Drums and Gods

Last updated
Drums and Gods
Directed by Georg Brintrup
Written byGeorg Brintrup
Produced byRudolf Heinemann
Georg Brintrup, Rome
WDR, Cologne
TVE Brasil, Salvador Bahia
Lichtspiel Filmproduktion GmbH
StarringVinícius Nascimento
Cristóvão da Silva
Caetano Veloso
Virginia Rodrigues
CinematographyJoaquim Waldyr Dal Moro,
Jorge Alvis
Edited byJorge Alvis
Release dates
  • 22 September 2001 (2001-09-22)( Brazil)
  • 13 January 2002 (2002-01-13)( Germany)
Running time
60 minutes
CountryBrazil
LanguagePortuguese

Drums and Gods is a 2001 German/Brazilian film directed by Georg Brintrup.

Contents

Plot

A Brazilian street boy, Antônio, wakes up early in the morning on the beach of Salvador (Bahia). At sunrise, he is overtaken by strange thoughts: The bible says that God created light even before the sun and the stars. Light, but not sunlight! Maybe the light is the light within our interior enlightenment. Nature's biggest catastrophe is when man began to think. However, before God created light, he said: “Let there be light!” So, before light there was the voice of God. A sound ... a big bang ... the sound of thunder ... rolling off a drum. Only this thunder had the power to create light. If it weren't for that sound from the depths, that primal noise, today man wouldn't be able to think.

Offerings for lemanja in Salvador, Brazil. Offerings for Lemanja.jpg
Offerings for lemanjá in Salvador, Brazil.

Antônio meets Valdyr, a blind black man who sees with his ears. The two become friends. Valdyr knows that man has lost his naturalness by thinking. Man gave a name to everything ... with words ... man gave sense to everything around him. For man, the whole world was changed and consequently his problems began. As this spirit invaded man, his inner peace was gone and violence appeared. This is why all men are striving to find that peace again and to recapture that primal wholeness. But how? They try to communicate with the Gods using a sound, similar to the primordial sound. In Brazil they use an instrument: the drum!

Antônio and Valdyr roam through the city of Salvador (Bahia) searching for this primordial sound. (Salvador is also known as “Black Rome” because of its cultural Afro-religious traditions). Along the way, they meet various drummers and learn that the drum is the oldest instrument that man used to communicate with the Gods. The drum calls the Gods. These descend and connect with humans. God and man become one again, one sound. At this point, understanding and reason no longer play a role. He, who understands the world only with his head, lives his life only half way. A man who thinks that he can rule the world with just his head creates danger for himself.

In the noisy carnival hustle and bustle, where nothing follows reason but rather emotion, Antônio senses a strange tension between his head and his stomach, which keeps him from staying calm. Valdyr shows him that this tension is important. There is the same tension between the stretched skin of a drum and the sound that it makes. If the skin is not tightly stretched, the drum cannot make any sound. Antônio realizes that inside we have to be stretched like a drum skin in order to make sound, to become sound ourselves. “We too are instruments. And we have to always be playing.”

Cast

Production

„When man began to think, at that moment began the most magnificent, the most monstrous of all natural disasters.“ This sentence and other theses from the book "South American meditations" by Baltic German philosopher Hermann von Keyserling form one of the basis of the filmic essay. [1] Brintrup was also influenced by Stefan Zweig's book “Brazil, Land of the Future” [2] in this film essay. [3]

The Italian composer Aldo Brizzi took over the musical direction of the film. The songs of his album "Brizzi do Brazil", written for Brazilian and Portuguese singers, [4] were recorded during the filming of the movie. Brintrup integrated parts of these songs into the film, including "Mistero di Afrodite", by Caetano Veloso. [5]

Soundtrack

Major drumming groups from Salvador Bahia perform in the film: Kissukila, Terra em Transe, Swingue do Pelò, Banda Percussão do Bairro da Paz. The film's Soundtrack is also made up of excerpts from the following musical compositions:

