Dos Vatos Palabras

by Christopher Blank

The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) 

 When famed sopranos such as Denyce Graves or Kathleen Battle perform recitals, there comes the eagerly anticipated part of their programs in which they offer what playbills still call “Negro spirituals,” to which primarily older white audiences respond with the usual burst of rapture and applause.

Why women renowned for their portrayals of grand opera’s greatest heroines would lend their voices to the songs of cotton-field slaves is still an evolving issue, not just for the black professional singers who regularly sing them on demand, but for the spirituals themselves, which are becoming more and more the property of the old musical establishment.

The issues can partly be seen in the PBS short film “The Spirituals,” airing at 9 p.m. Thursday on WKNO-TV Channel 10.

Many of the early Negro spirituals were created during American slavery by people who couldn’t read or write down the lyrics. Many songs contained secret messages that slave owners would mistake for purely religious ones.

“Follow the Drinking Gourd,” for example, told escaped slaves traveling at night to move in the direction of the constellation the Big Dipper, or northward.

A tune ostensibly about death, such as “Steal Away to Jesus” - “My Lord, He calls me/He calls me by the thunder/The trumpet sounds within-a my soul/ I ain’t got long to stay here” - might indicate to fellow slaves that someone was escaping that night.

Spirituals are often considered the first original American music. The complex harmonies brought from Africa, used in glorious songs, helped lift the spirits of the truly downtrodden.

The music gave birth to jazz, blues and gospel, and later became the soundtrack of the civil rights movement. Spirituals were often quoted by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last!”

Today, however, there are children who have never heard spirituals (not to be confused with gospel music sung in church), and the songs now live almost exclusively in concert halls, kept alive by professionals paying homage to their history.

Makers of “The Spirituals” followed the American Spiritual Ensemble as it toured churches and concert venues in America and Spain. Even in America, the audience for spirituals is primarily white. Arrangers have turned these spontaneous group songs into lush, intricate choral works.

The American Spiritual Ensemble’s repertoire is amazingly complex and meticulously rehearsed.

Kenneth Overton, a regular performer with Opera Memphis whose recent shows include “Porgy and Bess,” “Don Giovanni,” and “La Boheme,” is a member of the ensemble and makes a brief appearance in the film.  He said professional opera singers often have conflicting views about spirituals.  “I always include them on my recital programs,” he said.  “They have served me well.  ‘Deep River’ was the first one I ever learned, and I used it to get into conservatories.  At the same time, you don’t want to be stereotyped.  That’s especially the case with (Gershwin’s blues-based opera) ‘Porgy and Bess.’  You can end up doing that your whole career.”

Overton said he had an eye-opening experience in Spain, where the concerts were routinely sold out and people sat on the floor.

Overton said: “The first thing I was asked after a concert was, ‘Do we as Europeans appreciate the spiritual as much as they do in your own country?’ In America, we would have to have been Michael Jackson to get that kind of turnout. Americans have gotten away from the education of the spiritual. A lot of young people don’t even know where these songs came from.”

This article is (c) 2007- Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN)

Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN)

Contact performing arts writer Christopher Blank at 529-2305 or

blank@commercialappeal.com 

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by Dr. Gregory A. Waller

Chair and Professor

Department of Communication and Culture

Indiana University

 Beyond the Border is an excellent documentary—insightful, timely, accessible, and deeply committed to telling the important story of contemporary immigration and border crossings in fully human terms.   Focusing on one family whose four sons journey north from a small village in Michoacan, Mexico to find work in Central Kentucky, Eren Isabel McGinnis and Ari Luis Palos skillfully manage to honor the real lives of their subjects and to raise a host of complex social and political issues without ever settling for easy answers or melodramatic simplifications.  The result is a moving, engaging, insightful documentary that will be sure to generate valuable discussion in the classroom.

I was amazed at how much McGinnis and Palos are able to accomplish in this hour-long piece.  Not only is their documentary fully up to the highest broadcast quality standards in production and post-production values, but they have managed to locate and gain the trust of an entire family, whose situation personifies the implications of US immigration policy and dramatizes key changes in the social and economic landscape of Kentucky over the past two decades.   In Beyond the Border, this family lives; they are not reduced to being stereotypical victims or faultless heroes.  We see them taking up different lives in Kentucky; we see them at home, listen to their parents, hear of their aspirations and problems, their homesickness and adaptation to life in the United States.  At the same time, Beyond the Border draws pointed contrasts across generations and across nations, moving from Michoacan to Lexington, Kentucky.  Through its interviews and location filming it documents the emergence of a Latino culture in the Bluegrass.

