Cinequest ’22: Mixtape Trilogy

Even the biggest names in jazz often play intimate clubs, so jazz fans have an unusually good chance of interacting with their favorites. If you go to up-and-coming musicians’ gigs, you might just make a friend. Some of my favorite musicians are even in-real-life friends with my entire family. It is nice to know this can also happen in other musical genres. To illustrate the point, documentarian Kathleen Ermitage examines the close relationships the Indigo Girls, jazz pianist Vijay Iyer, and rapper Talib Kweli have with special select fans in Mixtape Trilogy: Stories of the Power of Music, which screens during this year’s Cinequest Film & VR Festival.

Sadly, this film could never screen in China, under the current CCP regime. For one thing, Indigo Girls super-fan Dylan Yellowlees identifies the Tiananmen Square Massacre as one of the defining incidents of her late-1980s youth. That would be simple enough to edit out, but the state censors still would never approve Yellowlees’ open and frank discussion of her coming-out-experience, which largely overlapped with that of the band’s. Understandably, it was easy for her to identify with them and she found great meaning in their lyrics. When Yellowlees finally met them while working as a programmer for a local theater, they got on like a house on fire.

Likewise, Iyer found something of a kindred spirit in Garnette Cadogan, a restless academic with adventurous taste in music. Arguably, this is the most personal segment of the film, since their relationship appears to be the closest. Indeed, Iyer often describes Cadogan as a member of his family. Sometimes, Iyer can be counter-productively didactic, but the greatest controversy he and Cadogan address in the film is the criticism the pianist does not sufficiently swing. That is the sort of tired debate that hurts jazz rather than defending it, so Cadogan was right to call it out. (Indeed, Iyer’s Radha, Radha is a rich and rewarding composition.)

Radhe, Radhe: the Rites of Holi at BAM

In 1913, the premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rites of Spring caused riots. One hundred years, later it has been codified and canonized to such an extent, considerable programming was commissioned to celebrate its centennial. The music does not directly correlate to Stravinsky’s score, but it served as something of a road map for Prashant Bhargava when he filmed the Holi springtime festival in the Northern Indian city of Mathura. Conceived and commissioned as a collaboration with musician Vijay Iyer, Bhargava’s Radhe, Radhe: the Rites of Holi (trailer here), screens with the composer’s live score accompaniment as part of Iyer’s Music of Transformation concert program at BAM.

Now available on DVD from ECM Records, Radhe, Radhe is sort of an experimental melding music and images in the spirit of Shirley Clarke’s Bridges-Go-Round, but with dramatic and ethnographic components. Bhargava duly captures the eight day Holi festivities in Lord Krishna’s traditional birthplace, but he intersperses the revelry with impressionistic scenes of the goddess Radha, whose ardor for Krishna encompassed and transcended all forms of love.

Although it mirrors the twelve movement structure of Stravinsky’s Rites, viewers will be forgiven if they do not pick up on that point while immersed in the work, especially since the film only identifies two primary sections, “Adoration” and “Transcendence.” Iyer’s solo piano prelude is rather dissonant and free-ish, but it soon gives way to a brightly hued, driving theme with a somewhat Metheny-esque vibe nicely suited to the exuberant crowd scenes. Eventually the flutes evoke the sounds of traditional Indian musical forms, but the trumpets build to a series of rather brassy and jazzy crescendos.

During the “Transcendence” section, Iyer’s skittering piano often announces abrupt mood swings on screen. While Holi is a celebration, nobody is excluded from the customary dousing of colorful dies and powders, regardless of age or general willingness. Indeed, some targets of the merriment clearly do not enjoy the attention, which rather darkens the film’s tone, but it is true to life.

Perhaps the most intimidating challenge fell to actress Anna George, who must convey the passion and devotion of Radha without the benefit of dialogue. Yet, she does so with great power and sensitivity, without ever allowing becoming overwhelmed by Iyer’s roiling score.

The combined artistry of Iyer, Bhargava, and George really transports viewers to an entirely different sphere. Even with the recorded score, it is the darnedest Stravinsky tribute. Hearing it performed live (by Iyer with the International Contemporary Ensemble) should give it a further kick. Recommended for those who appreciate multi-media collaborations, Radhe, Radhe: the Rites of Holi screens during Iyer’s Music of Transformation concerts this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (12/18-12/20) at BAM.