A documentary film by Sigrid Faltin

A documentary film by Sigrid Faltin
86 min. / HDTV
English, German, Spanish version
52 min. / HDTV
English version
La Paloma.
The Melody of Longing. Worldwide.
„We just found it in Zanzibar and we play it. “
Makame, singer from Zanzibar
How a little Habanera became
the Grande Dame of pop music.
„I played La Paloma and watched as kids filed into
the gas chambers.“
Coco, guitar player in Auschwitz
„The song has a secret that one should respect and love.“
Eugenia, singer from Mexico
acoustic sound orchestra | larry adler | adrivalan orchester | agrupacion coral „manuel iradier“ de vitoria |
Synopsis
It is the most played song in the world.
In Zanzibar they play it at the end of weddings,
in Romania at the end of funerals, in Mexico
it is the hymn of demonstrators against the newly
elected president, in Germany it is known as
a sailor’s song from the North Sea. The film is a
journey on the wings of La Paloma. What is
the song’s secret? Why does it touch people of
every color and creed?
Made La Paloma a hit in Germany:
Hans Albers
cornelis albers | hans albers | laurindo almeida | amon düül II | peter anders | nicolas de angelis | angklung
indonesia bamboo orchestra | henry arland | arno | arriaga instrumental trio | juan arvizu | tony astarita | ferenc
Whom you will get to know
(among others)
Kalle Laar, a German avant-garde musician,
knows about 2000 different recorded versions
of the song. Kalle alone has published four CDs
of La Paloma versions. He knows - almost everything about this song. We meet with him
... recording a new
version in Spain
in his home archives.
Kalle Laar ...
aszodi | baba brooks | mandy bach | ron baker | jorge balmaceda | banana fishbones | frank baum | franz
baumann | peter beil | rémon biermann | acker bilk | roy black | die blauen jungs | carla bley | blue holiday band |
La Paloma was born in Cuba 150 years ago, composed by
the Basque musician Sebastián Iradier. That’s why our
journey begins in La Habana.
Helio Orovio is a musician and musicologist who
studied the music of his homeland. For him, Cuba
and La Paloma are inseparably linked.
“La Paloma”, he says, “arouses the Cuban in me,
because I heard it as a child. It's part of my world
of sounds.” Helio tells how the little habanera
came into existence.
Helio, percussionist at Los Jóvenes del Cayo
bob wills & his texas playboys | bock rock | bremer akkordeonorchester „happy harmonists“ | bzn | ingrid caven |
norman cancler | tony capaldi | captain cook & seine singenden saxophone |cliff carpenter | carmen
castillo | aguilar chacha | chubby checker | comedian harmonists/meistersextett | ray conniff | elvis costello |
From Cuba the little habanera came to Mexico.
Susi Igler knows the story of La Paloma in
Mexico:
In 1866 the song became an immediate hit
there. Paloma brought tears to the eyes of the
unfortunate Mexican Emperor Maximilian von
Susi Igler, expert on
Maximilian and Carlota
Habsburg, while liberals mocked the imperial
couple in a satirical version. Legend has it that
Maximilian requested La Paloma to be played
before he was executed.
As a last wish Maximilian requested they play La Paloma.
bing crosby | horea crishan | xavier cugat & his orchestra | culture musical club zanzibar | karl dall |ron david |
andré dassary | de windjammers | deutsches tanz- und unterhaltungsorchester | edison concert band | epigmenio
From Mexico we travel with La Paloma to Hawaii.
Harry Koizumi explains how La Paloma came
to Hawaii: King Kamehameha III hired Mexican
vaqueros (cowboys) to teach Hawaiians how
to handle the growing herds of steers. In the
evenings around the campfire, they played La
Teaches slack key and
steel-guitar – Harry Koizumi
Paloma on their guitars. When they returned
to their homeland a few years later, some gave
their guitars to the Hawaiians, who invented
their own style of guitar music…
Even he performed La Paloma: Elvis
díaz | die dreisihoclas | dieter reith’s move | plácido domingo | gabriel dorobantiú | ral donner | hands
dreischmeier | eesti raadio naisansambel |eisenbahnermusik wiener neustadt | esquivel & his orchestra | liuba
maria evia | fabulosos tres paraguayos | johannes fehring | alejandro fernandez | branco feliciano & his happy gui-
And now for a stopover in the Spanish Basque Country,
the home of Sebastián Iradier, the composer of La Paloma.
Primitivo Langarica transferred his lamp shop in
the center of Vitoria to his son a couple of months
ago. Now he is able to donate his free time to his
hobby, collecting La Paloma records. He already
has 983 versions – from Julio Iglesias to Elvis
Presley. ‘I had never heard it in Basque,though.
“It's strange,” he says. “ Sebastián Iradier is quite
forgotton.”
Collector with a mission: Primitivo Langarica
tars | felix felzmann | freddy fender | frank ferera | gabriella ferri | finkwarder speedldeel | fischer chöre | perikles
The composer of La Paloma:
the Basque Sebastián Iradier
fotopoulos | connie francis | | carlos francisco | frank valdors tropic beats | amelita gallicurci | paco garcia | la garde
Defeated, Maximilian´s soldiers returned to AustriaHungary, the song of the white dove in their knapsacks.
