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Genghis Blues

 
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Genghis Blues

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Genghis Blues
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  • Directors: Adrian Belic; Roko Belic
  • AMG Rating: starstarstarstar
  • Genre: Music
  • Movie Type: Biography, Sociology
  • Themes: Musician's Life, Culture Clash
  • Release Year: 1999
  • Country: US
  • Run Time: 88 minutes

Plot

The tiny nation of Tuva, located between Siberia and Mongolia, is home to an unusual musical tradition known as throat singing, in which vocalists produce resonant tones from deep in their throats. The masters of this form are able to sing three or four notes at a time, in effect allowing them to harmonize with themselves. Paul Pena is an American blues singer and guitarist who has worked with the likes of Bonnie Raitt and B.B. King. One day, he heard a program of Tuvan throat singing on the radio and was immediately fascinated by this remarkable, otherworldly music. Pena began the arduous task of teaching himself to sing in the Tuvan manner, a feat all the more remarkable since he had no guide other than a handful of recordings. After several years, word of the American throat singer traveled back to Tuva, and Genghis Blues documents Pena's triumphant journey to Kyzyl, where he was invited to perform for a festival and symposium on traditional Tuvan harmonic singing. The isolation that Pena feels as a blind man is contrasted by the joyous warmth with which he is received by his Tuvan partners in music. Genghis Blues proved to be an audience favorite in screenings at the 1999 Sundance, Rotterdam and San Francisco Film Festivals. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Cast

Richard Feynman; Lemon DeGeorge; Ralph Leighton; Mario Casetta; Tony DeCicco; Kongar-ol Ondar; Paul Pena

Credit

Ralph Leighton - Associate Producer, Adrian Belic - Director, Roko Belic - Director, Roko Belic - Editor, Adrian Belic - Cinematographer, Roko Belic - Cinematographer, Adrian Belic - Producer, Roko Belic - Producer, Lemon DeGeorge - Sound Recordist, Roko Belic - Screenwriter, Ian M. Williamson - Technical Director, Ian Willimason - Technical Director

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Wikipedia: Genghis Blues
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Genghis Blues
Directed by Roko Belic
Produced by Roko Belic and Adrian Belic
Starring Paul Pena (Himself)
Music by Pena
Kongar-ool Ondar
Distributed by Roxie Releasing
Release date(s) United States January, 1999 (Sundance Film Festival)
United States July 9, 1999 (limited)
Australia November 30, 2000
Germany May 25, 2000
Running time 88 min.
Language English

Genghis Blues (1999) is a documentary film directed by Roko Belic. It centers on the journey of blind American singer Paul Pena to the isolated Asian nation of Tuva due to his interest in Tuvan throat singing.

It won the 1999 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for a Documentary. It was also nominated for an Academy Award in 2000 in the Best Documentary Feature category. [1]

Contents

Synopsis

The documentary captures the story of blind blues musician Paul Pena. After a brush with fame and success in the 1970s, Pena's fortunes faded as he dealt with career and health problems.

While listening to shortwave radio, Pena heard a broadcast of throatsinging, the Tuvan art of manipulating overtones while singing to make higher frequencies more distinguishable, essentially making it possible to sing two notes at once. Pena, over the course of several years, taught himself to throatsing to a very impressive degree. He eventually attended a concert of throatsinging and after the concert impressed one of the throatsingers, Kongar-ool Ondar, who invited him to visit Tuva, a province of Russia, a formerly independent country and the home of throatsinging to sing in the triennial throatsinging festival held there.

The entire journey is captured in the documentary, as well as the extraordinary mix of cultures and music.

Production

The Belic brothers shot the film with two Hi8 camcorders and edited it themselves. They were allowed to edit the film during nighttime at the professional editing facility. It took them three and a half years to finish the film after they shot it. All this time they lived for $500 a month in an apartment above an auto repair shop.[2]

References

  1. ^ "NY Times: Genghis Blues". NY Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/180094/Genghis-Blues/details. Retrieved 2008-11-22. 
  2. ^ "Finding Their Tuva". http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:181055. 

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 
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