ARTE MAGNETICA

BACHATA Musica del Pueblo Bachata Musica del Pueblo is a one-hour documentary video exploring a provocative and discriminated music from the Dominican Republic. Performances were filmed often in remote locations in the late night / early morning hours, in bars and clubs of New York City and Santo Domingo. The “cinema-verite” style defies contemporary recipes for filmmaking and underscores the social stigma attached to the Bachata music genre. Using only available light and a small, unobtrusive digital camera, allowed for innovative shooting and editorial techniques. Bachata is commonly viewed as “vulgar”, “low class”, a “poor people’s music”. It is not featured on prime time radio nor promoted as the music of the Dominican Republic, a title which is instead assigned to Merengue. Bachata, within the Latin music industry has always been (and still is) reputed a musical genre for an oppressed and marginal audience of laborers and “lower class” people, denied by most Dominicans its role that indeed plays a very important part in their culture and musical traditions. While researching Bachata I soon discovered the hardships in finding information as there is to date only one publication about this music,“BACHATA”, by professor Deborah Pacini Hernandez, a very knowledgeable text that examines in detail the many different attributes and implications of Bachata within the Dominican society. Yet it was a music I could hear exploding from every corner shop, bar, restaurant, and moving vehicle in my upper Manhattan neighborhood. As a musician and an educator, I felt an imperative need to fill a cultural void that I discovered in the music world. I had an enormous dose of passion for the music, the lyrics, the people, and, learning Spanish as I wandered through the record shops, I dropped dollars into jukeboxes and became more and more engrossed by the singers and the sounds of their disheartened words. Making this documentary was a labor of love. Looking for financing put me in front of two schools of thought: the people who know about Bachata existence and were not interested in divulging its history, and those who did not know the music and could not envision its social and musical relevance. As a freelance Field Engineer for Network companies (CBS, ABC, etc) and an Independent Film Maker, I embarked on this project solely with the support from professional friends and colleagues, as well with the inspiration and collaboration of Prof. Deborah Pacini Hernandez. Magnetic Art Productions, assumed the costs entirely, and to date, with the editing and subtitling accomplished, the project is finally ready for general release. This video is intended to be shown in all the urban and rural locations where Bachata was born and is being performed, both in New York and in Santo Domingo, as well as distributed to various Universities and other Academic institutions. Bachata Musica del Pueblo will also tour several international film festivals, beginning in the Fall of 2002. This documentary is dedicated to the many great artists I had the pleasure and honor to meet, men and women singing a poetry that speaks to the human heart, that loves and looses in a brutally subjective world. MAGNETIC ART PRODUCTIONS P. O. BOX N NEW YORK, NY 10034 magneticart@juno.com FEATURING Luis Segura Deborah Pacini-Hernandez Juan Luis Guerra Luis Diaz Franklin Garcia Frank Reyes Joe Veras Luis Vargas Teodoro Reyes Blas Duran Leonardo Paniagua Jose Manuel Calderon Jose Luis Franklin Medina Aridia Ventura Ramon Cordero Tony Santos Raulin Rodriguez COMMENTS FROM SCHOLARS I watched your video and really enjoyed it! Very well made and fun to watch also. Congratulations! The film surveys the history and issues surrounding bachata in a thorough, intelligent, and engaging way. It also gives viewers the opportunity to see and hear the music - makers themselves performing as well as talking about their expression. It is thus both an important contribution to Caribbean music research and a joy to watch. Paul Austerlitz Brown University I enjoyed immensely watching the film--it was like retracing the steps I took 15 years ago, and being able to see all the old faces and characters, but older now--and happily, they all seem to be doing well. You have some great footage! Deborah Pacini-Hernandez Tufts University Very good work. Thanks for your sacrifice in documenting this dimension of Dominican culture. Martha Ellen Davis University of Florida Giovanni Savino's "Bachata" is an informative, engaging, and professionally made film, that explores with great insight and flair this unique musical genre that has taken the Latin music world by storm in the last decade. Peter Manuel City University of New York Author of Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae (...) Excellent film. You capture very beautifully this bluesy afro-Caribbean world of song comment and lament. (...) I am enormously enthusiastic about your work... Robert Farris Thompson Professor of the History of Art Timothy Dwight College Yale University I do believe the film captures the wistfulness and underlying poignancy of the bachata form as it traces the rise of the musical form from its humble and marginalized origins in the rural Dominican Republic to its current international prominence. I think with increased academic interest today on the important role played by groups who were traditionally marginalized and forgotten, your documentary provides an important corrective. It is my sincere hope that Latin American and Caribbean Studies area programs in the greater New York area and beyond are provided access to your important documentary. J.Michael Turner Director Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program Hunter College-CUNY BACHATA Musica del Pueblo PRESENTATIONS The fee for each film presentation is US$500. That includes the projection of the documentary "Bachata Musica del Pueblo" (duration 61minutes with English &Spanish subtitles) and a lecture/Q&A session after the show to talk about the topic and the innovative filming techniques used . In addition I would require pre-paid travel (air fare and car rental or taxi fares) and hotel lodging . The preferred video format for projection is S-VHS (Super VHS) NTSC. That would give the best quality on a large screen to an audience of up to 500 people. Additional available video formats are: Mini-DV Betacam VHS Please let me know in advance if a different video format is required so that I can make that available for you. I need access to the projection equipment at least an hour prior to the showing to check the system and set-up to obtain the best possible projection quality and avoid technical problems. Let me know if you need additional information/materials. you can reach me at: NY Studio (212) 569 8543 NY cell (917) 403 9811, Dominican Republic Studio (809) 910 2916 or by email at: magneticart@juno.com  BUY BACHATA MUSICA DEL PUEBLO from the Cinema Guild catalogue (keyword: BACHATA) product code 2081. NOTE: Cinema Guild Website offers this films at Academic Institution/Public Performance price. To purchase an end user/ personal/private viewing copy please contact Cinema Guild TOLL FREE at  (800) 723-5522. Thank You.