4 posts tagged “music”
Carl you rock! Congrats to your awards, including the recent Best Documentary by London Independent Film Festival award! If you love poetry and youth and social justice - this is the documentary to watch.
ABOUT THE FILM: "2nd Verse” explores urban teen life in the San Francisco Bay Area through the rising popularity of poetry and Spoken Word. Although poetry is the unifying characteristic that brings these young people together, the film does not concentrate on their poems so much as it tells the story of their lives amid the Bay Area's melting pot of ethnic and economic backgrounds. We show how these teens coexist and draw strength from each other, and how these youth poets are changed by their engagement with spoken word, exploring their identity and connection to their unique California community. From a sixteen-year-old girl who lost her father to alcohol at a young age, to an undocumented teen struggling with poverty and his sexuality, to a privileged boy in San Francisco who attends one of the country’s most elite private schools, “Second Verse” endeavors to initiate the viewer into a world rarely seen or acknowledged by the general population."
"Spoken word in the Bay Area more than in any other place in the country is supported, is prolific, is dynamic, is political, and has more relevancy here than anywhere else in the country. I think that a large part of the catalyst for that is the amount of attention that young people are paying to themselves, to the lyricism in popular culture, in hip-hop culture and the way they are reacting to it. They are creating music but also expanding upon and creating a new form of lyricism, and I think it trickles up rather than trickling down. The youth get inspired by their mentors and by their educators but we in turn see the force with which young people are coming with their words and it just pushes the whole form forward." Marc Bamuthi Joseph: poet, performer, educator
go to 2:25 minutes into the video - and you will see two david's merge
into one david jumping in front of some stereotyped generic African
tribe with sticks. AFter the jumping session with the AFrican
"Tribesmen" - it cuts to him on a yacht in Alaska, then two angel girls
floating in the air. This is so weird -this must be a joke?
Leah and I just returned from fieldwork in Mexico - which I will blog about next week. While we there, we both fell in love with a song by La Apuesta, Por Ti. Now that I am super motivated to learn spanish - I've been learning the words to the song - and I fell more in love with the song once I understood the lyrics. The singer is upset that his woman left him, and pretty much she doesn't want him anymore. But his whole body hurts with pain, and he dreams of the day they can reunite, but he knows she doesn't want him anymore. WHAT A SAD SONG RIGHT! ¡QUE TRISTE!
But then, I watched the youtube video, which kinda told a different story. Not only was the video horrifically produced in IMovie - you must watch it - it is that bad. be patient, there's 5 seconds of black in the beginiing.
In the video, the singer is surrounded by very light-skinned Mexican women who he has been sleeping with - even several in one bed. So essentially his video is saying NONE of these women have taken his mind off the love of his life who left him. So he's still getting it on, but just feeling kinda lonely - which is fine with me- but sort of changes how I interpreted the song pre-visuals. ay - sale. no baile no.....
Hace tanto tiempo que te vi marchar,
me quede tan solo con mi soledad,
es que ya ni me acuerdo por que te perdí,
solo se que un día yo te vi partir.
En la vida siempre suele suceder
que a los que queremos no nos quieren bien,
mientras yo no vivo por saber de ti,
tu quizá ni si quiera,
tu quizá ni si quiera,
ni si quiera piensas un poquito en mi, en mi
y es por ti,
que yo vivo soñando volver a encontrar
en tus manos tu cuerpo la felicidad
que tuvimos tan cerca y dejamos pasar
por ti hoy mi vida se apaga sin luz ni calor
y mis manos se quedan vacías de amor
y mis ojos se llenan con tanto dolor
por ti ya no canto al amor
y te apuesto que tu,
ni te acuerdas de mi, de mi.
En la vida siempre suele suceder
que a los que queremos no nos quieren bien
mientras yo no vivo por saber de ti
tu quizá ni si quiera
tu quizá ni si quiera
ni si quiera piensas un poquito en mi, en mi
y es por ti, que yo vivo soñando volver encontrar
en tus manos tu cuerpo la felicidad
que tuvimos tan cerca y dejamos pasar
por ti hoy mi vida se apaga sin luz ni calor,
y mis manos se quedan vacías de amor,
y mis ojos se llenan con tanto dolor,
por ti ya no canto al amor
y te apuesto que tu
ni te acuerdas de mi, de mi.
