Documentary Educational Resources - Filmmaker / Zemp, Hugo / All Films

Polyphonic Lullabies of Kakheti

Mon, 28 Jan 2019 14:26:00 GMT

Polyphonic Lullabies of Kakheti
Buy Now: $320.00

While lullabies – with their intimate relationship between a mother and her child – are a universal musical genre, the polyphonic singing of lullabies by choirs is very rare. In Georgia (South Caucasus), men’s choirs have been singing lullabies on stage since at least the end of the 19th century, as the movement of national liberation from the Russian empire favored the affirmation of the Georgian cultural uniqueness. Polyphonic cradlesongs performed by men’s, women’s or mixed choirs in the different regional styles have become a new musical genre added to the repertoire of traditional national folklore. Individual as well as choral lullabies are called Nana.

The practice of related polyphonic Nana songs, also called Iav-Nana (name derived from the refrain “Violet-Nana”), is much older and rooted in pre-Christian beliefs. Some of these songs were performed at family rituals when a child had an infectious disease such as measles, which were believed to be brought by celestial spirits. Women performed other ritual Nana songs at sacred places such as a particular village church, or “pagan” mountain sanctuaries, to request from deities health and prosperity for their folk. This film shows for the first time these different kinds of Nana songs in their traditional context and at rehearsals of local choirs of the Kakheti province.

"It is my pleasure to let you know that your new film was demonstrated with great success in Tbilisi at the 9th Symposium of the International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony! The Recital Hall of Tbilisi's Conservatoire was crowded and enthusiastic, there was applause and congratulations. The Georgians were impressed, they underlined the richness of the materials and information and your approach to them. As my personal opinion, I always appreciate in your films a subtle sense of the music as well as the time and context in which this music exists."
– Rusudan Tsurtsumia, International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony, Tbilisi, 2018

"Polyphonic Lullabies of Kakheti is a film on a universal song genre and its unusual polyphonic realization. But it is not only about a genre. It is about human creativity and social cohesion, about powerful individuals and the beauty of traditional expressive culture. The film is the most impressive audio-visual document on traditional music of Georgia I have ever seen."
– Ulrich Morgenstern, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, 2019

"From the very beginning this fascinating film leads you into the depth of Georgian singing traditions, fills you with sincere emotions and furnishes significant information. You feel as if you were a participant in centuries-old rituals and at the same time, viewing them from the present-day position."
– Gia Bagashvili, Caucasus University, Tbilisi, 2019

SELECTED SCREENINGS

Special Mention, Best Music Documentary, The XXXIII PärnuInternational Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival (Estonia), 2019

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Masters of the Balafon

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Masters of the Balafon
Buy Now: $1,050.00

Balafon is the name given in French-speaking West Africa to a xylophone with calabash resonators. This instrument is emblematic of the Senufo people of the Côte d'Ivoire (the former Ivory Coast). The balafon is played under differing circumstances and in combination with different groups of instruments. Not for nothing do the peoples of the Côte d'Ivoire call the northern part of their country "the land of the balafon."

Filmed in long sequences to preserve the integrity of the music and speech of the musicians, this series of four documentaries introduces the audience to the fascinating world of a living musical tradition. Each documentary can be viewed independently, as a whole, or in sections indicated by chapter titles. The complete series lasts nearly 4 ½ hours (including extras), providing a full account of a sophisticated African musical tradition.

“Hugo Zemp has this remarkable gift for placing the audience in the midst of the action... (He) presents a piece of work that no lover of traditional West African music - be it researchers, musicians, music lovers, teachers or students - should do without.”
— Vincent Zanetti, Cahiers de musiques traditionnelles, 15, 2002 (translated from French)

“These videos exhibit, in their picture and sound quality, all the marks of state-of-the-art digital technology, and the camera work by Zemp, usually up close and right in the thick of things, ensures that we can almost feel as if we were there... The series is a major achievement in visual documentation.”
— Roderic Knight, Ethnomusicology, 49 (2), 2005

“The Masters of the Balafon films all show the respect Zemp has for the musicians and their culture, and the instrument.”
— Geoffrey Whittall, The World of Music, 47(2), 2005

Films in the Masters of the Balafon series

Funeral Festivities (with 24 minutes of extras)

The Joy of Youth (with 9 minutes of extras)

The Wood and the Calabash

Friend, Well Come! (with 21 minutes of extras)

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Music of Georgia (Caucasus) Series

Wed, 5 Sep 2018 11:07:00 GMT

Music of Georgia (Caucasus) Series
Buy Now: $720.00

Traditional music of Georgia (the Caucasus) is now internationally renowned and appreciated for the richness and beauty of its polyphonies. While concerts and studio recordings have revealed the diversity of local musical traditions, the films in this series show, for the first time, the performance of three different music styles in the context of rituals and learning.