I think that students from middle school up would find the intertwined stories of the Ayala brothers a fascinating introduction to topics that can only become more important over the coming years.

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A group of 11th graders in France had this to say about BEYOND THE BORDER

• We learned a lot about how the Mexicans live and their integration in the US.

• Seeing the dirty jobs the Mexicans do helps us understand what they go through.  When we read about their plight, we don’t really understand. Seeing helped a lot.  In Europe we often complain about how hard life is, but we didn’t see the Mexicans complaining about their jobs. We find the Mexicans admirable because they are prepared to work very hard to help their families.

• The close up shots and interviews bring us closer to make us feel closer to the family.

• It’s a very touching film.

• We get the feeling of their hard ships; both physical and emotional.

• The Mexican immigrants seem close knit and helpful to each other.

• I really enjoyed it, I think the music added to the melancholy, and I appreciated the dignity with which the story was told.

• A great teaching tool!

Gracias, Thank You, and Merci!

By Alonso Soto Joya

Kentucky Kernel (Lexington, KY) 

 People from different backgrounds got together last Wednesday night and packed the Kentucky Theatre to see the premiere of “Beyond the Border,” a documentary filmed in the Bluegrass.

Government officials, police recruits, UK students and Latino families took over the cinema. Many watched the movie standing in the theater’s aisles.

“I’m so glad and surprised by the attendance”, said the film’s producer Eren McGinnis. Ari Palos, director of the film, also spoke at the premiere.

The 56-minute film depicts the struggle of four brothers from Michoacan, Mexico to find a better life in Kentucky.It tells of their hopes and dreams in the new land and the difficult situation they endured in their own country.

The UK Latin American Studies Program, among many other local organizations, sponsored the film that took two and a half years to make.

“We try with events like this to educate the Lexington community and provide a forum for discussion and understanding,” said Chris Pool, the chairman of the UK Latin American Program, who was also surprised and pleased by the attendance of UK students.

Emily Rigdon, a Latin American Studies major, said she was very excited to see people from all over Lexington at the premiere.“The film put a positive light on the Hispanic population of the area,” she said. “But the film was not very critical to the work reality of Hispanics.”

Abdon Ibarra, the immigrant services coordinator for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, believed the film united people from very different social levels.“It’s so pretty to see this happening. Maybe this will not have a long term impact, but at least for this moment, it did,” he said.

McGinnis believes Kentucky is a special place for Hispanics at this moment. “Kentucky is seeing the beginning of something new and different.”McGinnis, thinks the documentary will show people the reality of Mexican workers and help them understand their way of living.

Renzo Benitez, a Peruvian who has lived in Lexington for six years, said he enjoyed the film and had a lot of respect for the brothers who star in the documentary.“The film reflected the unity of the Latino family, how important the parents and brothers are in our culture,” he said.

“At the beginning, being in the movie was difficult, but I meet a lot of new people and made good friends,” said Marcelo Ayala, the youngest of the four brothers who star in the film.Ayala also believes in the importance of the documentary for the understanding of the Kentucky and Latino community.“I don’t think of myself as a star, but just as somebody who reflects all the other Mexican families in this country.”

Source: KY Kernel

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by Christopher M. Pate

Lexington Herald-Leader

 Television viewers across the nation are being introduced this month to a Kentucky-made documentary that tells the story of lyrics that were strong enough to carry a people through slavery and into freedom.

The lyrics kept the slaves’ hands moving as they toiled in fields, picking cotton under the blazing sun 100 years before the March on Washington, singing, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.” The lyrics kept their eyes on the prize as they prepared to escape their masters, singing, “Steal away home.”

And the lyrics spoke of pain, suffering and overcoming it all with such versatility that filmmakers Eren McGinnis and Ari Palos, both of whom “lived in Kentucky for a very long time,” McGinnis says, were compelled to produce and direct The Spirituals, a documentary tracing the birth and development of “sorrow songs” among African-American slaves.

The Kentucky Educational Television production, which also features the Lexington-based American Spiritual Ensemble, is having its national premiere on PBS stations this month. Although KET has shown the film several times, it will rebroadcast The Spirituals this week and next to coincide with the national broadcasts.

The Spirituals reveals the history of the art form and follows the ensemble as it travels the world in hopes of keeping the musical legacy of the African-American slave alive.

McGinnis, the producer, and Palos, the director, spent a year researching, touring with the American Spiritual Ensemble and traveling the South “in search of the home-grown sound,” McGinnis says.

