The first feature-length documentary about the cuatro and it's music!
Cuatro Yaucaono
[from
the area of Yauco] made by the Franquiz family of distinguished artisans
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During this marvelous musical tour: from Columbus to the poet-singer Ramito -- one that spans five centuries --we see and hear famous artisans, cuatristas, researchers and historians across the international Puerto Rican Diaspora reveal how the cuatro has been able to so powerfully move the Puerto Rican spirit.
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Chapter One THE JIBARO: Traces the origins of the jíbaros, the earliest native Puerto Ricans who created the earliest traces of a unique musical tradition. Chapter Two A BOUQUET OF INSTRUMENTS: Musicologists, musicians and artisans display the instruments and discuss the origins of the family of Puerto Rican traditional stringed instruments: the varieties of cuatros, tiples and bordonúas--and their most distinguished players throughout history. Chapter 3 THE MUSIC OF THE COUNTRYSIDE:: Covers the different musical genres heard in our fields and mountains since ancient times. We see a recreated "baile de seis;" The venerated cuatristas Maso Rivera and Iluminado Dávila talk about and demonstrate various forms of the "seis con décima;" the music of the "acabes" [harvest-end festivals]; and the use of the cuatro during sacred rituals performed by the jíbaros in the Puerto RIcan countryside. Chapter 4 THE GOLDEN AGE: How the a feeling of distinct nationality --Puertorriqueñismo--was born during the 19th century, and how the fusing of the jíbaro music of the countryside with the music of the towns and cities created the elegant Danza, the first truly national musical genre; and how the music and the instruments became bound up in the early struggles for nationhood and defiance against the colonial authorities. Chapter 5 SOMEBODY HAS TO GO: Terrible years of hurricanes, earthquakes, plagues and economic devastation follow the North American invasion of Puerto Rico in 1898, giving rise to the great migrations from the island. The new emigrants keep alive the moribund native traditions by carrying their small stringed instruments and musical memories to their new homes in the United States and Hawaii. Chapter 6 NATIVE INDUSTRY: The impact of the radio in the evolving Puerto Rican musical tradition. The great master cuatrista Ladislao Martínez keeps the ancient music aliveon the island during the 30s and 40s, by broadcasting his beautiful compositions for two cuatros, guitar and guiro on the radio program "Industrias Nativas" [Native Industry] The personality and achievements of the great musician are described by the musicians who played alongside him. Chapter 7 THE TEATRO PUERTO RICO: In Puerto Rico during the 50s, the governor of the recently established Puerto RIcan Commonwealth, Luis Muñoz Marín --fearing the disappearance of native cultural values on the island--directs Dr. Ricardo Alegría to establish a new Institute of Puerto Rican Culture to catalog, preserve and rekindle Puerto Rican traditional culture. At the same time thousands of Puerto Ricans wait in long lines in front of New York City ethnic theatres to see and hear a "parranda" [rampage] of troubadours such as Ramito, La Calandria y the Jibarito de Lares. Puerto Rico now awaits a rebirth of native traditional music, a reinvestment that will blossom during the next half-century! |
All proceeds to benefit the research and
documentation activities
of the Puerto Rican Cuatro Project
The Puerto Rican Cuatro Project is a non-profit cultural project under the
sponsorship
of the Spanish American Union of Springfield, Massachusetts
DVD & VHS- 85 minutes
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