Photo above - tulips in Nyon’s  lake side park.

 There are some spaces left at the next event for expats on Tuesday the 22nd May in Nyon. This evening which is being organised by Nyon tourism, Migros école-club and Living in Nyon, is a chance for newly arrived (and not so new!) expats to meet and get together, to discover excursions that can be done on public transport , to learn how to use the Swiss transport system, all rounded off with a glass of wine at the end of the evening to mingle and chat.  See previous post for full details. The event will run from 19:00 to 21:00 and begins at Nyon railway station.  Please  email  zalokar@nrt.ch to register. 

Garden Show

It’s the big  “Jardins en Fête”, garden show in Coppet this weekend (11- 13 May) the seventh edition that will take place in the park and grounds of the Château de Coppet. This year the theme is the “Natural Garden”. 

There will be 130 exhibitors at this show,  gardeners giving gardening advice, garden furniture, sculptures, gardens in competition and much more! See website for full details. Here’s a video from last year’s show.  Let’s hope the rain holds off!

Photo above: New sculptures outside Nyon chateau as part of the Visarte Vaud initative

There is a new Nyon council leaflet which has been published for its residents and distributed around the town.

The leaflet is a handy reference to many of the free local events coming up in the area until the end of September. For example, on the 29th May it’s the “Fête des Voisins” (Neighbours’  Day) in Nyon. On the 2nd June, it’s “Journée du vélo” (Bike Day). This day is an opportunity to take part in lots of biking activities around the town and to buy or sell a second hand bike. On the 2-3 June its the Fête de L’Interculturelle and looking ahead to the 8th September, on that day it’s the “Journées du Patrimoine” when all the museums in the area offer free entry with guided visits.

Scottish Country Dance in Nyon!

A more recent event coming up in the town (this is not a council event) will be a Scottish Ceilidh – a Scottish Country Dance complete with Scottish live band on the night for a fun night of some Scottish country dancing!  This event is organised by La Côte Anglican Church.  Full details below. 

La Côte Spring Fling! 

Enjoy traditional Scottish dancing, with the well-known Loch Léman Ceilidh Band and caller – no previous experience necessary!

Sat. 12 May, 18.30-23.00, at the Salle Communale, Place Perdtemps, Nyon.  Food & drink available.

Entrance: CHF 20, under 16: CHF 5

Click on the link here to buy and print your tickets online. Further enquiries  Tel. +41799591698

Photo above: This year Elastique Citrique, the Nyon circus school worked with Visions du Réel to provide entertainment for both film goers and the public.

Visions du Réel 2012 ended with a closing ceremony at the Théatre de Marens on Friday night with film makers stepping up to the podium to receive prizes in the various categories of film at this year’s festival -see full list below. There was a particularly emotional speech from  Marc Schmidt, the director of  “Matthew’s Laws”  and winner of the Grand Prix La Poste Suisse CHF 20,000 due to the fact that the protaganist featured in the film suffered from autism and was unable to be there that night. 

 Claude Rey, president of Visions du Réel announced that this year the festival had surpassed its objective in terms of artistic content and the organisers were extremely happy with the attendance figures.  The festival drew 790 participants from 68 countries – an increase compared to 2011.   With  yet more screenings on Saturday 28th April in the Salle Communale in Nyon, the numbers of total film goers ath festival this year is expected to reach approximately 25, 000. 

Here is a selection of the winning films that will be shown tomorrow at the Salle Communale

14:00. Nos jours, absolument, doivent être illuminés by Jean-Gabriel Périot France – Le Gosse de Louise Jaillette, France

16:00. Schildkrötenwut / The Turtles’s Rage by Pary El-Qalqili

20:00  Hiver Nomade by Manuel von Stürler

 22:00  De Regels von Matthijs / Matthew’s Laws by Marc Schmidt, Netherlands

 If you have been reading the reviews on this site over the past few days you will notice that the reviewers didn’t mention any of the winning films as they didn’t see them!  Therefore the winners below don’t appear in the reviewers list of favourites (see previous post). No matter, it was an enriching festival for all. Until next year! Next year’s festival will be held from 19 to 26 April, 2013. 

