Documentary Educational Resources - Filmmaker / Feld, Steven / All Films

Cool Running

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 16:12:20 GMT

In Accra, Ghana, por por (pronounced paw paw) is a unique music made from squeeze-bulb honk horns. Originally a fixture on colonial-era wooden lorries, these horns were subsequently repurposed by drivers in the township of La as musical instruments for union driver funerals.

Drawing from five years of research and work with the Drivers Union, filmmaker Steven Feld and photographer/oral historian Nii Yemo Nunu take readers into the stories of the drivers, their vehicles and the invention of por por music through photographs and text, including complementary historical essays and a classic black and white photograph section by German photographer Hannah Schreckenbach. Additionally, Nunu and Feld collected, transcribed, and translated twenty-five video interviews with elder drivers. These interviews formed the basis of The Story of Por Por, one of five films in Feld’s Jazz Cosmopolitanism series.

The deluxe, hardback edition of Cool Running features over two hundred captioned photographs, a CD titled Klebo! that features the La Drivers Union por por Group performing their songs, and a DVD with two documentary films: The Story of Por Por and M.V. Labadi.

“In all, this package offers a captivating introduction to por por and its cultural context of driving in Accra…On its own, it stands as a testament to the dynamic interplay of Ga drivers and musicians in La, including the ways in which foreign technologies become integrated into local cultural practice…will be a valuable resource for educators as well as scholars of Ghana, Africa, music, sound studies, technology and society, labor, and transportation.” - Paul Schauert, The Journal of African History

Praise for Jazz Cosmopolitanism:

“The chapters in which Feld listens and retells the stories of these mercurial musicians are compelling, and throw up original and profound material. Feld is brilliant at articulating the multiple overlapping narratives and experiences that both obfuscate and animate diasporic dialogues, and in that process his book attains its own world-historical significance.” – Tony Herrington, The Wire

“[A] vital statement about the infinitely nuanced nature of cultural exchange between Africa and America, and how our fullest understanding of jazz history might be furthered by enquiries like this.” – Kevin Le Gendre, Jazzwise

“Jazz Cosmopolitanism is a lively and important book, one that uses the vehicles of dialogue and sound to unearth the complex cultural and political dynamics that connect a group of urban Africans to the diaspora and wider world. It is a fun, invigorating, and worthwhile read that continues to resonate when finally put down. I highly recommend picking it up.” – Nate Plageman, Journal of African History

Visit Feld, Steven to see additional products in this category.

Voices of the Rainforest

Wed, 29 May 2019 10:52:27 GMT

Voices of the Rainforest
Buy Now: $340.00

Voices of the Rainforest: A Day in the Life of Bosavi is a 70-minute cinema concert–an experiential documentary about the ecological and aesthetic coevolution of Papua New Guinea's Bosavi rainforest region and its inhabitants. Through sound and image, the film immerses viewers in the rainforest, and makes audible myriad connections between the everyday sounds of the rainforest biosphere and the creative practices of singing to, with, and about it by the Bosavi people. Structured around a day in the life of the rainforest and the music it inspires for the Bosavi people, the film brings to life the everyday activities of work, leisure, and ritual–heard in the full ambient setting of the rainforest–throughout the day and night.

Voices of the Rainforest was produced by Steven Feld and Dennis Leonard and Directed by Steven Feld and Jeremiah Ra Richards in collaboration with the Bona community of Bosavi, Papua New Guinea. Feld conducted anthropological and ethnomusicological fieldwork in Bosavi from 1975 to 2000. The original Voices of the Rainforest CD was produced during this time (1991) with production support from Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. Working with acclaimed sound editor Dennis Leonard at Skywalker Sound in 2016-2017, Feld recomposed a 25th anniversary 7.1 Voices soundtrack. A 2018 return to Bosavi with filmmaker Jeremiah Ra Richards and digitization of Feld's extensive archival photographs led to the creation of the immersive film joined to the 7.1 soundtrack.

Voices of the Rainforest is the first in a series of films based on Feld's work. While Voices offers a visualization of the original audio experience, New Voices of the Rainforest, the companion film, will provide an update on the state of the forest and the problems of development in what remains a remote and underserved region of Papua New Guinea.

This Deluxe Edition includes a 150-page color photobook, 7.1 Blu-ray (with a 2.0 stereo track) and the 25th Anniversary edition audio CD.

All sales benefit the Bosavi Peoples Fund, advocating for environmental and cultural justice in a remote part of Papua New Guinea.

Selected Screenings & Awards

Honourable Mention, Documentary Film Prize, International Council for Traditional Music, 2020

Competition Category "Community and Equality," Vizantrop Film Festival, 2020

Academic Screenings

Scholarship Film Festival, U Pennsylvania, 2019

NYU Depts of Anthropology & Music, 2019

Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology UK, 2019

University of Eastern Finland, 2019

Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, 2019

Harvard University, 2019

Visit Feld, Steven to see additional products in this category.

A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie

Tue, 9 Oct 2018 15:11:00 GMT

A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie
Buy Now: $320.00

Por Por music (pronounced “paw paw”) is named for the honking sound of antique squeeze-bulb car horns, ubiquitous on the wooden lorries of Ghana's early transport history. After electric horns arrived in West Africa a union of bus and truck drivers in the Accra township of La kept the por por horn and invented a jazzy honking. The La drivers only perform Por Por at funerals of their fellow union transport workers.