The Feast-Day of Tamar and Lashari(73 minutes, 1998)

Pilgrims meet at two mountain sanctuaries to celebrate the deified Queen Tamar and King Lashari with prayers, sacrifices and ritual songs. The participants of the feast also enjoy secular music and the company of friends.

Funeral Chants from the Georgian Caucasus (21 minutes, 2007)

During a burial, women and men separately perform individual laments punctuated by collective wailing, while a men's small choir perform polyphonic songs composed of musically stylized cries of grief.

with co-director Nino Tsitsishvili:

Duduki of Tbilisi: Eldar Shoshitashvili and His Students (21 minutes, 2012)

The duduki is a double-reed wind instrument of the oboe family. During a rehearsal, the teacher and his students perform traditional repertoires of Middle Eastern origin as well as styles derived from rural polyphonic singing, and westernized songs developed by Georgian musicians since the 20th century.

“These three films unified in one series show the distinct layers of contemporary Georgian culture with a remarkable precision and attention to real contexts. The creator of these documentaries is both a wonderful filmmaker and a great producer, but he always remains a musician, creating a sense of being in tune with the performers.”
— Rusudan Tsurtsumia, Head of the International Research Center for Traditional Polyphony, Tbilisi, Georgia

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

First Video Prize, International Festival of Ethnographic Films, Nuoro, Italy, 1998

Prize for Outstanding Documentation, Pärnu International Documentary Film Festival, Estonia, 2000

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Duduki of Tbilisi

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 07:05:00 GMT

Duduki of Tbilisi
Buy Now: $295.00

While the rural polyphonic songs of Georgia (Caucasus) are internationally appreciated and have become a national symbol, the urban instrumental music of the eastern part of the country is less well known. The Georgian duduki, a double-reed wind instrument of the oboe family, is known by different names in neighboring countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey.

In the 19th century Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, had a large multi-lingual population composed mainly of Georgians, Armenians, Azeri and Kurds, who practised and listened to duduki music. Traditional duduki music, performed by a soloist, a drone player, and a doli drummer who is also a singer, is derived from Middle Eastern styles and repertoires. Georgian musicians in the 20th century developed westernized local styles recalling the famous three-part polyphonic rural singing. At a rehearsal for an upcoming concert, master musician Eldar Shoshitashvili and his students perform traditional oriental repertoires as well as modern westernized songs.

Films in the Music of Georgia (Caucasus) series

The Feast-Day of Tamar and Lashari

Funeral Chants from the Georgian Caucasus

Duduki of Tbilisi: Eldar Shoshitashvili and His Students

About the Music of Georgia (Caucasus) series

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Friend, Well Come!

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

Friend, Well Come!
Buy Now: $295.00

Among the Senufo people of northern Côte d'Ivoire, the balafon (xylophone with calabash resonators) is an emblematic musical instrument.

Returning to Senufo country 40 years after his first encounter with balafon music in 1958, ethnomusicologist Hugo Zemp recalls memories of this and subsequent visits in the early 60s, before participating in a musical event of startling impact. Six orchestras, playing simultaneously but independently, circle with the dancers around the deceased person, who is swathed in fabric by the men before being buried.

The subjective camerawork of this first-person documentary shows us little by little the slow and irresistible build-up in the intensity of the event. An 18-minute sequence-shot allows us to live this unforgettable experience in real time without any interruption.