Prizes awarded

The Jury of the International Competition for the category “Feature films” awards the  Grand Prix Swiss Post for the best feature film  CHF 20,000 to DE REGELS VAN MATTHIJS (MATTHEW’S LAWS) by Marc Schmidt, Netherlands

The Jury’s view – “With love and courage the filmmaker places us face to face with his childhood friend. This film crosses a border into the unknown and mysterious world of autism. Matthew’s Rules gives us the opportunity to
experience friendship and self-determination in the face of society’s demands from a unique point of view”.

The  Special Prize Swiss Post for the most innovative Feature Film, CHF 10,000 to :
KOVASIKAJUTTU (THE PUNK SYNDROME) by J-P Passi and Jukka Kärikkäinen, Finland

The Jury’s view – “Full of warmth and humour The Punk Syndrome is an entertaining and challenging celebration of life’s
pleasures. This is not only a generous encounter with people traditionally placed at society’s margins it is
also a work of rigorous and inspired filmmaking.

Special mention to :
900 DAGEN (900 DAYS) by Jessica Gorter, Netherlands

“900 Dagen unveils an episode of history from the perspective of everyday people who lived it. The
filmmaker creates surprising connections between horror and humanity”.

The Jury of the international competition for the Medium Length and Short Films categories awards the  Prize George Foundation for the best medium length film, CHF 10,000 to :

LE GOSSE (THE KID) by Louise Jaillette, France

The jury said “The filmmaker found a remarkable subject, a boy between childhood and adolescence in rural France. Her
approach is realistic and sensitive, full of clarity, curiosity and honesty”.

The Special Prize George Foundation for the most innovating medium length film, CHF 5’000 to : L’ÂGE ADULTE (ADULTHOOD) de Eve Duchemin, Belgique/France

“Two young adults feel the pressure of contemporary life against their own aspirations. The filmmaker finds
dignity and beauty in lives lived against the grain of harsh economic times”.

The  Prize Swiss Mobiliar for the best short film, 5’000 CHF to : NOS JOURS, ABSOLUMENT, DOIVENT ÊTRE ILLUMINÉS by Jean-Gabriel Périot, France

Special Prize Swiss Mobiliar for the most innovating short film, CHF 2’500 to : ENKEL DER GESCHICHTE (SPINACH AND SUGAR) by Laura Laabs, Germany

“A young filmmaker makes a film about her grandmother. While a common type of project, in this case it’s
done with playfulness, self-awareness and wit, that provides a refreshing approach to memory and German
historical reflection”.

Special mention to : 3 DNI WOLNOSCI (3 DAYS OF FREEDOM) by Lukasz Borowski, Poland

“A profound meditation on personal freedom and its loss”.

The Cinéma Suisse jury, awards the  Great Prize SSA/Suissimage for the best Swiss feature film (all sections), CHF 15’000 to: HIVER NOMADE by Manuel von Stürler, Switzerland

The jury awards the best prize to HIVER NOMADE - for revealing through this engaging journey the impressive touch of his director, who is able to exploit the cinematographic potential of the film’s two main characters and of their incredible chemistry. These contemporary nomads live an adventure out of time, but still deeply rooted in our present.
The director of this first feature documentary creates through the power of his photography, the subtleness
of the editing and the use of music, a magic of simplicity.

Special prize of the Jury – SRG SSR for the most innovating Swiss feature film (all sections), CHF 10’000
to : AMORE CARNE by Pippo Delbono, Italy/Switzerland

Special mention to : WHERE THE CONDORS FLY by Carlos Klein, Switzerland/Germany/Chili

The jury gives a special mention for this humorous, daring, moving, original documentary. For reflecting on
the art of filmmaking and creation – not only through mind and brain, but rather also through physical
force, instinct and intuition; for celebrating life and its wonder the jury decided to salute this film and give it
a special commendation.