In March 2008 the La Drivers Union Por Por Group lost one of its key members, Nelson Ashirifie Mensah. This film documents the funeral performed in his memory and discusses Por Por's relation to the New Orleans jazz funeral.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Prix Bartok, Jean Rouch Film Festival, 2010

Films in the Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra series:

Hallelujah! (60 min, 2009)

Accra Trane Station: The Music and Art of Nii Noi Nortey (60 min, 2009)

Includes the short film From Accra to Santa Fe (18 min, 2009)

A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie (60 min, 2009)

The Story of Por-Por (60 min, 2013)

Includes the short film M.V. Labadi (20 min, 2013)

J.C. Abbey, Ghana's Puppeteer (55 min, 2016)

Visit Feld, Steven to see additional products in this category.

J.C. Abbey

Tue, 9 Oct 2018 15:11:00 GMT

J.C. Abbey
Buy Now: $320.00

This film documents an exceptional fifty-year artistic career, from Accra's streets to Ghana's villages to international TV. In fifteen delightful puppet shows, Mr. Abbey is joined by musicians Nii Noi Nortey and NiiOtoo Annan and filmmakers Nii Yemo Nunu and Steven Feld to chronicle Ghana's music since independence in 1957.

The marionettes perform ethnic songs, dances and stories, but equally the sounds of highlife, Afrojazz, Afro-rock, reggae, and contemporary hiplife. The innovative soundtrack includes historical documents from radio, TV and broadcast, and LP, as well as new compositions commissioned and performed to playback.

This fifth feature in the Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra series mixes styles of historical documentary and contemporary music video. In a review of the film in Visual Ethnography, Rina Sherman quotes ethnomusicologist and filmmaker Steven Feld:

"By doing what these guys have done, which is to give us an alternate history of music in Ghana, they're asking, 'Who tells the story of a nation's music? Is it just the elites and the universities or is it the artists in the streets who have lived these 50, 60 years of history since independence? ...this world of traditions ... is what it means to be a contemporary Ghanaian."

Through the pleasures of performance it reveals the cosmopolitan politics that intertwine ethnic, traditional, national, and global musical styles in Ghana today.

[J.C. Abbey]..."documents the extraordinary art and craft of Joseph C. Abbey... Abbey's remarkable work has remained largely unknown to the wider world and it is thanks to filmmakers Nii Yemo Nunu and feld, and their colleague Nii Noi Nortey, the multi-instrumentalist and administrator of the Anyaa Arts Library outside Accra, that we can now get an impression of Abbey's puppetry treasures."
—Markus Coester and Christine Matzke, University of Bayreuth (Germany)

Films in the Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra series:

Hallelujah! (60 min, 2009)

Accra Trane Station: The Music and Art of Nii Noi Nortey (60 min, 2009)

Includes the short film From Accra to Santa Fe (18 min, 2009)

A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie (60 min, 2009)

The Story of Por-Por (60 min, 2013)

Includes the short film M.V. Labadi (20 min, 2013)

J.C. Abbey, Ghana's Puppeteer (55 min, 2016)

Visit Feld, Steven to see additional products in this category.

The Story of Por Por

Tue, 9 Oct 2018 15:11:00 GMT

The Story of Por Por
Buy Now: $320.00

After electric horns arrived in West Africa, honk horns virtually disappeared. But a union of bus and truck drivers in the Accra township of La kept the por por horns and invented a jazzy honking music adding bells, drums, and voices. The La drivers only perform this Por Por at funerals of their fellow union transport workers.

This film documents the origins and performance of this music and features the testimonies of twenty-five senior drivers and transport industry workers who are centrally involved in its history

EXTRA FEATURE: M.V. Ladabi (20 min, 2013)

The story of legendary La pioneer driver Ataa Anangbi Anangfio, presented through family photographs by his son, photographer Nii Yemo Nunu.

Films in the Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra series:

Hallelujah! (60 min, 2009)

Accra Trane Station: The Music and Art of Nii Noi Nortey (60 min, 2009)

Includes the short film From Accra to Santa Fe (18 min, 2009)

A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie (60 min, 2009)

The Story of Por-Por (60 min, 2013)

Includes the short film M.V. Labadi (20 min, 2013)

J.C. Abbey, Ghana's Puppeteer (55 min, 2016)

Visit Feld, Steven to see additional products in this category.

Accra Trane Station

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 13:30:00 GMT

Accra Trane Station
Buy Now: $320.00

This documentary distills three years of video conversations with Nii Noi Nortey, the Ghanaian sculptor, instrument inventor, and avant-garde instrumentalist. Nortey discusses the African legacy of John Coltrane, and how it inspired invention of his "afrifone" instruments, and a series of twenty Accra Trane Station sculptures and four CD recordings.

The recordings and film also feature his longtime percussionist Nii Otoo Annan, "the Elvin Jones of West Africa." Included are scenes of Nortey creating sculptures live at two Accra art exhibits, and performing with Accra Trane Station in recording studios and in concert in Ghana and the USA.

EXTRA FEATURE:From Accra To Santa Fe (18 min, 2009)
In August 2007 Nii Noi Nortey and Nii Otoo Annan traveled from Accra, Ghana to Santa Fe, New Mexico to perform and record with Steven Feld, and his musical colleagues Alex Coke and Jefferson Voorhees. This short features film clips from the sessions at 4th World Recording Studios to record the music for the CD Topographies of the Dark, featuring two collective compositions, Mood Duke, and Black Heat.

Films in the Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra series:

Hallelujah! (60 min, 2009)

Accra Trane Station: The Music and Art of Nii Noi Nortey (60 min, 2009)

Includes the short film From Accra to Santa Fe (18 min, 2009)

A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie (60 min, 2009)

The Story of Por-Por (60 min, 2013)

Includes the short film M.V. Labadi (20 min, 2013)

J.C. Abbey, Ghana's Puppeteer (55 min, 2016)

Visit Feld, Steven to see additional products in this category.