Flamenco Nights Far, far away from here, in the country of white land and oil plains, where the air is saturated with longing and love, there live amazing songs and dances. There, people quench their sorrows with a guitar string and drown their grief in the unrestrained rhythms of flamenco.
In 2000, Tony Gatleaf shot the film “I’m coming” (“Vengo”), this modest picture did not pass the jury of the Cesar Award and in 2001 received the prize for best soundtrack, but it is clear that this is still a very specific film, designed primarily for special musical preferences. But at the heart of it is a deep cinematic study, in which the object of directorial attention is not only the musical direction, but in general the culture of the south of Spain, where the Spanish, Gypsy and Arab principles are bizarrely intertwined. Through the fate of the gypsy Kako, as through a magnifying glass, we see the history of the people, the history of music, the history of this land itself.
In the tangle of traditions and rhythms that came to Andalusia from different parts of the world, a miracle of a new tradition, new rhythms, a new aesthetic - flamenco culture - is born. For many centuries, this art was banned, various social institutions tried to destroy it, burned at the stake of young dancers, accused guitarists of stealing and threw them in dungeons, but they could not kill the soul of flamenco. They drove him deeper into the ground, from which he learned to eat, absorb its life-giving juices. For many centuries flamenco lived in caves, did not see the sun and told about the pain experienced by the people. Therefore, it so boldly creates its own system of beauty, where the most important thing is not grace or beauty, but expressiveness and passion: in flamenco, the soul must be able to break out of its outer shell and fill the air with duende - a special state of mind in which dance is performed and ancient songs of kante chondo are sung.
That is why flamenco is not for concert halls, not for the public, not for production and replication. It should be seen in the cramped gypsy caves of the gypsy Sacromonte in Granada, or on a starry night in the pastures of the Andalusian hills. Nothing here limits the freedom of this symbiosis of rhythm, music, dance and song, nothing makes it a spectacle, steals its beauty, or sells its spirit.
The story, told by Tony Gatleaf, is not original for the places where the gypsy Kako lives, what makes it special is the musical entourage, which seems to illustrate each new emotion of this man. On the verge of despair of a father who lost his only daughter, the heart is helped only by music that has not forgotten how to believe in the best, has not forgotten how to love, rejoice, despite all the drama of human life. the story of Kako is colored with special colors - the voice overflows of young gypsies singing about love, the strings of the guitar of a young man who so affectionately embraces her bend, the deep songs of an old Arab who gave flamenco his wisdom.
Every musical culture is a mystery of communication with nature, familiarity with the past, recognition of history veiled in the rhythms. It helps people to preserve memory, just like objects of applied art. In the film Vengo, it is music and rhythm that become the main characters of a story that happened far, far away from here, in the country of white land and oilseed plains.