On one trip, McGinnis and Palos found Central Baptist Church in Gastonia, N.C. The singing “was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen,” says McGinnis, who thinks anybody who listens to American music can find the Negro spiritual of value.

“The whole process was amazing and enriched our lives in many ways,” Palos says.

While traveling with the ensemble, the duo also heard the group sing live. McGinnis says everyone should have that experience.

Everett McCorvey, professor of voice at the University of Kentucky since 1991 and director of UK Opera Theatre, founded the ensemble in 1994. The group began touring in 1995 and performed its first concert in Spain.

McCorvey formed the “very, very special group with some amazing singers,” about one-third of whom are from Lexington, to perform the songs after noticing that “traditional Negro spirituals were not being performed as much” and feeling it was “too important a tradition to be lost,” he says.

Since its inception, the ensemble has toured 11 times and performed more than 100 concerts, McCorvey says.

He says he is excited about the broadcast of the documentary and is “very excited that the art form of the spiritual is featured in this way.”

Ensemble member Ann Grundy, who says she considers singing with the group “an honor of honors,” agrees with McCorvey.

“For a number of reasons, we have lost these songs,” she says. “Until the world, specifically America, gets a handle on this incredible history, then none of us will ever move forward in a healthy manner.”

She adds, “The story of America cannot be told without a thorough examination of the African history, and at the center are the spirituals: a gold mine of the African presence in America. … This is an incredible work on the part of the filmmakers and Dr. McCorvey.”

“The film provides a great service in terms of shedding light and understanding.”

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By (FR.) Chuck Niehaus

SJCatholic priest working in pastoral ministry in Lexington, Kentucky

Beyond the Border is the very human face of Mexican immigration to the United States.  I was touched profoundly and personally by this 56-minute bilingual documentary.   The video was filmed in Mexico and in the United States by Mexican American filmmakers, Ari Luis Palos and Eren Isabel McGinnis, who are currently working in the border region of Tucson, Arizona.  The filmmakers traveled back to the hometown of Marcelo Ayala, the principal character portrayed in the video.   The documentary recounts the true story of Marcelo as he travels across a dangerous border to work in the thoroughbred horseracing business in the Bluegrass of Kentucky.  In images, Marcelo recounts how difficult it is to leave his large family and his community…and we see their tears of separation and loss.   I personally know Marcelo and have visited Marcelo’s family in his native state of Michoacan in central Mexico.

Our local Lexington, Kentucky police have used this excellent documentary to provide their recruits with cultural sensitivity and to provide better understanding as they progress with their police training.  Beyond the Border illustrates the complex history and the concrete problems of the Mexican community as they immigrate to the United States.

Additionally, the video has been used effectively in our parochial school (middle school students) as they take language classes.  The other possible uses of the documentary are countless and would be of great use in University and high school libraries, as well as public libraries.  The Beyond the Border documentary is excellent, realistic, well developed, and deeply human.

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Bryan R. Pearce-Gonzales

Ph.D.Shenandoah University

Winchester, VA

Since its premiere screening at the Kentucky Theater in Lexington, Kentucky, Beyond the Border / Más allá de la frontera has continued to be enthusiastically received by crowds everywhere, provoking a profound dialogue centering on the realities of immigrant workers. 

During the present time, when immigration is fueling many of the political debates around the country, Beyond the Border has proven to be an ever-important educational tool as it offers an intimate perspective of migrant worker life in the United States.

I have used the documentary in many classes and in conjunction with a University Film Series entitled “Celebrating the “Other:” Overcoming Us and Them.” University students, many of whom have no personal contact with the immigrant population, relate well to the stories of the Ayala brothers and have commented publicly that, as a result of watching the film, their views on immigrant workers in the United States have been changed.

Beyond the Border succeeds in giving a voice to Hispanic immigrants and their stories, universal stories that stretch beyond political and national borders to speak of family, love, and the American Dream.Beyond the Border, as a unique, profound depiction of immigrant life in the United States, possesses the ability to change one’s preconceived notions of a very important group. For this reason, it should be made available in every public library and school system in the nation.

- Bryan R. Pearce-Gonzales, Ph.D.Shenandoah UniversityWinchester

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by Cary Stemle

LEO Magazine

In the post-WWII years, blues music entered the mainstream. Less is known about Negro spirituals, a form wholly created by African-American slaves who melded European music, African traditions and biblical texts into something unique and powerful. The spiritual functioned on many levels, including as code for impending actions and as a way to ward off insanity while working the fields under duress. Later, during the Civil Rights movement, it was a natural unifying factor.

