Faltin
A documentary film by Sigrid Faltin 86 min. / HDTV English, German, Spanish version 52 min. / HDTV English version La Paloma. The Melody of Longing. Worldwide. „We just found it in Zanzibar and we play it. “ Makame, singer from Zanzibar How a little Habanera became the Grande Dame of pop music. „I played La Paloma and watched as kids filed into the gas chambers.“ Coco, guitar player in Auschwitz „The song has a secret that one should respect and love.“ Eugenia, singer from Mexico acoustic sound orchestra | larry adler | adrivalan orchester | agrupacion coral „manuel iradier“ de vitoria | Synopsis It is the most played song in the world. In Zanzibar they play it at the end of weddings, in Romania at the end of funerals, in Mexico it is the hymn of demonstrators against the newly elected president, in Germany it is known as a sailor’s song from the North Sea. The film is a journey on the wings of La Paloma. What is the song’s secret? Why does it touch people of every color and creed? Made La Paloma a hit in Germany: Hans Albers cornelis albers | hans albers | laurindo almeida | amon düül II | peter anders | nicolas de angelis | angklung indonesia bamboo orchestra | henry arland | arno | arriaga instrumental trio | juan arvizu | tony astarita | ferenc Whom you will get to know (among others) Kalle Laar, a German avant-garde musician, knows about 2000 different recorded versions of the song. Kalle alone has published four CDs of La Paloma versions. He knows - almost everything about this song. We meet with him ... recording a new version in Spain in his home archives. Kalle Laar ... aszodi | baba brooks | mandy bach | ron baker | jorge balmaceda | banana fishbones | frank baum | franz baumann | peter beil | rémon biermann | acker bilk | roy black | die blauen jungs | carla bley | blue holiday band | La Paloma was born in Cuba 150 years ago, composed by the Basque musician Sebastián Iradier. That’s why our journey begins in La Habana. Helio Orovio is a musician and musicologist who studied the music of his homeland. For him, Cuba and La Paloma are inseparably linked. “La Paloma”, he says, “arouses the Cuban in me, because I heard it as a child. It's part of my world of sounds.” Helio tells how the little habanera came into existence. Helio, percussionist at Los Jóvenes del Cayo bob wills & his texas playboys | bock rock | bremer akkordeonorchester „happy harmonists“ | bzn | ingrid caven | norman cancler | tony capaldi | captain cook & seine singenden saxophone |cliff carpenter | carmen castillo | aguilar chacha | chubby checker | comedian harmonists/meistersextett | ray conniff | elvis costello | From Cuba the little habanera came to Mexico. Susi Igler knows the story of La Paloma in Mexico: In 1866 the song became an immediate hit there. Paloma brought tears to the eyes of the unfortunate Mexican Emperor Maximilian von Susi Igler, expert on Maximilian and Carlota Habsburg, while liberals mocked the imperial couple in a satirical version. Legend has it that Maximilian requested La Paloma to be played before he was executed. As a last wish Maximilian requested they play La Paloma. bing crosby | horea crishan | xavier cugat & his orchestra | culture musical club zanzibar | karl dall |ron david | andré dassary | de windjammers | deutsches tanz- und unterhaltungsorchester | edison concert band | epigmenio From Mexico we travel with La Paloma to Hawaii. Harry Koizumi explains how La Paloma came to Hawaii: King Kamehameha III hired Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) to teach Hawaiians how to handle the growing herds of steers. In the evenings around the campfire, they played La Teaches slack key and steel-guitar – Harry Koizumi Paloma on their guitars. When they returned to their homeland a few years later, some gave their guitars to the Hawaiians, who invented their own style of guitar music… Even he performed La Paloma: Elvis díaz | die dreisihoclas | dieter reith’s move | plácido domingo | gabriel dorobantiú | ral donner | hands dreischmeier | eesti raadio naisansambel |eisenbahnermusik wiener neustadt | esquivel & his orchestra | liuba maria evia | fabulosos tres paraguayos | johannes fehring | alejandro fernandez | branco feliciano & his happy gui- And now for a stopover in the Spanish Basque Country, the home of Sebastián Iradier, the composer of La Paloma. Primitivo Langarica transferred his lamp shop in the center of Vitoria to his son a couple of months ago. Now he is able to donate his free time to his hobby, collecting La Paloma records. He already has 983 versions – from Julio Iglesias to Elvis Presley. ‘I had never heard it in Basque,though. “It's strange,” he says. “ Sebastián Iradier is quite forgotton.” Collector with a mission: Primitivo Langarica tars | felix felzmann | freddy fender | frank ferera | gabriella ferri | finkwarder speedldeel | fischer chöre | perikles The composer of La Paloma: the Basque Sebastián Iradier fotopoulos | connie francis | | carlos francisco | frank valdors tropic beats | amelita gallicurci | paco garcia | la