The Regard Neuf Jury, Prize Regard Neuf of the Canton of Vaud for a first feature film of the International Competition,
Helvétiques or État d’esprit section, CHF 10’000 to : SCHILDKRÖTENWUT (THE TURTLE’S RAGE) by Pary El-Qalquili, Germany

Public, award the prize of the Young Public and Société des Hôteliers de la Côte for the best film in the First Step section, CHF 3’000 to : AFTER by Lukasz Konopa, United Kingdom

Lukasz Konopa, is awarded this prize for the originality with which it goes into a subject used so many times. Through a coherent form, the filmmaker succeeds in making coexist in his shots both the objects of a painful memory and their ‘mise en scène’ ready to be consumed. With the help of a subtle irony, this ambiguity questions the role and preservation of places of memory within our society.

And the C-Side Postproduction Prize for the best Swiss film of the First Step Section, worth CHF 5’000 to :

MAN HASTAM (J’EXISTE – I AM) by Tara Parsa, Switzerland

The Interreligious Jury, Prize of the Interreligious Jury for a feature film in the International Competition that sheds light on issues dealing with meaning and sense of direction of life, CHF 5’000 to : 900 DAGEN (900 DAYS) by Jessica Gorter, Netherlands

Special mention to : DE REGELS VAN MATTHIJS (MATTHEW’S LAWS) by Marc Schmidt, Netherlands

The Buyens-Chagoll Prize Jury, awards the Award Buyen s-Chagoll for a film of humanist dimension focusing on stories developing values that confer  meaning to the future of mankind, CHF 5’000 to :

SNAKE DANCE by Manu Riche and Patrick Marnham, Belgium/Irland/Netherlands

Audience Award of the City of Nyon for the best film of État d’Esprit section, CHF 10’000 to :
LA VIERGE, LES COPTES ET MOI by Namir Abdel Messeh, France

Photo above: courtesy Visions du Réel from  the film “Sniegs” – “Snow Crazy”.

 The Visions du Réel film festival in Nyon finishes today the 27th April with a prize giving ceremony at 19:30 at the Théatre de Marens in Nyon. The ceremony will then be followed by the screening of the film ”Vivan las Antipodas!” featuring the landscapes and people of Argentina, Siberia, Patagonia, Shanghai and Botswana.

This year as in previous years, it has been another good festival for those who love documentary film. There have been some real gems of films on offer. Some of these were big budget films from experienced film makers with a cast and crew of many; others were just short films shot on a tight budget from directors at the start of their career.  Both Trish Thalman and Suzy Nelson-Pollard have seen and been very impressed by many of these big films, and reviewed them in previous posts. Note: Trish’s latest review of “Nanook “will be shortly be posted on this site.

This year the Living in Nyon editor chose to view the smaller, quieter contemplative films, those that didn’t necesarily come with a message for the viewer,  but were more of an observation on communities or individual people around the world. There were many of these kind of films on the programme, and many of them excellent.  However, heavy editing was needed for quie a few films - some were simply too long, or with too many close up and lingering shots of faces or landscapes. 

Yet in some films the lingering on scenes was appropriate and helped to paint a picture of the person or their surroundings. Such was the case of the film ”El Olor de Aquel Lugar” by director Andrés Boero.  In the Q & A with the director and the audience afterwards, Boero said he was trying to portray the peacefulness and quiet of the rural Uruguayan countryside and to show the kind of life his grandmother had grown up with. He also revealed that when he was trying to pitch his idea of  a documentary about his grandmother he was asked  ”Well who is she? Has she done anything important?”  His answer was, “She is just my grandmother, but her story is worth telling”. 

Photo above: courtesy Visions  du Réel from  the film “El Olor de Aquel Lugar”

The film that followed this screening, “Work Hard, Play Hard” by Marcel Wyss about different individuals living in Switzerland, one a tight rope artist whose long term cocaine use had brought him close to death and another, a young man, a party animal who tried to justfy his drug taking to get him through pressured work days was a complete contrast and it was clever programming on the part of Visions du Réel.

