What's Up, Docs?

Can we rock? Surely we can.

Last week I had the excellent pleasure of attending the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin, TX. My friends and I clocked about 3 or 4 films per day on the average, and a lot of the interest this year was on documentaries, so here's a few you should definitely be on the lookout for:

Before the Music Dies

Have you ever wondered what's happening to the state of popular music these days? I know I do. Not everyone has the luxury of hitting up the local independently owned music store to find something new, so the general populace has been stuck with a sinking ship: the radio. Most everyone knows how bad it can be--the same ten songs over and over, morning radio stations broadcast nationwide, the lack of a local, personal voice in the community or city in which you live. What's the cause of all of it? What the film sets out to do is answer this question as well as others that involve celebrity making, the quest for passion in music, and what artists and listeners can do to turn it all around.
At first, the film takes a sort of scholarly approach with a history lesson on Clear Channel, the former car-dealership enterprise that found a gold mine in the discovery of airplay selling in the mid 90's. Over the next few years, the company grew, so did their presence across America, leading to a mass homogenization of modern popular radio.
The director and producer team of Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen went on the road to interview all kinds of musicians about where the heart and soul of music is going today. Of course, we get the stock responses about capitalism and the need to change, but there are some truly insightful (not to mention candid) responses from artists such as Eric Clapton, Erykah Badu, ?uestlove from The Roots, Dave Matthews, and Branford Marsalis (who completely floored me with his honesty concerning his music students). The film has a really interesting subplot about creating a pop star from scratch--using a model, getting a press kit of photos together, finding a writer, and digitally tweaking the model's lackluster voice.
The documentary highlights a few artists for their music, but there is an extensive segment on Doyle Bramhall II, an Austin-born musician with the honest-to-God chops to be a bonafide rock star, who would not tailor his art to suit the record labels. Unfortunately, he hasn't received the acclaim that he deserves, but a major event occured while the movie was being made: Doyle, along with musicians Badu, ?uestlove, and several other notables came together to create a band that wishes to create a movement for the artist, separate from the tyranny of record companies. The band, "Funk Sway," had a killer performance at Austin Music Hall the night of the premiere and it was INCREDIBLE. It was taped and should be on the DVD for the documentary.

Check the website at www.beforethemusicdies.com

I thought, surely that must be the most important film of the Festival concerning music, and then I saw my next film...

East of Havana

"Nowadays rap artists/Are comin' half-hearted. Commercial like pop, or underground like black markets./ Where were you the day Hip-hop died?
Is it to early to mourn/Is it too late to ride?"

--Talib Kweli, "Too Late," from the album Reflection Eternal.


One of the SXSW panels concerned the "24 beats per minute" music related documentaries, and on this panel was Charlize Theron, there to promote East of Havana, a documentary about the state of hip hop in Cuba. This was evidently no vanity project, as some of you might know, she lived with a family in Miami for nearly 15 years before becoming an actress. She also put up some of her own money to fund this film, and I can understand why--though it may seem like a trivial thing, the message that this film conveys cannot be subdued or forgotten.
East of Havana is the story of three young Cuban MC's, Soandry, Mikki Flow, and Magyori, who live in the slums of Havana and are a part of the rap group "El Cartel" . The documentary follows them for the days leading up to the annual Cuban Hip Hop festival, apparently the only time when the collective voice of the culture can express themselves. Mikki Flow (Michel) is the outspoken revolutionary type, full of righteous bravado and swagger. Magyori is more of a freeform, spoken word poet MC (a la some of Lauryn Hill's later work), and Soandry had dedicated his ideals and style to the rappers of the early-to-mid nineties, around what many believe is the 'Golden Age' of rap. I don't mean to pigeonhole them, just give a general idea of their style. During the time we spend with them, we see defeat, triumph, anger and eloquence. One scene in which Mikki Flow raps, addressing the camera as a lost love in a freestyle was both amazing and heartbreaking. The year this was being filmed was also the year of Hurricane Charley, which meant that the dozens and dozens of tourists and hip hop fans were unable to partake in the festival because of bureaucratic red tape. What do they do? They have a session on the bus! There's another scene with Soandry's older brother, who lives in New York and hasn't seen his entire family for over ten years. Watching him see pictures of his family for the first time illustrates the pain and struggle of today's post-revolutionary Cubans, young and old. I feel that this film is not only important to hip hop fans, but moreso those who wish to make a change in society by having a dialogue with other countries instead of imposing embargos. As a fan of hip-hop, I was astounded to realize how much of our art form we take for granted. Call me naive but when I see people anywhere, living and fighting for the cause to be heard, I wish for everyone to speak up for those who cannot (or at the very least, try to). I pray that these films get distribution so everyone can have a better understanding of the music and culture that binds us.