TitoloCompositoreOperaPerformer
1. Aldo Brizzi Earth HeatTerra em Transe
2.unknownYemanjáVirginia Rodrigues
3.Aldo BrizziMistero di AfroditeCaetano Veloso
4.Aldo BrizziPoetique de la relationTerra em Transe
5.unknownEligeboVirginia Rodrigues
6.Aldo BrizziTerre MerTerra em Transe
7. Arnaldo Antunes O CorpoArnaldo Antunes
8.Aldo BrizziBarraventoTerra em Transe
9.Arnaldo AntunesO SilêncioArnaldo Antunes
10. Synval Silva Adeus, BatucadaVirginia Rodrigues

Release and reception

The World Premiere of the film Drums and Gods (Tambores e Deuses) was on 22 September 2001 in the “Teatro di ICBA”, Salvador da Bahia. [6] [7] [8] The film was the first co-production between German WDR and Brazilian TVB, [9] where it was broadcast on 29 September 2001. The German television station WDR’s broadcast of this film was on 13 January 2002.

The film presents an astute vision of Brazil, both critical and rational. The film studies not only the Brazilian way of being, but also a universal, human one. It is an anthropological study, mixed with philosophical and sociological ideas. However, these ideas would not be sufficient as a prerequisite for an artistic work. The film casts a European gaze on our country which is guided by the magic of music, dance and landscape. The film also explores the openness of our language and the earthly rites of the locals.

— Programme booklet at the world premiere at Teatro ICBA in Salvador de Bahia on 22. September 2001

For several years now, German filmmaker Georg Brintrup has been exploring the interrelationship between sound and image in his works. Author of the films 'Symphonia Colonialis' (1991) and 'O trem caipira' (1994), both about Brazilian music, he now expands on the same subject in 'Tambores e Deuses' (Drums and Gods), which he is now shooting in Salvador. (...) In the considerable list of his works for television, cinema and radio, Brintrup places the most emphasis on the works that deal with music and people's relationship to sound, to noises and to hearing themselves. “A sound is stronger than a picture can ever be”, the filmmaker states, justifying his attitude which might seem contradictory for someone who is actually dependent on the image. However, he sets himself the task of building a bridge from one language to another, from sound to image, from hearing to seeing.

— Cyntia Nogueira in Correio da Bahia, Folha da Bahia, p. 7 on 7 March 2001

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caetano Veloso</span> Brazilian composer and singer

Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo, which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s, at the beginning of the Brazilian military dictatorship that took power in 1964. He has remained a constant creative influence and best-selling performing artist and composer ever since. Veloso has won nine Latin Grammy Awards and two Grammy Awards. On 14 November, 2012, Veloso was honored as the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilberto Gil</span> Brazilian musician and politician (born 1942)

Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Minister of Culture in the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Gil's musical style incorporates an eclectic range of influences, including rock, Brazilian genres including samba, African music, and reggae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glauber Rocha</span> Brazilian film director, actor and writer (1939–1981)

Glauber de Andrade Rocha was a Brazilian film director, actor and screenwriter. He was one of the most influential moviemakers of Brazilian cinema and a key figure of Cinema Novo. His films Black God, White Devil and Entranced Earth are often considered to be two of the greatest achievements in Brazilian cinematic history, being selected by Abraccine as, respectively, the second and fifth best Brazilian films of all-time. Rocha also the distinction of having the most films on Abraccine's list: 5 films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniela Mercury</span> Brazilian singer-songwriter (born 1965)

Daniela Mercury is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, dancer, and producer. In her solo career, Mercury has sold over 11 million records worldwide, and had 24 Top 10 singles in the country, with 14 of them reached No. 1. Winner of a Latin Grammy for her album Balé Mulato – Ao Vivo, she also received six Brazilian Music Award, an APCA award, three Multishow Brazilian Music Awards and two awards at VMB: Best Music Video and Photography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axé (music)</span> Afro-brazilian popular music genre