garde Defeated, Maximilian´s soldiers returned to AustriaHungary, the song of the white dove in their knapsacks. Thus the song came to Banat, Austria-Hungary then, Romania today. Katharina Hellstern is one of the few Germans who did not emigrate after the fall of Ceaucescu. She knows what it is like to long for loved-ones, who sought a happier life far away. “La Paloma incorporates longing. Everybody knows longing,” she says. “Without longing life makes no sense.” That’s why even today the song is played at funerals in Banat. Longing for the loved-one who emigrated – Katharina Hellstern républicaine | benny gebauer | barnabás von géczy mit seinem tanzorchester | ladi geisler | benjamino gigli | pedro gonez | emilio de gogorza | herbert ernst groh | bob hall | hamburger shanty chor | harmonica playboys | Then La Paloma goes to hell. Coco Schumann, the German master of swing, was forced to perform the song in Auschwitz, next to the ramp to the gas chambers. “I've played La Paloma all my life. It's a great piece, really great, and I love it, but it doesn't get under my skin. Thank God. Otherwise I couldn't play it now.” He had to perform it in Auschwitz – Coco Schumann james harry & his orchestra | alfred hause | hawaiian duo | heino | ted herold | heyn-quartett elvira de hidalgo | jonny hill | lydia hill | ich schwitze nie | julio iglesias | ikarus showorchester | hein jansen | jiao jim-hai | santiago When and how La Paloma reached the coast of Africa remains unknown. However, in Zanzibar there are people who would swear the song has been here forever. Makame Faki is a famous singer at the Culture Musical Club in Zanzibar. He owns a small record shop in Stone Town, Zanzibar. On weekends he performs Iradier’s melody at the end of weddings as a farewell song. It is supposed to bring happiness to the bridal couple and their guests. La Paloma as a wedding song in Zanzibar – Makame Faki and his Kidumbak band jimé nez | johnny jokers | addi kahl | raymond kane | käpt’n blaubär | hiaskirchgasser | angel kirkpatrick | kirmes-musikanten | rudolf klaus | rudi knabl | piet knarren | rené kollo | oldrich kovár | hans-joachim kulenkampff | In Germany La Paloma is considered a song from the north coast. Hans Albers’ alcohol driven version was once banned by the Nazis, while Freddy later made the charts with the song. The Hamburg based entertainer Peter Fläschner comes to the point: “La Paloma is the song of life. What happens in life is reflected in La Paloma.” With La Paloma in the charts in 1962 – Freddy Quinn charles kullmann | evelyn künneke | jean-pierre kusela | james last orchester | pedro lavagna y su orchestra de tango argentinos | lecuona cuban boys | eugenia león | frederico linae | trini lopez | helmut lotti | paco de lucia | One of the highlights of the film is the performance of the Mexican star singer Eugenia León. During the last presidential election Eugenia León supported the liberal candidate, who was closely defeated. His supporters are convinced it was fraud. To them Eugenia dedicated her Paloma version, which is written in the tradition of the against globalization – Eugenia León satirical versions against Maximilian. Eugenia’s powerful Paloma is a hymn against war, against intervention by foreign nations – the longing of every human being. La Paloma, a hymn for a globalized world as we would want it – Eugenia León dean martin | mireille mathieu | felix mendelssohn’s hawaiian serenaders | conchita mendez | metropolitan dance orchestra | jelly roll morton | erich neumann | charly neumann | mark newstead | no goods | novelty orche- The director’s notes of intention: When I started the film, I had to answer questions like, “How often do you have to listen to the song? Won’t it be boring?” The viewers’ reactions now prove that the opposite is the case: you will get addicted to the song, you will want to hear more than the 42 versions which we play in the film. Even after months in the editing room, there are moments when I discover something new in the melody again. For heaven’s sake, nobody can tell you the secret of the song – otherwise thousands would have already copied it. The director with one of her favourite versions ster | peter oldenburg | orchester alfonso martinez | orchester harry martin | orchestra lázaro quintero | oreche- stre parlophon | orchids | original holsteiner | orquestra valdés | natalino otto | pablito & his pachanga | pacifique It thrills me to see how the song has been connected with – mostly tragic – moments in history during the past 150 years, when death and longing, freedom and peace were key issues. For me the song is an example of how globalization should be: a melody which unites people of every color and creed, a song played globally, but performed locally. I want the audience to leave the film with a smile on their faces whistling La Paloma, amazed at the song’s variety, wondering which musician impressed them most. tango orkestret | tullio pane | papenburger shanty-chor | charlie parker | paul whiteman orchestra | eddie pea- body | roland peachey | pedrito altieri & his steel band | bernd petrak | tommi piper | polizeichor blaue jungs The director Sigrid Faltin has been working as a writer and film director for twenty years, and for ten years as a producer. Her last film “the guggenheim and the baroness” on Hilla Rebay, the founding director of the Guggenheim Museum, was internationally co-produced, shown at several international film festivals and awarded a Bronze Sigrid Faltin, director and producer World Medal at the New York Festival in 2005. She also wrote a well received book on Hilla Rebay. Together with Andreas Schäfler, Faltin also edited the book on La Paloma. hamburg-harburg | polizeichor lübeck | andré popp | franck pourcel | pérez prado | elvis presley | hermann prey | freddy quinn | alberto rabagliatti and the lecuona cuban boys | bill ramsey | achim reichel | robert renard | joan revel and mario de pietro | meza reynaldo y los paraguayos | hein ries | andré rieu | ringelpiez | marty The La Paloma Project Parallel to the film, Marebuch, Hamburg, will publish a book on La Paloma, written by Sigrid Faltin and Andreas Schäfler, with essays by Klaus Doldinger, Stefan Maelck, Eugene Chadbourne, 120 illustrations in color, and a selected discography of La Paloma versions in Classic, Jazz, Pop, Rock, etc. Approx. 180 pages, approx. 19,90 EUR, ISBN 978-3-86648-082-7. (in German) Additionally, two more CD’s will be published by Kalle Laar and Trikont, Munich, among others with the Paloma versions from the film. Trikont has already published four CD’s with the best Paloma versions. They will continue their strenuous work on a critical edition of all Palomas. robbins | robertino | ivo robic | roland trio | ronny | ro okeys & the five danes | edmundo ros | eulalio sánchez y su quinteto mexicano | manny sax | heinz schimmelpfennig | joseph schmidt | rudolf schock | walter scholz | detlev white pepper F I L M G E S E L L S C H A F T They believed in La Paloma producers White Pepper Films (Sigrid Faltin) and Seppia (Cédric Bonin, Pascaline Geoffroy) co-producers NDR (Bernd Michael Fincke), WDR (Jutta Krug), ZDF in cooperation with Arte (Sabine Bubeck-Paaz), ETB (Santi Uriate) with the participation of YLE, ORF, TVR, DunaTV, FIRST HAND FILMS Noga, Sogecable, Schweizer Fernsehen, Avro developed through the EAVE Programme, a training initiative of the MEDIA Program of the E. U. funded by MFG Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg, Media – a program of the E.U., Région Alsace, Communauté Urbaine de Strasbourg world sales First Hand Films Zurich cinema distributor Germany Realfiction Cologne schönauer | coco schumann | schuricke terzett | leopold seelos | seemanns-chor verein geborener hamburger | rosita serrano | ricky shane | shanty-chor großenbrode | erik silvester | antje smit | hank snow | perla del soconusco | They worked on the film (among others) writer & director Sigrid Faltin director of photography Holger Schüppel BvK sound Enrico Leube assistant to d.o.p. Michael Paninski editor Mike Schlömer online editing & color matching Christophe Reynaud sound editing & mixing Andreas Radzuweit music rights clearance Markus Steffen music advisor Andreas Ziegler production manager Agnès Divoux design DesignConcepts english translation Heidi Knott soweto gospel choir | spotnicks | harry steiner | elsa stenning | the strangers | conchita supervia | miklos szedö | karl tabor | luciano tajoli | tango-orchester alexander imre | tango-orchester alfred hause | tango-orchester robert Variations on La Paloma When I left Havana, my God, No more do I see the starlight caress your hair nobody saw me but me. No more feel the tender kisses we used to share A beautiful woman, my love I close my eyes and clearly my heart remembers followed me, yes, sir! A thousand good-byes could never put out the embers. original version: Sebastian Iradier version performed by Elvis Presley, words: Hal Blair / Don Robertson Oh, dove of yesterday and today, Ladies and gentlemen, battling racism and intervention. bride and bridegroom, Fly, dove, to the border, we say goodbye to all and take away a star from their flag! who were here. We don't want imperialism. Forgive those who said anything nasty. We're fed up with cynism. Nobody should be offended or sad. Our airspace is sovereign. version from Zanzibar We're people and Mexicans. performed by and words by: Eugenia León renard | tattoos | tau moe family | richard tauber | pete tex | jan thomé | claude thornhill |hein timm | tipica mexicana anahuac orquesta | dr. alfonso ortíz tirado | vico torriani | trio calaveras | trio san josé | etc. © 2008 by white pepper Filmgesellschaft Schlierbergstraße 25a D 79100 Freiburg Phone ++49 761 40 84 40 Fax ++49 761 40 89 40 [email protected] www.whitepepper.de Seppia Sàrl 18, rue Auguste Lamey F 67000 Strasbourg Phone ++33 388 52 81 21 Fax ++33 388 25 59 70 [email protected] www.seppia.fr World Sales First Hand Films Fritz Heb Weg 5 CH 8050 Zürich Phone ++41. 44. 312 20 60 Fax ++41. 44. 312 20 80 [email protected] www.firsthandfilms.com