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Ricardo -> Camaron on Netflix (Jul. 20 2018 17:28:30)
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There are actually 2 documentaries now up on netflix. The first is Camaron “the film”, as it pops up, it’s 1hr44min and pretty well done. It does have a weird tragic or overly dramatic vibe IMO, added to by the weird gravelly voice narrator. Of course it’s peppered by interviews and 50% of footage from Rito y Geografia. Certain important things are spliced out from Rito which I found misleading. Also, a clear animosity against PDL’s family is highlighted, though Paco himself is vindicated at the end of the film. Unlike the build up of La Busqueda to a very sad ending of a loveable guy, their attempt to do the same with Camaron falls flat IMO. Didn’t really see any new footage of camaron (other than high def of that Juerga on Rocio with Paco which is on youtube), except for some cool short clips from the recording of Potro Rabia y miel. You can see paco demonstrating first movement of Aranjuez to tomatito standing up with his guitar in the studio, it’s a great little moment. All in all, a good documentary for folks that want to be introduced to the subject and specifics of Camaron’s life and career.
The second documentary is a 6 part series, each episode is almost an hour long. THis is copying very much the filming style of Busqueda, using tons of photos where they are 3d’ed and zooming in to make it feel like a movie with stills. It makes me wonder if Paco’s son wasn’t involved? Anyway, the material is more well balanced than the film above, it shows many opinions of different view points. Those clipped out “smack talk” clips from Rito are purposefully inserted to show the very different opinions that were around, which is good IMO. I have only watch 4 episodes so far, but the one thing I REALLY don’t like is that historically, the thing jumps around all over the place in time. It is only helpful if you know the career timeline already, so you get to fill in interesting anecdotes and what not. My favorite, so far, was Jose Merce remembering the time in Madrid Farina, Porrina, and Caracol came in to the bar and had a fandango battle, announced Farina the winner, and looked at Merce and Camaron to sing next and they just kept their mouths shut and looked at the floor!!! [:D]. Also cool is the story about how Caracol said young Camaron would never be good....so years later in a Juerga Camaron sang and they traded letras and Camaron kept pushing the cejllla higher until Caracol couldn’t make the key anymore. As musician we know having a certain range doesn’t mean you are good or bad singer, but it’s interesting point that in the Gitano culture, the competition here is about who was more blessed with gods gifts. Pretty amusing to me anyway.
In the end, I feel that both documentaries make cantaores in general look like a bunch of self centered ego maniacs...all of them. They never let the viewer experience the impact of a full letra or real musical moment IMO....it’s all very short fragmented clips. I think the audience, especially a general audience, deserves to experience the cante in full, at least a single performance, to experience the real reason these singers were so great...IMO. As the examples of singing stand in the two film projects, I would be surprised if they inspire a new cante fans rather than have people going “what the hell did I just watch? Who the hell are these people that think they are so great??”
Lastly, the amount of material that drew upon Rito is yet an other testament to how truly amazing a treasure that series is. If you want to experience cante well presented, you can’t really get any better than what they did there in 1971-73 as far as capturing the greats, the opinions, and most importantly, the emotion of the cante.
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