Axé is a popular music genre originated in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil in the 1980s, fusing different Afro-Caribbean genres, such as marcha, reggae, and calypso. It also includes influences of Brazilian music such as frevo, forró and carixada. The word Axé comes from the Yoruba term àṣẹ, meaning "soul, light, spirit or good vibrations". Axé is present in the Candomblé religion, as "the imagined spiritual power and energy bestowed upon practitioners by the pantheon of orixás". It also has ties with the Roman Catholic Church and the Lenten season, which represents the roots of Bahian Carnival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlinhos Brown</span> Brazilian musician

Antônio Carlos Santos de Freitas, known professionally as Carlinhos Brown, is a Brazilian singer, percussionist, and record producer from Salvador, Bahia. His musical style blends funk, latin music, R&B, soul music, reggae, and traditional Brazilian percussion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorival Caymmi</span> Brazilian singer, songwriter, actor, and painter

Dorival Caymmi was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, actor, and painter active for more than 70 years, beginning in 1933. He contributed to the birth of Brazil's bossa nova movement, and several of his samba pieces, such as "Samba da Minha Terra", "Doralice" and "Saudade da Bahia", have become staples of música popular brasileira (MPB). Equally notable are his ballads celebrating the fishermen and women of Bahia, including "Promessa de Pescador", "O Que É Que a Baiana Tem?", and "Milagre". Caymmi composed about 100 songs in his lifetime, and many of his works are now considered to be Brazilian classics. Both Brazilian and non-Brazilian musicians have covered his songs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gal Costa</span> Brazilian singer (1945–2022)

Gal Maria da Graça Costa Penna Burgos, known professionally as Gal Costa ( ), was a Brazilian singer of popular music. She was one of the main figures of the tropicalia music scene in Brazil in the late 1960s and appeared on the acclaimed compilation Tropicália: ou Panis et Circencis (1968). She was described by The New York Times as "one of Brazil's greatest singers."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salvador, Bahia</span> Capital city of Bahia, Brazil

Salvador is a Brazilian municipality and capital city of the state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognized throughout the country and internationally for its cuisine, music, and architecture. The African influence in many cultural aspects of the city makes it a center of Afro-Brazilian culture. As the first capital of Colonial Brazil, the city is one of the oldest in the Americas. Its foundation in 1549 by Tomé de Sousa took place on account of the implementation of the General Government of Brazil by the Portuguese Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carybé</span> Argentine-Brazilian artist and historian (1911–1997)

Héctor Julio Páride Bernabó was an Argentine-Brazilian artist, researcher, writer, historian and journalist. His nickname and artistic name, Carybé, a type of piranha, comes from his time in the scouts. He died of heart failure after the meeting of a candomblé community's lay board of directors, the Cruz Santa Opô Afonjá Society, of which he was a member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antônio Carlos Magalhães</span> Brazilian politician

Antônio Carlos Peixoto de Magalhães, also known by his initials ACM, was a Brazilian politician. He served as Governor of Bahia three times and represented Bahia in the Senate of Brazil three times. Magalhães was one of Brazil's most powerful politicians serving as a Minister for Communications, as Leader of the Liberal Front Party (PFL) and as President of the Federal Senate.

The Battle of Pirajá was fought as part of the Independence of Bahia and more broadly, as part of the War of Independence of Brazil. It was fought in Pirajá, now a neighborhood of the city of Salvador, Bahia on November 8, 1822. The Battle of Pirajá was the largest engagement in the fight for the independence of Bahia, involving approximately 10,000 troops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldo Brizzi</span> Musical artist

Aldo Brizzi is an Italian composer and conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TV Bahia</span> Television station in Bahia, Brazil

TV Bahia is a television station in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, affiliated with TV Globo. Owned by Rede Bahia, TV Bahia is the principal station of Rede Bahia de Televisão, a statewide television network composed of another five owned-and-operated stations. TV Bahia's studios and transmitter are located on Prof. Aristídes Novis Street in the Federação district, in Salvador. Its terrestrial signal, through the station in Salvador and translators, reaches 133 cities in the state. Currently, besides being the leader in Salvador, it has the largest ratings among Globo's stations in Brazil.