This DVD includes the extra features:
Senufo Balafons from Burkina Faso (4 min)
Siaka Plays the Maninka Balafon (3 min)
Xylophones Without Resonators (8 min)
Music Class in Abidjan (6 min)

Films in the Masters of the Balafon series

Friend, Well Come! (with 21 minutes of extras)

Funeral Festivities (with 24 minutes of extras)

The Joy of Youth (with 9 minutes of extras)

The Wood and the Calabash

About the Masters of the Balafon series

Balafon is the name given in French-speaking West Africa to a xylophone with calabash resonators. This instrument is emblematic of the Senufo people of the Côte d'Ivoire (the former Ivory Coast). The balafon is played under differing circumstances and in combination with different groups of instruments. Not for nothing do the peoples of the Côte d'Ivoire call the northern part of their country "the land of the balafon."

Filmed in long sequences to preserve the integrity of the music and speech of the musicians, this series of four documentaries introduces the audience to the fascinating world of a living musical tradition. Each documentary can be viewed independently, as a whole, or in sections indicated by chapter titles. The complete series lasts nearly 4 ½ hours (including extras), providing a full account of a sophisticated African musical tradition.

Visit Zemp, Hugo to see additional products in this category.

Funeral Chants from the Georgian Caucasus

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

Funeral Chants from the Georgian Caucasus
Buy Now: $295.00

The villages of the Svaneti province are located in north-western Georgia, in the valleys that lie between the mountains of the Caucasus. The Svans represent about 1% of the Georgian population. Their language differs from the Georgian language, and their religion is a syncretism of Orthodox Christian faith and pre-Christian beliefs.

The polyphony of the Svans appears as one of the major styles of the Georgian vocal art. It consists of two soloist voices and the bass of the choir. In their funeral rituals, the Svans combine three vocal expressions which are rarely found nowadays in other parts of the world: women's individual laments punctuated by collective wails like in Ancient Greece, men's individual laments, and polyphonic chants by male choirs. While the individual laments are aimed at the deceased and the souls of departed people, the men's polyphonic chants use no words but a series of syllables which follow a set pattern. With chords partly dissonant to a Western European ear, and without any cries other than musically stylized ones, these collective chants of great intensity manage to convey the helplessness and inexpressible grief of Man faced with death.

Films in the Music of Georgia (Caucasus) series

The Feast-Day of Tamar and Lashari

Funeral Chants from the Georgian Caucasus

Duduki of Tbilisi: Eldar Shoshitashvili and His Students

About the Music of Georgia (Caucasus) series

Visit Zemp, Hugo to see additional products in this category.

Funeral Festivities

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

Funeral Festivities
Buy Now: $320.00

Among the Senufo people of northern Côte d'Ivoire, the balafon (xylophone with calabash resonators) is an emblematic musical instrument.

This film shows balafon orchestras playing in five villages during the two principal days of funeral festivities, celebrations that include the most important rites, ceremonies and rejoicings in the life of the Senufo. During dialogues with Sikaman, a young musician who acted as research assistant for this film series, the master balafonist Nahoua gives the key to understanding how this marvelous music comes into being, and what it means.

This DVD includes the extra features:

Blacksmith's Music and Masks (10 min)

"La Clé" Balafon Music (15 min)

Films in the Masters of the Balafon series

Friend, Well Come! (with 21 minutes of extras)

Funeral Festivities (with 24 minutes of extras)

The Joy of Youth (with 9 minutes of extras)

The Wood and the Calabash

About the Masters of the Balafon series

Visit Zemp, Hugo to see additional products in this category.

The Feast-Day of Tamar and Lashari

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 14:53:00 GMT

The Feast-Day of Tamar and Lashari
Buy Now: $320.00

The Pshavi people of the eastern mountains of the Republic of Georgia perform a ritual which can be characterized as a syncretism of ancient polytheistic beliefs and Orthodox Christian faith, but which is qualified by city habitants of Tbilisi as "pagan". The ritual of Tamar and Lashari celebrates queen Tamar (12-13th century) and her son Lasha, deified by the mountain dwellers.

Each year, and for three days, on the hillside of a Caucasus valley, pilgrims consecutively meet at two sanctuaries consecrated to these deities and worship them through prayers, songs and sacrifices, enjoying at the same time food and happy chats with friends they have not seen for a year. In addition to prayers and sacrifices by a shrine priest, religious songs are an essential part of the ritual.

The purpose of this film is not to isolate the most archaic elements, nor to reconstitute an idealized image of a polytheistic ritual of the past, but it is to show the multiple dimensions of the festival as it happened in July 1991. Several centuries-old songs could be heard there, but also profane music, traditional and modern, rural and urban, oriental and occidental music.

