Preview
'Uprising:
Drums, Voice of Resistance'
(Diasporic Connections
From Cuba To Haiti
To New Orleans)
by
November 20, 2012
Titled Uprising: Drums, Voice of Resistance, it's said to be part one of a trilogy that explores the historical and cultural connections between Santiago de Cuba, New Orleans, and Haiti, through cultural expression.
The popular traditions in this project include: “Las Congas” from Santiago de Cuba, the “Second Line” from New Orleans, and the “Rara” from Haiti. Through a video documentary and photographic essay, we analyze power dynamics during popular festivals in the Caribbean region, exploring issues of resistance in the context of Afro Diasporic communities. In doing so, we draw connections between the New Orleans, Cuba, and Haiti.
These connections certainly shouldn't surprise, but I'm definitely intrigued, and would love to see the final product, when it's complete.
There appears to be a larger work here that the above documentari is a part of, titled A Cultural Odyssey: from New Orleans to Santiago de Cuba, seemingly more of a multi-media project (photographs, film footage, and audio recordings) which seeks to accomplish a similar mission of connecting the Diaspora.
After returning from Cuba in August, the filmmakers have been spending time compiling, managing, organizing and transcoding the massive amounts of data they collected while there, including thousands of photos, thousands of gigabytes of raw footage, hours of audio recordings, and countless stories to tell.
So I wouldn't expect to see a finished work anytime. But we'll have our eyes and ears open for any progress worth reporting.
In the meantime, check out a preview Uprising below (the above photo is courtesy of their massive Flick library of photos they shot for the project HERE):
Uprising, Drums Voice of Resistance from Melodius Thunk Productions on Vimeo.
