On Monday we finished watching Latcho Drom and since I better understood what was going on in the film, I enjoyed watching this second half more than I had enjoyed watching the first part. The first scene we watched on Monday had two men singing and playing a song under a tree. One man was playing a violin with a bow and occasionally pulling one of the strings to make a very distinct sound which I found to be very interesting because it wasn't like anything I had heard before. The other man was playing a santur. After this we went to the village where a man playing a violin came out of his house with a couple of people following him. After that another man came out of his house playing a flute and an accordion player followed not far behind. The street was full in no time and everybody was enjoying the music, whether it was by clapping and dancing to it, or simply by listening. I felt as if this scene greatly demonstrated how music could bring people together.
The second scene took place in a train station where a young boy sitting on the bench with his mother gazed over to the Roma people who were also waiting on the other side of the tracks and gave one of them 3 coins so that they would perform for him and his mother as it was customary to do at that time. The man gave the boy his money back and began to play without hesitation. I really enjoyed watching this scene because it was so lively and joyous. Here they used a violin with a bow, a vase-like instrument which was used as a drum and spoons placed back to back. That was not all however as much of their music was created by their bodies as they snapped, clapped, and jumped continuously. The boy really enjoyed this music and began to dance right away. This was my favorite part of the movie because even though the scene had appeared so solemn at the beginning with the young boy and his mother quietly waiting on one side of the tracks and the Roma people keeping to themselves on the other side, the boy, with no other thought than that of listening to good music united the two distant groups under one common song - under one common music culture.
1 comment:
I liked the last half of your essay in which you noticed the cultural context of the music. You observed that the boy and his mother and the Roma musicians were literally on different sides of the tracks (socially as well as physically), and that somehow music united them. Put this in a broader context--what about the socioeconomic differences? The boy felt comfortable paying them (they were clearly poor), and they out of generosity played for free. How else can you talk about this scene?
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