Photo above: courtesy Visions du Réel from the film ” Work Hard, Play Hard”

There were some other interesting portraits revealed in films such as ”Checkpoint”.  This film was about policemen housed in makeshift huts inspecting vehicles entering the centre of Kabul. The men recruited in different parts of the country did not really know why they were there and Hamed Alizadeh recorded the absurd quality of the daily lives of these men. Whereas the young woman in the following film ”Szukajac Soni” knew exactly what she was doing as she had chosen to devote herself to be a nun in a Russian Orthodox monastery.  

There were some lighter films too on the agenda this year (though perhaps not enough) “Sniegs” was indeed, as the VDR programme described: “Ski madness in a mountainless country”.  This was an amusing surreal portrait of a people in Latvia determined to satisfy their craving to ski.  The film “La Vierge, Les Coptes et Mois” was also an amusing part documentary/part staged film by Namir Abdel Messeh. This film maker travelled to his native Egypt from Paris to make a film about the miraculous appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary among the Coptic Christian Community. His investigation provided an excuse to visit his family, in the countryside and to involve the whole family in a fantastic celebration.

There were many other films definitely worthy of a mention, particularly for the super photography in the two films shown last night at the Capitole Cinema “Ved Havet” about a small fishing village in the North of Denmark  and ”Le Gosse ” featuring a French boy living in rural France on the threshold of becoming an adult. 

Photo above: courtesy Visions du Réel  from  the film “Ved Havet”

Both Trish and Suzy have come up with their list of favourite films at this festival, it will be interesting to see if any of these are chosen as winners at the prize giving ceremony tonight. Living in Nyon will be tweeting the results as they are revealed. If you are not following the Living in Nyon tweets (see Julius Caesar icon at the bottom of the this site to follow us) then just check this site out during the course of the evening.

Trish’s top six films

1. Forbidden Voices

2. Tahrir

3. Chronique d’un mort oubilee

 4. Skinhead Attitude

5. Nanook of the North 

6. Tropicalia

and Suzy’s favourite films

1. Forbidden Voices

2. Reunion

3. Capitaine Thomas Sankara

4.  Nés derrière les pierres

The Editor’s  favourite films

1. “Forbidden Voices”

2. “A Home Far Away” (for its local interest)

3. “Ved Havet”

 Film above: courtesy Visions du Réel from the film “Nés derrières les pierres”

Photo above from Tahrir: courtesy Visions du Réel

Film review from the Visions du Réel festival of  “Tahrir – Place de la Liberation” directed by Stefano Savona.

Note: Although this film is not scheduled to be screened again in the official programme, a selection of prize winning films from the festival will be shown on Saturday 28 at the Salle Communale from 14:00-20:00.  The awards ceremony will take place Friday 27th April and the results will be announced here on this site. 

This film was shown on Sunday 22nd April at the Usine a Gaz and is reviewed by Trish Thalman. She says it is a ”visually exciting and important film”. 

31 January 2011, the sixth day of the Egyptian Revolution, and the the centrepoint is Tahrir Square in Cairo. Thousands of men, women and children are there with a united goal: they want the Mubarak regime to fall. The Revolution against Murbarak began because of the social injustices that the people of Egypt had suffered over the past 30 years. The recent fall of the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia had given Egyptians courage to stand up and protest.

“You feel the jostling, taste the dust”

In this film we are ‘on the ground’ though the hand-held camera that takes us right into the centre of Tahrir Square: the action, yelling, chanting, violence, blood and rock fights. You feel the jostling, taste the dust, smell bodies and blood. This visually exciting and important film follows the erratic and dangerous actions of the people that begins as a peaceful protest and culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak eighteen days later.

Three young activists are the main characters who weave through the film and tell a story of protest, liberation and concern. They have ideals, belief, education, energy. They are on their phones contacting everyone they know to spread the word, encouraging them to come to the square and be part of the revolution.