“The Spirituals” is a new PBS documentary featuring the American Spiritual Ensemble, a troupe of high-level singers founded by University of Kentucky professor Everett McCorvey. The ensemble travels widely, performing and discussing the spiritual, which, frankly, is in peril because younger generations don’t seem to dig it. The ensemble folks are doing good work, and the documentary provides hope that their efforts will help preserve an important facet of American culture.

—Cary Stemle

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PBS’ The Spirituals has Nashville Roots

By Janice Malone

The Tennessee Tribune

The new PBS documentary, The Spirituals transports viewers to a place and time they have never experienced while capturing the ensemble and their messages of hope and forgiveness in an inspiring and joyous documentary.

Through the use of classic traditional music from the internationally acclaimed American Spiritual Ensemble, interviews from expert historians, and excellent cinematography, viewers travel through the history of Africans in America, from the days of slavery, through the civil rights movement, to rousing modern day performances in the finest concert halls in Spain. Arizona based filmmakers Eren McGinnis and Ari Luis Palos new documentary offers a fresh approach to African American history, while clearly reiterating the unmistakable contribution of African born slaves and their descendants to our musical history.  The Spirituals recently aired on WNPTTV and will be airing on several PBS stations in Kentucky and other cities around the country. Dr. Paul Kwami, the Musical Director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and Dr. Uzee Brown, Chairman of the Department of Music at Morehouse College, provided some of the historical context for the film. Dr. Hope Koehler, one of the singers of the American Spiritual Ensemble, is one of the featured speakers and performers in the film. Dr. Koehler, who previously lived in Nashville for 20 years, is now a professor a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Wisconsin. She has concern for the survival of the classic spiritual music. “This is important music and it’s often being ignored,” says Dr. Koehler. “The classic Negro spiritual is such beautiful music. There’s really nothing quite like i t . A s a m e m b e r o f the American Spiritual Ensemble, part of what we do is to not only entertain, but to also educate our audiences on the value and the knowledge of this music throughout the world. The spiritual is so music emotionally gripping. It speaks to people in all languages.” More insight with the film maker of The Spirituals.

The Tribune: How and when did you first get involved with putting this documentary together?

E. McGinnis: “Everett McCorvey, who’s one of the stars of the film and he’s also the director of the American Spiritual Ensemble (Lexington, KY), was one of my neighbors for about 15 years. I’ve been a fan of his for years and I had previously worked with him on one of his previous projects. This helped to gain the trust among the various people that we needed to work with. So for years I had wanted to do a project about the history of this very special music. Finally, PBS gave us the money to do so and we started production.”

The Tribune: Was there anything in particular about the history of the Negro American spiritual that you were surprised to learn?

E. McGinnis: “There were all kinds of things. For example, I didn’t know so many of our long time classic songs were originally Negro spirituals. Such as When the Saints Go Marching In, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, We Shall Overcome, were all first spirituals. When you sit down and listen to the actual words of these songs it all makes sense. I worked on this film for a little over a year and along the way it gave me time to reflect on how horrible the environment must’ve been during the times when these songs were originally created. And also what the people and person who wrote them were experiencing. It brought forth a lot of emotions. The things I learned were heartbreaking and quite sorrowful for me to learn about. My film maker partner and I (Ari Luis Palos) are both Mexican Americans and he’s always had an avid interest in African American history. We both have the common interest in the topic so we felt that it was an honor to have the opportunity to work a film of this subject matter.”

The Tribune: Do you now have a personal favorite spiritual?

E. McGinnis: “I have so many now. One of the standouts is ‘Jesus Walk With Me.’ That song plays while the credits are rolling in our film. Almost every time I heard that song I would start crying. I would hear the lyrics and think about what they meant, so the lyrics did just touch my heart and spirit.”

The Tribune: There are several scenes in the documentary featuring very old church buildings, old graveyards and other places. Where did you film these places?

E. McGinnis: “We filmed all over the deep south areas of Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, certain parts of Ohio. We shot some scenes at Fisk and Tennessee State University.”

The Tribune: What has your research indicated will be the future of the Negro spiritual?

E. McGinnis: “Unfortunately, I think a lot of spirituals are being lost and forgotten. During the time of segregated schools there was a real push into teaching kids about the importance of Negro American spirituals and African American history in general. One of the speakers in the film points out that integration brought a lot of good changes but on the other hand a lot of things were lost in the culture. In some churches old spirituals are still sung but when gospel music was introduced that was done to really attract younger audiences to the church because it was more lively. Some of the less known songs have already been lost. Some have endured and others will always be around. So I think the spirituals are in great danger of being lost if people such as the American Spiritual Ensemble don’t continue their efforts in keeping this great music alive.”

