If there were a Mount Rushmore of American musical documentaries, Murray Lerner’s face would figure among those of Albert Maysles, D.A. Pennebaker and Martin Scorsese. His capacity to furnish us with some of the most electrifying, visionary and inspiring moments in popular music is outstanding. And the list, heartstopping: Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, The Who, The Doors, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix... And, without avoiding the contexts and conjunctures in which they took place: the creation of a new musical culture, aesthetic, and political, surrounding the Newport Festival in Festival!, the conflict between art and money, music and business  in Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival, or the dark – and delirious – side of the Chinese cultural revolution in  From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. In a moment of particular exacerbation with the visual culture, it becomes especially interesting to discover the role that avant-garde poetry plays in his conception of the documentary, or how directing has led him to write, film and edit almost all his films, not just for the DIY element, but moreover for the command of materials typical of any creator worth their salt.

In 2009, Fermín Muguruza made Checkpoint Rock. Canciones desde Palestina, a documentary that shortly after its premiere, earned him a passionate assignment from Al Jazeera: to document the Arab world in eight monographic documentaries. From Morocco to Lebanon, from Egypt to Yemen, via Tunisia or Sudan. The result is Next Music Station, an exploration of the traditional and emerging sounds, rhythms and contexts of the Arab world. Almost a year of shooting and over eighty interviews reveal the extraordinary diversity, the richness of the cultural legacy and the vitality of its musicians, which, in some cases, draw us into its atmosphere and the conflicts these countries experienced before the Arab Spring. Following a screening of the documentaries on Wednesday November 2^nd and Thursday 3^rd, Muguruza will chat about the project with Montaser Marai, producer of the series for Al Jazeera, in an encounter chaired by Lidia Martorell.

TUNISIA

Fermín Muguruza / Spain, Qatar / 2011 / 52’

The extraordinary Tunisian musical legacy through the great performers of traditional music, styles like Malouf, Taraab chants and a new generation that perceives its music and their roles as musicians in political terms. 

EGYPT

Fermín Muguruza / Spain, Qatar / 2011 / 100’

The sonic landscape of the Arab cultural giant, from Aswan to Luxor and Asiut, from Cairo to Port Said: from its rich tradition of chanting and improvisation to hip hop and rock, passing through rhythms with flamenco roots, Sufi mysticism, Zar and Dervish dances.

In 2009, Fermín Muguruza made Checkpoint Rock. Canciones desde Palestina, a documentary that shortly after its premiere, earned him a passionate assignment from Al Jazeera: to document the Arab world in eight monographic documentaries. From Morocco to Lebanon, from Egypt to Yemen, via Tunisia or Sudan. The result is Next Music Station, an exploration of the traditional and emerging sounds, rhythms and contexts of the Arab world. Almost a year of shooting and over eighty interviews reveal the extraordinary diversity, the richness of the cultural legacy and the vitality of its musicians, which, in some cases, draw us into its atmosphere and the conflicts these countries experienced before the Arab Spring. Following a screening of the documentaries on Wednesday November 2^nd and Thursday 3^rd, Muguruza will chat about the project with Montaser Marai, producer of the series for Al Jazeera, in an encounter chaired by Lidia Martorell.

We knew about Michael Nyman’s love affair with film, through his collaborations with Peter Greenaway (The Draughtsman’s Contract; The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover), Michael Winterbottom (Wonderland, Tristram Shandy: a Cock and Bull Story) and Jane Champion (The Piano). Less well known is his role as filmmaker, as a man glued to his camera. He reveals this side to us today in this encounter, in which we see fragments of Cine Opera and Nyman with a Movie Camera, his two documentaries to date. The first takes its name from a run-down cinema in Mexico City, it’s a collection of short pieces that takes the form of a visual diary, alternating between spontaneity and the footnote at the base of the page, fruit of his gallivanting around half way around the world, and all set to music by the man himself. Experimentation and the “a day in the life of” articulate the second, a recreation of the classic by Dziga Vértov, inventor of cine-eye and Nyman’s director fetish. An opportunity to enter the world of this prolific composer and pianist, musicologist and orchestra director, through his own words and his own eyes. 

We enter the kitchen of El rosari de l'aurora, a journey through the musical imaginary and ups and downs of Adrià Puntí, one of the most unique and inimitable creators of Catalan pop. A production as frenetic and surreal as its star, which Xavier Puig, Raimon Fransoy and Marc Ruiz began embracing more than three years ago, and which today divulges the ins and outs and delicious unseen footage. As production is in full swing, its dossier reveals all the habitual – and essential – letters of support for the project to seek funding, this lifestage of every documentary that transforms it, once completed, into a miracle, and in most cases, into an odyssey. Out of all of them, we particularly dig one by Quimi Portet, in which he highlights what he calls the “inescapable” importance of this documentary “its poetic temple, linguistic brilliance and exquisite musical inspiration make (from Punti’s work), an essential testament to our contemporary culture, and constitute a powerful antidote against the boredom that our secular political sadness and the precariousness of our cultural activity project on the lyrical segregations of this country.”

Paloma Concejero claims that the first time she heard the recordings of the conversations between Antonio and Bosco Ussía, author of the singer’s biography, she felt “so excited it sent shivers up my spine”. This documentary provides a similar sensation, earning its title from the chorus of the song “Persiguiendo sombras”, with the subtitle “Vega como no lo has visto antes”. If the recordings in question were the first brick of this building, the second consisted of throwing the Manichaeism of catastrophe, the tortured legend that surrounds Vega, overboard, with the intention of revealing the lesser-known and more unusual aspects of his personality. As such, it relies on the complicity of his family and also his adopted families: his musicians and those who gave him shelter and hospitality at some moment of his life. Abundant unseen footage – recordings in Super 8, graphic testimonies and photos from his personal archives, oh and incursions into the places that defined and inspired his songs complete this ambitious portrait of one of the greatest figures in Spanish pop.