See a trailer of the film here

The crowds get larger and more tenacious. Mubarak gives a speech to the people imploring them to leave Tahrir and to “help me make the Guinness Book of Records”, as the longest serving elected President of Egypt……30 years in October 2011. The people listen, are appalled and stunned by what they hear: a man out of touch.

The chanting, the singing, the protesting continues. More and more people come to the square, defiant and courageous. “We are Egyptians”.

The Muslim Brotherhood makes a patronising appearance at a rally of thousands to promote their agenda. The three young activists are concerned that the party will not allow a secular state, in spite of their promises to do so if they come to power once Mubarak is gone.

Kentucky Fried Chicken is handed out for free

Contentious, daily life in Tahrir continues with prayers, people sleeping, talking in groups. Kentucky Fried Chicken is handed out for free. Nobody is hungry. There is awareness that the revolution is leaderless…..not organised. Who will succeed, what will happen when, not if, Murbarak goes?

The peaceful protest turns violent when the Murbarak regime release over 1000 prisoners from jails. They are given 5000 pounds, guns and knives and told to support Murbarak and destroy the protestors. There are deaths and massive injuries. The frenzy of bodies being removed is seen in blurred vision, because the revolution has now become a blur.

The protestors break up the tiles and road pavements to be used in the fights – us against them. A particularly strong scene shows a young woman gathering up the ‘stones’, as many as she can carry in a jacket, and walking with determination and purpose to get to the ‘front lines’. She reaches a point and dumps the rocks for all to see. There are many takers to pick up the stones.  

We see the ‘makeshift’ headgear that the protestors have contrived to protect themselves from the stones that are being thrown by protestors and the ‘thugs’: cardboard, plastic rubbish bins, or whatever has been found for protection. Many protestors now have bandaged heads, bloodied faces, bruises, are hobbling with canes. The doctors and nurses treating the wounded in the square are bloodied and bandaged themselves.

The young people ask to the camera, “who created this chaos, us or them”? There are moments of doubt. Murbarak resigns. The cheers go up and party goes on for hours. Exhaustion rules.  A final chilling scene shows a woman and others looking at the camera and giving a warning: “beware we aren’t being fooled”. What do they know?

Photo above: courtesy Visions du Réel

Photo above – crowd at Paléo 2011.

 There was a mad rush for Palèo tickets when they went on sale yesterday at midday and festival organisers announced that it took just 5.5 hours for all tickets to be sold-out. Concerts for the Sunday sold-out in 14 minutes, those for Thursday, Friday and Saturday in less than 45 minutes, and those for the Tuesday and Wednesday by 17:30.

Missed out on tickets?  Two other opportunities

If you missed out yesterday there are two new opportunities to get tickets, the first is the traditional “bourse aux billets” . This platform will be begin on the Paléo site on 9 May at midday on and makes it possible for anybody to sell and/or buy tickets at a fair price and safely in an effort to fight against the black market.

The second opportunity is that 1,500 tickets will be on sale each morning of the festival at 09:00 for the same
night and through Ticketcorner outlets (no phone orders). No tickets will be sold on site. Check out Paléo for dull details.

The international world premiere of « Reunion – ten years after the war » directed by Jon Haukeland, was shown yesterday at the Vision du Réel film festival and will be repeated again today at 18:00 at the Capitole 2. The documentary is a fascinating insight in to peace dialogue initiatives, human relations and the lesser-known aftermath of a well-known conflict.

In 1999 before the breakout of war in Kosovo, several brave young Albanian and Serbian students agreed to participate in an interethnic dialogue mediated by a Norwegian peace studies specialist. The discussion was electric, with Albanian fury and Serbian accusations; neither side could be brought to understand the other’s pain. The exchange was filmed by Jon Haukeland, but was never shown back in Kosovo due to the war that erupted only weeks later.

 Ten years later, Haukeland decided to organise a reunion with the same articulate students, to bring them back together and to recreate a discussion around the topic of Kosovo. Some of the students were untraceable, had disappeared or were killed during the war, most of the Serbs had moved away from Kosovo, many were married, had children and had started new lives. After having been tracked down, most agreed to sit back around the table, to listen to each others’ stories and to rekindle the discussion that had in most cases been repressed from public dialogue.