Georg Brintrup is a German-Italian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his non-narrative film essays on poetry and music as well as his biographical films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antônio Carlos Magalhães Neto</span> Brazilian lawyer and politician

Antônio Carlos Peixoto de Magalhães Neto, commonly known as ACM Neto, is a Brazilian lawyer and politician. He was the national president of the Democrats (DEM), and is currently general secretary of the Brazil Union. He is the grandson of deceased Senator and Governor of Bahia Antônio Carlos Magalhães (ACM), nephew of Luís Eduardo Magalhães and son of Antônio Carlos Magalhães Júnior, and political inheritor of one of the most powerful political families of the country. He was elected mayor of Salvador in 2012 and reelected in 2016. During both of his terms as mayor he was rated the most popular mayor in Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of Our Lady of Health and Glory</span>

The Church of Our Lady of Health and Glory is an 18th-century Roman Catholic church located in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of Health. It was constructed by Manuel Ramos Parente and his wife Maria de Almeida Reis on the second line of hills below the Historic Center of Salvador in the 18th century. The first mass was celebrated in 1726, the same year that Parente died. The church is noted for the painting on the ceiling of the nave by Domingos da Costa Filgueira (?—1797), the first in Bahia. The interior of the church was slowly completed into the 19th century; it now has neoclassical interior elements and an elaborate Baroque and rococo façade. Its two towers have elaborately tiled tops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dona Canô</span> Brazilian centenarian

Claudionor Viana Teles Veloso, better known as Dona Canô (1907—2012), was the mother of two popular Brazilian musicians, Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethânia. She also inspired a famous song performed by Daniela Mercury, called "Dona Canô". Known for her strong personality, she was a leading figure within her home town of Santo Amaro, Bahia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tira Chapéu Palace</span> 20th century Baroque palace in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

The Edifício da Associação dos Empregados no Comércio da Bahia or Palacete do Tira Chapéu is a building inaugurated on December 30, 1917, designed to host the Trade Employees' Association (AECBA), located at the corner of Chile Street and Tira Chapéu Street, in Salvador, capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia.

The Lucas Terra case refers to the rape and murder of a 14-year-old teenager: Lucas Vargas Terra. The crime took place on March 21, 2001, in Salvador, in the Brazilian state of Bahia, and was allegedly committed by two pastors of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.

References

  1. ↑ Hermann Graf Keyserling: Südamerikanische Meditationen (South American meditations). Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Berlin/Stuttgart 1932 (online).
  2. ↑ Stefan Zweig: Brasilien. Ein Land der Zukunft. Bermann-Fischer, Stockholm 1941.
  3. ↑ Cyntia Nogueira: No princípio, existia apenas o som … (In the beginning there was only the sound …) in Correio da Bahia, Folha da Bahia, retrieved 7 March 2001
  4. ↑ brizzi do brasil. aldobrizzi.net. retrieved on 29 April 2017.
  5. ↑ Music: Passion and Glory of Brizzi of Brazil. Archived 2017-12-22 at the Wayback Machine brazzil.com. retrieved on 29 April 2017.
  6. ↑ IMPRESSO - Instituto Cultural Brasil-Alemanha, programação jul/ago/set 2001), page 14
  7. ↑ in A Tarde , Carderno 2, Lançamento do filme, “Imagens percussivas” (Iza Calbo), Salvador, Bahia, 20 October 2001
  8. ↑ in Correio da Bahia , “O som através das imagens” (Paulo Sales), 21 October 2001, programa
  9. ↑ in IRDEB , (Cristina Cardoso), PROGRAMAÇÃO SEMANAL DEL 24 A 30 DE SETEMBRO DE 2001 ANO XI No. 39, page 13 (Informativo IRDEB, Produção da Assessoria de Comunicação e Gerência de Artes Visuas)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.