Thus the song came to Banat, Austria-Hungary then,
Romania today.
Katharina Hellstern is one of the few Germans
who did not emigrate after the fall of Ceaucescu.
She knows what it is like to long for loved-ones,
who sought a happier life far away. “La Paloma
incorporates longing. Everybody knows longing,”
she says. “Without longing life makes no sense.”
That’s why even today the song is played at
funerals in Banat.
Longing for the loved-one who emigrated – Katharina Hellstern
républicaine | benny gebauer | barnabás von géczy mit seinem tanzorchester | ladi geisler | benjamino gigli |
pedro gonez | emilio de gogorza | herbert ernst groh | bob hall | hamburger shanty chor | harmonica playboys |
Then La Paloma goes to hell.
Coco Schumann, the German master of swing,
was forced to perform the song in Auschwitz,
next to the ramp to the gas chambers. “I've
played La Paloma all my life. It's a great piece,
really great, and I love it, but it doesn't get under
my skin. Thank God. Otherwise I couldn't play it
now.”
He had to perform it in Auschwitz – Coco Schumann
james harry & his orchestra | alfred hause | hawaiian duo | heino | ted herold | heyn-quartett elvira de hidalgo |
jonny hill | lydia hill | ich schwitze nie | julio iglesias | ikarus showorchester | hein jansen | jiao jim-hai | santiago
When and how La Paloma reached the coast of Africa remains unknown. However, in Zanzibar there are people
who would swear the song has been here forever.
Makame Faki is a famous singer at the Culture
Musical Club in Zanzibar. He owns a small record
shop in Stone Town, Zanzibar. On weekends he
performs Iradier’s melody at the end of weddings
as a farewell song. It is supposed to bring
happiness to the bridal couple and their guests.
La Paloma as a wedding song in Zanzibar
– Makame Faki and his Kidumbak band
jimé nez | johnny jokers | addi kahl | raymond kane | käpt’n blaubär | hiaskirchgasser | angel kirkpatrick |
kirmes-musikanten | rudolf klaus | rudi knabl | piet knarren | rené kollo | oldrich kovár | hans-joachim kulenkampff |
In Germany La Paloma is considered a song from the
north coast.
Hans Albers’ alcohol driven version was once
banned by the Nazis, while Freddy later made
the charts with the song. The Hamburg based
entertainer Peter Fläschner comes to the point:
“La Paloma is the song of life. What happens in
life is reflected in La Paloma.”
With La Paloma in the charts in 1962 – Freddy Quinn
charles kullmann | evelyn künneke | jean-pierre kusela | james last orchester | pedro lavagna y su orchestra de
tango argentinos | lecuona cuban boys | eugenia león | frederico linae | trini lopez | helmut lotti | paco de lucia |
One of the highlights of the film is the performance of the
Mexican star singer Eugenia León.
During the last presidential election Eugenia
León supported the liberal candidate, who was
closely defeated. His supporters are convinced it
was fraud. To them Eugenia dedicated her Paloma
version, which is written in the tradition of the
against globalization
– Eugenia León
satirical versions against Maximilian. Eugenia’s
powerful Paloma is a hymn against war, against
intervention by foreign nations – the longing of
every human being.
La Paloma, a hymn for a globalized world as we would want it
– Eugenia León
dean martin | mireille mathieu | felix mendelssohn’s hawaiian serenaders | conchita mendez | metropolitan
dance orchestra | jelly roll morton | erich neumann | charly neumann | mark newstead | no goods | novelty orche-
The director’s notes of intention:
When I started the film, I had to answer questions
like, “How often do you have to listen to the song?
Won’t it be boring?” The viewers’ reactions now
prove that the opposite is the case: you will get
addicted to the song, you will want to hear more
than the 42 versions which we play in the film.
Even after months in the editing room, there are
moments when I discover something new in the
melody again. For heaven’s sake, nobody can tell
you the secret of the song – otherwise thousands
would have already copied it.
The director with one of her favourite versions
ster | peter oldenburg | orchester alfonso martinez | orchester harry martin | orchestra lázaro quintero | oreche-
stre parlophon | orchids | original holsteiner | orquestra valdés | natalino otto | pablito & his pachanga | pacifique
It thrills me to see how the song has been
connected with – mostly tragic – moments in
history during the past 150 years, when death and
longing, freedom and peace were key issues. For
me the song is an example of how globalization
should be: a melody which unites people of every
color and creed, a song played globally, but
performed locally. I want the audience to leave
the film with a smile on their faces whistling La
Paloma, amazed at the song’s variety, wondering
which musician impressed them most.
tango orkestret | tullio pane | papenburger shanty-chor | charlie parker | paul whiteman orchestra | eddie pea-
body | roland peachey | pedrito altieri & his steel band | bernd petrak | tommi piper | polizeichor blaue jungs
The director
Sigrid Faltin has been working as a writer and
film director for twenty years, and for ten years
as a producer. Her last film “the guggenheim
and the baroness” on Hilla Rebay, the founding
director of the Guggenheim Museum, was
internationally co-produced, shown at several
international film festivals and awarded a Bronze
Sigrid Faltin,
director and producer
World Medal at the New York Festival in 2005. She
also wrote a well received book on Hilla Rebay.