 The mediator asked each person around the table to start with explaining where they were during the war and their life adjusting afterwards. The Albanians were taken aback hearing the Serbian stories of their brothers killed, their escapes abroad and the unease they felt now in Kosovo. The Serbs tried to understand how desperate the Albanians must have been that they felt relief when the war started. The peace specialist wisely explained that while two independent sides of the story coexist without overlapping, politicians, media and propaganda can perpetually manipulate the fear and animosity. It is only when the two sides start to intertwine that reconciliation can be plausible. “We are getting in to the core of the subject here, who is writing the history”.

“Are you happy now? Now that you got what you wanted, free Kosovo?” ask the Serbs, many exiled. “The tables have turned, you repressed us for so many years, now the power is in our hands, what can we do for you?” The Albanians suggest that the future may be brighter once the wounds have healed. 

The director of the film doesn’t claim to have a solution to the situation or a method to erase the pain, nor does he attempt to explain all the nuances of the conflict or to endorse dialogue initiatives as the only method. The film is especially fascinating on a more human level, how the participants have suffered, matured, how much more measured their responses are. The dialogue opens up deep repressed traumas that at times are extremely moving. How many generations will peaceful coexistence take, and could it be accelerated by initiatives such as this Norwegian film? 

The following film review of “Forbidden Voices” is written by Suzy Nelson-Pollard. Forbidden Voices will be shown on Monday 23rd April at 10:o0 am at the Salle Communale. 

 How much do you value the freedom of speech in your country? Are you free to post observations on Facebook, cries for change on Twitter, criticism on your blog? What does it mean to have free press reporting on the current situation around you? 

“Forbidden Voices” will be shown for the second time on Monday morning at 10 a.m at the Salle Communale, and if there is one film that shouldn’t be missed this week at Vision du Réel, it is this one. The documentary follows three renowned female dissident bloggers from Cuba, Iran and China in their struggle to continue publishing the truth on the Internet, despite state repression and persecution. 

“I’m living in a Utopia, that isn’t my own”. Yoani Sanchez’s blog Generation Y, a rare insight in to Cuba through the eyes of a political enemy, has already been praised by the likes of the Obamas, Hillary Clinton and most of the Western press. Despite the fact that Cuba has one of the lowest internet connections in the world and that Sanchez has been denied an exit visa nineteen times, the Cuban blogger is one of the leading internet journalists of our time with a huge global following. The film concentrates mainly on her, as the camera crew are able to film within her home and gain access to her life with more ease than with the other two women. Sanchez says the fact that she is internationally recognised in a way keeps her safe and protects her from persecution, although she reveals later on in the film that she was a victim of an extremely violent attack by three government agents, which she manages to film on her mobile phone. We see the daily life of Yoani Sanchez, the meetings and the rallies she organises, her hopes and dreams for a freer, more tolerant Cuba. The internet is accelerating this process; it was online that Cubans first saw pictures of the fall of the Berlin Wall and Tiananmen Square, ten or eleven years after the events themselves.  

“Exiled Iranians live on the internet, it is our virtual country” Farnaz Seifi started blogging in the early 2000′s about her experiences as a women in Iran, focusing on the gender in equality in the Islamic Republic. “If there was a car accident, insurance companies have to pay out more money if there is damage to a man’s genitals than if there is a female death. We women are officially considered to be half of a man”.  After organising peaceful feminist rallies, Seifi was arrested, interrogated and then forced to flee due to fear for her family. She now lives in exile in Germany, and works closely with Reporters Without Borders. The documentary shows beautifully the deep sorrow of exile especially as Seifi speaks to other Iranian dissidents abroad.  