Films in the Music of Georgia (Caucasus) series

The Feast-Day of Tamar and Lashari

Funeral Chants from the Georgian Caucasus

Duduki of Tbilisi: Eldar Shoshitashvili and His Students

About the Music of Georgia (Caucasus) series

Visit Zemp, Hugo to see additional products in this category.

The Joy of Youth

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 11:13:00 GMT

The Joy of Youth
Buy Now: $320.00

Among the Senufo people of northern Côte d'Ivoire, the balafon (xylophone with calabash resonators) is an emblematic musical instrument.

The music of the balafon is a source of joy while the young men are doing collective work in the fields, at age-group ceremonies, for the poro initiatory society, for the catholic mass and during young people's dance evenings. Musicians and non-musicians, young and old, talk about the different occasions for which this instrument is an indispensable presence marking the rhythms of life for this agricultural people. Traditional balafon music is far from dying out, and its extraordinary vitality and importance are evident in the activities of the younger generations.

This DVD includes the extra feature:
Friendly Hoeing Competition (9 min)

Films in the Masters of the Balafon series

Friend, Well Come! (with 21 minutes of extras)

Funeral Festivities (with 24 minutes of extras)

The Joy of Youth (with 9 minutes of extras)

The Wood and the Calabash

About the Masters of the Balafon series

Visit Zemp, Hugo to see additional products in this category.

Polyphony of Ceriana

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:58:00 GMT

Polyphony of Ceriana
Buy Now: $320.00

In Ceriana, a village in West Liguria on the southern slopes of the Italian Alps descending to the Mediterranean coast, people love to sing. Among not less than five choirs, The Compagnia Sacco, founded in 1926, is the most committed to preserve the traditional drone polyphony. Different from Corsican and Sardinian polyphonies (but similar to East Georgian table songs), the local three-part singing is characterized by two solo voices and the drone of the choir.

The American ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax made sound recordings in Ceriana in 1954. He invited The Compagnia Sacco in 1975 to the USA, as a prelude to the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration of Independence. This one-month tour in America was the starting point for its international reputation. However, unlike other choirs of the region, the members of The Compagnia Sacco do not sing under the direction of a conductor and do not limit themselves to giving concerts and producing CDs; they also enjoy very much singing together with friends at many local festivities.

Thus, since its foundation, The Compagnia Sacco draws its repertoire from the local tradition and still presents it to an international audience, and in return the members of the choir also continue to nurture and keep alive the village singing of today.

“The architecture of this remarkable film is built around the traditional song, its social function and its poetic and aesthetic dimension. With his appraising eye, his mastery of silences and his subtle editing of the film, Hugo Zemp succeeds in combining the singers' intimate and collective worlds. Always close to the men of the choir, he allows them to sing without ever interfering, thus making us participate in the inner life of these encounters.”
— Yannick Lebtahi, filmologist, Université Lille 3, France, 2010

“Zemp brings the viewer directly into the musical and social worlds of the Compagnia Sacco, arranging for the protagonists to tell their story and explain what they are doing in apparently spontaneous and natural sequences, without narration, visual intrusion, or artifice of construction. We come away with the feeling of having been there. Yet the film is in fact finely orchestrated, mediated through the film-maker's close observation and study of his subject as well as his extensive experience of filming singing.

The triumph of this film is the way in which Zemp reveals the flow and warmth of traditional group singing, and the individuality of singers as well, as his camera follows the interaction and the cues of the singers throughout a song. In it we see how polyphonic singing at the village level is a continuous creator of harmony, both musical and social, for the participants and those who are absorbed by their performance.”
— Anna Wood, American Anthropologist, 114-4, 2012

“In part because of the lack of unnecessary distraction in the film itself, the viewer is left with a series of vivid and lasting images and a sense of having been granted privileged access into the lives of the singers. The film and Study Guide combined offer a valuable teaching resource with respect both to oral traditions of folk polyphony and to techniques of filmmaking—one that I recommend without reservation. At a less academic level, it is heartening to have this window onto a place where the art of conviviality is still alive and well.”
— Caroline Bithell, University of Manchester Mediterranean Music Studies

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Contro-Sguardi International Anthropological Film Festival, Italy, 2012

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