The weather is starting cool off. Fall is here. What can you do on a chilly night? My grandmother always taught me to keep learning. You don’t have to be in school to continue to educate yourself. As such, here are a few documentaries I think are worthwhile to check out.
American Masters: Roberta Flack
American Masters is a PBS documentary series, which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and those who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the United States. I think all their episodes are phenomenal, but I recently watched the one on Roberta Flack. The preview below gives a small taste of the entire episode.
As a teenager in the 1980s, it was all Led Zeppelin, Rush, and Pink Floyd. I would never admit to listening to Roberta Flack, but I did. Her first album is an eclectic mix of songs. I couldn’t explain it as a 12 or 14 year old, but I have always been drawn to artists who do different things. I like that they experiment with different things and take you along for the ride. I think that’s why I enjoyed her work. She uses her voice to reach people and take you on an unforgettable journey.
She also played the game on her terms.
I decided to produce my own album. It was an exciting experience. I wanted to determine a little more what those buttons on the console meant in terms of the art I’m trying to give to the people because you can work up a piece of music and get in the studio and they can give it a completely different sound from what you conceived as an artist yourself. You need to know something about what you are doing, I mean you really need to know.
Near the end of film, she said, “I’m happy to be Roberta Flack. I’m happy to sound like I do. That feels good. I’m very satisfied with that.”
In 100 years, we’ll still be talking about Roberta Flack. She shared her gift with the world and it’s a better place because she did.
I’m going to refrain from saying too much here because I’m working on a separate post just about this documentary, Led Zeppelin, and how they affected me. It is a worthy documentary which covers their formation and early years.
You can find the documentary on Amazon.
How Music Got Free
How Music Got Free is a two-part series based on the book by Stephen Witt. If you’re interested in the invention of the mp3 and how it dominated the early 2000s in music piracy, give the documentary a look. These scene groups were Netflix before Netflix existed. They broke open a whole new world of listening to music. Today, some still consider them pirates. I consider them pioneers.
For me it was a trip down memory lane. I don’t talk about it much, but I recognize a lot of the names the scene group RNS as well as the others mentioned in the documentary.
One thing many people don’t know or understand is that the people in these groups don’t do it for the money. As one of them said, “I was doing it because I wanted to share with the world the experience. I was doing the same thing Netflix is doing right now. I was doing the same thing Spotify is doing right now.”
It is available on Amazon Prime and Paramount+, and, like music, you can find it for free, too.
Discovering the Music of Antiquity
When a music score is uncovered deep within the storerooms of the Louvre, musical historians scramble to realize the potential of this piece of papyrus. The text’s grammatical features give us a clue to the composer’s identity: Carcinus, an author cited by Aristotle in his Rhetoric. His name is engraved on a wall in the Parthenon, and the story of his life offers an insight into the history of Greek musicians, who were revered like gods and welcomed across the Mediterranean to take part in competitions modeled on the Olympic Games.
The discovery of the papyrus, more specifically an ancient version of the tragedy entitled Medea, throws open a new mission by researchers to hear the music sung through modern arrangement. But to listen to the Medea as it was heard by the Greeks 2,400 years ago, it still has to be played on period instruments.
From the Greek cities of Anatolia to the Ptolemies’ Egypt, from the mythical site of Delphi to the discoveries made in Pompeii, relive this voyage along the Mediterranean coast, where archaeological excavations have unearthed instrument remains.
You also get to hear The Song of Seikilos, an Epicurean maxim, which is the oldest piece of music complete with musical notation we have. Its words are simple:
As long as you live, shine
let nothing grieve you beyond measure
for life is short
and time will claim its toll
Konstantinos Melidis, Hellenist, University of Cyprus, said that the song says, “that as long as you live, you must enjoy every moment. Life is short…time is fleeting and the end cannot be avoided.”
It basically says that as long as you live, you must enjoy every moment of life because life is short and time is fleeting and the inevitable end cannot be avoided.
You also get the chance to hear an aulos, a double flute, and watch an expert rebuild a harp from Egypt followed by an expert in ancient musical instruments play it.
You can watch the film on the BBC or at Daily Motion.
The Tatooist’s Son: Journey to Auschwitz
It took me three tries to get through this documentary. It is a highly emotional film which follows Gary Sokolov on his journey to see what his parents endured at Auschwitz.
Gary is the son of Gita and Lali Sokolov, who were Slovakian Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. His parents rarely spoke about what they endured. His father was the subject of the book, The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. He participated in a long video interview before he died.
Gary traces his parents’ footsteps back to their hometown, where he learns more about his mother, who had given an interview about her life in the camp to researchers and spoke a little bit on camera about what happened.
In a video interview before she died, Gita, answers that the reason she and Lali chose Australia to live after the war was because she wanted to get as far away from Europe as possible. I had to hit pause. It struck something deep within. I originally went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln because it was as far away from New York as I could get.
It is a journey of discovery for Gary as he learns more about intergenerational trauma and the harrowing realities his parents endured daily. He comes to understand why they never spoke about what happened with him.
You can watch the documentary on Daily Motion.
I hope to make this a monthly post and share the neat documentaries I’ve watched the previous month.
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