The Tribune: What is the reaction to the spirituals in other countries?

E. McGinnis: “It’s really amazing and different. Our camera crew followed the American Spiritual Ensemble to Spain for a performance. It was their tenth anniversary of performing in Spain. The reception was just amazing. When they perform here in the states the crowds are good but not as big as it was in Spain and other foreign countries. The performers were treated like rock stars. The 3,000 seat venue was packed. American Negro Spirituals are also very popular in Germany and France too.”

The Tribune: Your documentary recently aired here on WNPT television. Has it aired on any other stations?

E. McGinnis: “It’s aired some on a televisionstation in Kentucky because we did this project as a co-production with the PBS station in Lexington, KY. It will then be shown in other cities throughout the rest of the year and this will go on for the next three years with the film being shown on various PBS stations.”

The Tribune: Have you taken the film to any film festivals?

E. McGinnis: “We’re just starting to do that. We recently had a showing at the Arizona International Film Festival. We really want to hit the film festivals that are in the Deep South

The Tribune: So what’s the next project that you’re working on?

E. McGinnis: “I want to do a documentary about the life of my grandfather. He immigrated to America from Mexico during the 1950’s. The film will show why he left Mexico. It will be a historical documentary about his life but will also show another side of the immigration issue that’s so prevalent today. There’s a huge history of immigrants who’ve come to this country who have made some tremendous sacrifices when they made that decision to move here. It’s a lot more to it than just immigrants moving to America.”

For more information about The Spirituals visit www.dosvatos.com. The Spirituals companion musical soundtrack features performances by The American Spiritual Ensemble is also available at www.americanspiritualensemble.com.

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Cineasta mexicano filma parte de su documental en Tennessee

Mexican Filmmaker Shot Part Of His Documentary In Tennessee

Por Gaelle Llambi

La Prensa Latina

MEMPHIS, TN — Aris Luis Palos aceptó dar una entrevista a La Prensa Latina durante la cual explica su pasión por los problemas sociales de la comunidad hispana y afro-americana. De padre mexicano y de madre “gringa”, como le gusta decir, nació en Los Ángeles pero poco después se mudó con su familia a Oklahoma. No conoció a ningún otro mexicano hasta la edad de 14 años, cuando se fue por primera vez de vacaciones a la Ciudad de México.

Su primera experiencia con el mundo del cine empezó cuando estaba en el liceo. Encontró un trabajo en una estación de televisión de Fox y poco a poco empezó a trabajar en la producción. Sí estudió un poco el cine en la Universidad de Oklahoma aunque le hubiera gustado más estudiar sociología porque le encanta las relaciones con la gente, tratar de entenderla. Por esa razón está fascinado con los mexicanos. “Tienen ese realismo mágico en su vida cotidiana que adoro”, nos dijo Ari. “El espíritu, el fantasma están en la tradición mexicana. Se ve con varios cineastas mexicanos tal como Del Toro”.

Actualmente trabaja con otra cineasta, Eren Isabel McGinnis, también de padre mexicano. Su meta cinematográfica es la de alcanzar a la comunidad hispana y afro-americana. Él dijo que tienen diferentes fuerzas pero las mismas luchas, los mismos problemas. Quiere que las dos comunidades se unan para tener una vida mejor. Por eso decidió darle la oportunidad a jóvenes cineastas de la minoría para unirse a los proyectos cinematográficos de su más reciente producción “Dos Vatos”.

En el último documental llamado “Los Espirituales”, un joven mexicano ayudó en su realización. Varias escenas fueron filmadas en Tennessee y entre los actores hay dos personas de Memphis.

Transmitido en el canal de PBS en julio, este documental trata de la herencia de la esclavitud: los espirituales o canciones del alma. Explicó que esas canciones eran una forma de resistencia, que permitían compartir informaciones.

Durante generaciones, fueron transmitidas hasta los sesentas con el movimiento para los derechos civiles. La famosa “We Shall Overcome” fue cantada en el mundo entero incluso en Oaxaca, México durante la huelga de los profesores. “Es una canción que une a la gente, que les da una voz común, activa. Es lo que faltaba en las protestas de inmigración del año pasado,” nos dijo Ari.

Para más información sobre el documental o Ari Luis Palos, visita la página de Internet: www.dosvatos.com.

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