“My keyboard is the only thing that helps me to bear the sorrow and the indignation” Zeng Jinyan and her husband Hu Jia are so closely monitored and censored by the Chinese state that most of the documentary footage is either from long distance shots, homemade videos or a skype camera. They are both shadowed at all times by two surveillance state employees and their internet connection often cut off, but this does not stop either of them from voicing their opinions on human rights and AIDS in China online. Zeng Jinyan’s husband is sentenced to three and a half years of prison, leaving her alone with their baby daughter under house arrest. “He has done nothing wrong,” she cries “Freedom of Speech is in the Chinese Constitution”.  Although alone and desperate, she never stops trying to break through the Great FireWall.  

The director of the film Barbara Miller said that raising money to make a documentary about women, technology and politics was a painstaking process, but this film could not be more topical, showing the lives of the women behind the repressed voices of authoritarian regimes. Not violence, repression, exile nor humiliation can stop the hope and struggle for a better future in the hearts of these three women and for dissident bloggers worldwide.  

After the great success of the “Fun Fondue” night for newly arrived expats back in February this year, another “Welcome to La Côte” event has been organised by Nyon tourism, Migros école- club Migros and Living in Nyon.  This second event on the 22nd May is in response to the survey that was carried out at the fondue evening. Please note, places are limited for this next event, please register by May 5 . Click on the flyer below to see full details in larger print. 

Here is the second film review  from Trish Thalman on the film  “No Estoy Muerto Solo Estoy Dormido”  (I’m not dead, only asleep) directed by J.S Lopez Maas.

She says “this is an interesting insight into the Afro-Peruvians living in Peru and I encourage people to go and see it. It’s delightful with beautiful photography, wonderful people and opens a new perspective on the cultural history of Peru. Ths film will be shown again at the Capitole Cinema at 18:00 on Monday 23rd April.  Full details see Visions du Réel site

Donkeys and Afro-Peruvian music, both are the soul and spirit of the multi-faceted elements in the history and culture of Peru. Expansive, sunny vistas of the beige, arid plains of Peru, tame donkeys trailing the rope from their harness in the sands and the pulsing beat of a double base welcomes us to an unexpected story of contrasts.

Donkeys, as transportation, beasts of burden, and a member of the family with good teeth. Some donkeys never ‘suffer’ the indignity of being ridden by anyone. They are given food, shelter, a good brushing to remove the ever-present dust from their greige coloured, hairy coat and best of all, they are cared for as if a beloved child. They pull the cart, overloaded with dried cornstalks. No complaints.

A cheerful mestizo man tells his delightful story of donkeys, mules and horses that are his life. He was kicked out of military school at age 10. When he returned home, his adoring grandparents gifted him a donkey, even if he had been a bad boy at school. The donkey was his soul mate and friend for eight years. Now he rides an energetic, low-slung donkey through the fields. Two smaller donkeys come running quickly behind the man and his transportation.

We are told that if you are good in life, your spirit returns in the soul of a donkey when you die. This is positive news. Does a Peruvian really die?  A young Afro-Peruvian digs up the lower jawbone of a donkey from the desert sands. It becomes a musical instrument with rattling teeth and hollow percussion sounds when tapping and scratching the solid bone.

We hear the voiceover of a man telling us of his father’s death accompanied by the same sound of the double bass beat. A funeral altar is carried with love and respect through the streets of El Carmen, a main center for Afro-Peruvians, their music and history. Amador Ballambrusio, an exalted musician and central figure in Afro-Peruvian culture has died. Thousands throng the streets, dancing and singing to the exhilarating music, carrying their candles and offering their homage to the man they loved. Fireworks round off the funeral parade.

Amador, along with his 14 children, was the heart and soul of the musical Ballambrusio Family. Their music typifys the unique sound and beat that exquisitely combines pulsating African music that has been passed down since the 1500’s, when Africans were first brought to Peru to work the gold mines, and the indigenous music of Peru mixed with Spanish musical heritage.

The son explains that the spirit and soul of his father will not die. He was a good man. His spirit is here. “When father died, my sisters screamed and fainted. Then we had a party, made music and danced”. The family are at the graveside of their father with musical instruments. They are dancing and singing: making music for their father. The donkey’s jawbone is there. 

“I will die only when you no longer remember me”. Amador Ballambrusio