Together with Andreas Schäfler, Faltin also edited
the book on La Paloma.
hamburg-harburg | polizeichor lübeck | andré popp | franck pourcel | pérez prado | elvis presley | hermann prey
| freddy quinn | alberto rabagliatti and the lecuona cuban boys | bill ramsey | achim reichel | robert renard | joan
revel and mario de pietro | meza reynaldo y los paraguayos | hein ries | andré rieu | ringelpiez | marty
The La Paloma Project
Parallel to the film, Marebuch, Hamburg, will
publish a book on La Paloma, written by Sigrid
Faltin and Andreas Schäfler, with essays by Klaus
Doldinger, Stefan Maelck, Eugene Chadbourne,
120 illustrations in color, and a selected
discography of La Paloma versions in Classic,
Jazz, Pop, Rock, etc. Approx. 180 pages, approx.
19,90 EUR, ISBN 978-3-86648-082-7. (in German)
Additionally, two more CD’s will be published
by Kalle Laar and Trikont, Munich, among
others with the Paloma versions from the film.
Trikont has already published four CD’s with
the best Paloma versions. They will continue
their strenuous work on a critical edition of all
Palomas.
robbins | robertino | ivo robic | roland trio | ronny | ro okeys & the five danes | edmundo ros | eulalio sánchez y
su quinteto mexicano | manny sax | heinz schimmelpfennig | joseph schmidt | rudolf schock | walter scholz | detlev
white pepper
F I L M G E S E L L S C H A F T
They believed in La Paloma
producers White Pepper Films (Sigrid Faltin) and
Seppia (Cédric Bonin, Pascaline Geoffroy)
co-producers NDR (Bernd Michael Fincke), WDR
(Jutta Krug), ZDF in cooperation with Arte (Sabine
Bubeck-Paaz), ETB (Santi Uriate)
with the participation of YLE, ORF, TVR, DunaTV,
FIRST
HAND
FILMS
Noga, Sogecable, Schweizer Fernsehen, Avro
developed through the EAVE Programme, a training
initiative of the MEDIA Program of the E. U.
funded by MFG Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg,
Media – a program of the E.U., Région Alsace,
Communauté Urbaine de Strasbourg
world sales First Hand Films Zurich
cinema distributor Germany Realfiction Cologne
schönauer | coco schumann | schuricke terzett | leopold seelos | seemanns-chor verein geborener hamburger |
rosita serrano | ricky shane | shanty-chor großenbrode | erik silvester | antje smit | hank snow | perla del soconusco |
They worked on the film (among others)
writer & director Sigrid Faltin
director of photography Holger Schüppel BvK
sound Enrico Leube
assistant to d.o.p. Michael Paninski
editor Mike Schlömer
online editing & color matching Christophe Reynaud
sound editing & mixing Andreas Radzuweit
music rights clearance Markus Steffen
music advisor Andreas Ziegler
production manager Agnès Divoux
design DesignConcepts
english translation Heidi Knott
soweto gospel choir | spotnicks | harry steiner | elsa stenning | the strangers | conchita supervia | miklos szedö |
karl tabor | luciano tajoli | tango-orchester alexander imre | tango-orchester alfred hause | tango-orchester robert
Variations on La Paloma
When I left Havana, my God,
No more do I see the starlight caress your hair
nobody saw me but me.
No more feel the tender kisses we used to share
A beautiful woman, my love
I close my eyes and clearly my heart remembers
followed me, yes, sir!
A thousand good-byes could never put out the embers.
original version: Sebastian Iradier
version performed by Elvis Presley,
words: Hal Blair / Don Robertson
Oh, dove of yesterday and today,
Ladies and gentlemen,
battling racism and intervention.
bride and bridegroom,
Fly, dove, to the border,
we say goodbye to all
and take away a star from their flag!
who were here.
We don't want imperialism.
Forgive those who said anything nasty.
We're fed up with cynism.
Nobody should be offended or sad.
Our airspace is sovereign.
version from Zanzibar
We're people and Mexicans.
performed by and words by:
Eugenia León
renard | tattoos | tau moe family | richard tauber | pete tex | jan thomé | claude thornhill |hein timm | tipica
mexicana anahuac orquesta | dr. alfonso ortíz tirado | vico torriani | trio calaveras | trio san josé | etc.
© 2008 by
white pepper Filmgesellschaft
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Phone ++33 388 52 81 21 Fax ++33 388 25 59 70
c.bonin@seppia.fr www.seppia.fr
World Sales
First Hand Films
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Phone ++41. 44. 312 20 60 Fax ++41. 44. 312 20 80
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