Audio-Visuals
ROOTS OF RHYTHM with Harry Belafonte
(Docurama DVD)
Roots of Rhythm is a three-hour documentary series on the origins of Latin music in the United States. Originally broadcast on PBS in 1989, it appears on DVD for the first time.
The program's original merits are still the prevailing reasons to view and absorb what's here. The viewer is taken on a journey from West Africa to Spain, then on to Cuba for the prolific spread of the combinations and permutations of modern Latin music. Given that the majority of popular styles such as salsa, rhumba, son and chachacha came from Cuba, influences from South America and the rest of the Latin world are given only cursory nods. Frankly, a study that inclusive would take a much more extensive documentary series, or a course in Latin ethnomusicology.
But what's here is sterling, with clear-cut connections made between the Spanish sounds and poetry that landed in Cuba, as well as the percussion brought by the African slaves. Footage of performers such as Celia Cruz, Dizzy Gillespie, Xavier Cugat, Tito Puente and many more is priceless, and sometimes quite fascinating. From street improvisations and festivals to the government-sanctioned dance band los Van Van, Cuba, even with its problems, positively glows with rhythm and sound. The journey continues into the U.S. with the flood of Cuban immigrants throughout the 20th century. Gillespie recounts how he and Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo overcame their language barrier because they both "speak Africa."
Harry Belafonte is a fine host, and he stumbles across one of the program's most fascinating musical moments when dancing to a Cuban band: a Jamaican melody he based one of his early hits upon surfaces in a song there on the streets of Havana. The DVD is lacking in a couple of areas, however. The video transfer is dark at times, and given the number of performers who are speaking in accented English, closed captioning would have been handy. There aren't any extras per se, but the program itself is almost three hours long, so that's a minor quibble.
As a map of the routes Latin music took to get to the U.S., Roots of Rhythm is invaluable. It also makes a fine companion piece to Buena Vista Social Club. Brian Briscoe [buy it]
