JOHNSON CITY – “Music can change the world because it can change people,” Irish singer-songwriter Bono says.
The makers of the 2020 independent documentary “Fandango at the Wall” and musicians and fans at the annual Fandango Fronterizo count on that.
For 11 years, the masters of son jarocho Mexican music and fans have gathered on both sides of the Tijuana-San Diego border for the music and dance festival Fandango Fronterizo. The documentary “Fandango at the Wall” takes viewers on a journey through Mexico with Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra founder and conductor Arturo O'Farrill, where he meets and makes music with the world’s top son jarocho musicians, culminating in a performance at the border wall.
The Mary B. Martin School of the Arts at East Tennessee State University is sponsoring two free online screenings of the film as part of the South Arts Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers’ 2020-2021 series. These screenings on Monday, Nov. 2, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 8, at 4 p.m. will be followed by a pre-recorded Q&A with the director. To view the trailer and register for, or “pre-order,” either or both screenings, visit www.etsu.edu/martin.
“‘Fandango at the Wall’ is a timely and transcendent story about a group of masterful musicians, who in the face of violence and instability triggered by mass human migrations, have been moved to claim their community’s right to belong and to be happy via the fandango,” says film director and co-writer Varda Bar-Kar. “There are few, if any, documentaries about son jarocho, and little has been written about it. They took a leap of faith, and I felt a great responsibility to honor their trust by capturing the illuminated beauty of their mystical culture.”
The 2020 documentary follows Grammy Award winners O’Farrill and Kabir Sehgal as they prepare to record a live album at the U.S.-Mexico border wall. Joining Sehgal as executive producers of the film are musician and music and film producer Quincy Jones, guitarist Carlos Santana and diplomat Andrew Young.
Before recording, festival organizer Jorge Francisco Castillo takes O’Farrill and Sehgal on a tour of Veracruz, Mexico, where this musical mixture of indigenous, Spanish and African traditions originated. As they travel, they meet legendary son jarocho musicians – including Patricio Hidalgo, Fernando Guadarrama, Ramón Gutiérrez, Wendy Cao Romero, Tacho Utrera, Andrés Vega, Martha Vega and Yaratczé Hidalgo Sandoval – and recruit many of these artists for the upcoming festival, established by Castillo to promote peace and celebrate unity.
“Our film shows how the border can become a place of friendship and amity by harnessing the power of Afro-Mexican music known as son jarocho,” says Sehgal, a U.S. Navy veteran and New York Times best-selling author as well as a music and now-film producer. “I’ve been making music for decades, and I’ve never experienced a more enveloping and transformative art form.
“‘Fandango at the Wall’ is ultimately a project of convergence. I hope that as you listen to this music, you’ll hear the possibilities ... (as) we as artists and activists continue to create the world in which we want to live.”
The film’s many “magical moments” of spontaneous music and dance present “an alternative narrative of Mexico and Mexicans by amplifying the voices of the cultured, insightful, and sophisticated son jarocho artists,” says Bar-Kar, who identifies herself a “global citizen,” having lived on three continents and in 10 cities by the age of 15. “Through their music, dance, poetry and personal reflections, we discover a Mexico rich in deep family ties, community, culture and love for humanity.”
The deep dive into the people, music and challenges of this part of Mexico presents a unique window into a culture that rises above yet illuminates political issues.
“The Southern Circuit series of films offers us great insights into so many cultures and situations around the world,” says Martin School Director Anita DeAngelis. “Last month, we were at a border wall in Palestine. This month we are surmounting walls at America’s southern border. In spring, we will be learning about Hawaiian culture and indigenous ‘Warrior Women.’ We never know where the circuit will take us, but it is always an adventure.”
Although an album and book resulted from the most recent Fandango, “This is not music,” O’Farrill observes. “This is life.”
In Veracruz where their verdant culture is marred by threats from drug cartel-related violence, Bar-Kar says her experience – and the film’s focus – is both positive and personal. “They opened up about their lives and their passions,” she says. “And they spoke with utmost sincerity.
“I invited them to sing and dance in the streets, along train tracks and even on a row boat in a river. They participated not just willingly but with love and passion. Their trust was profound, especially considering that they all live in one of the most violent regions of Mexico.”
The magical moments are what audiences can take home and savor, Sehgal says. “Here is the moment that struck me: The border wall was behind us, the sun was setting over the Pacific Ocean, the crowd was yelling ‘Epa’ and ‘Otra!,’ and the band was grooving,” Sehgal says. “Many of us were in tears as we took everything in. For a moment, we had helped to turn a symbol of division into a common space of peace and harmony.”
For more information on the film, visit http://fandangowall.com/film.
The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of South Arts. Southern Circuit screenings are funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
Spring films in the ETSU circuit will be “Cane Fire,” “Warrior Women” and “Socks on Fire.”
To register for “Fandango,” visit www.etsu.edu/martin. For additional information on the Martin School of the Arts, call 423-439-8587.